Protecting CCTV Cameras Against Deliberate Tampering

When a masked man attempted to enter a home on Rattan Street in April 2026, investigators discovered that the property’s CCTV cameras had been deliberately disabled before the intrusion attempt began. The camera tampering was not incidental — it was the first act, indicating that the intruder had already surveyed the property, identified the camera locations, and concluded they needed to be neutralised before approaching. A security camera that can be reached and disabled from outside the property does not prevent entry; it only delays discovery. When camera tampering goes undetected and unalerted, it silently removes your primary layer of deterrence and evidence while giving the intruder confidence that they will not be identified. The value of a residential surveillance system is significantly reduced if it can be switched off from outside without any consequence.

Steps to follow:

• Mount cameras at a height and position that cannot be physically reached from ground level outside your fence or boundary wall — a camera a person can reach and turn can also be covered, cut, or destroyed.
• Configure your CCTV system or NVR to send an alert to your phone immediately if any camera goes offline or loses its feed; treat an unexpected camera outage as a potential security incident, not a technical glitch.
• Use a system that records to cloud or off-site storage continuously, not only to a local DVR; if a camera is destroyed, off-site footage captured before the tampering is preserved for police.
• Position at least two cameras covering your main access points from different angles, so that disabling one unit does not eliminate all coverage of that area.
• Check your camera feeds briefly at the start and end of each day; a camera that has been repositioned, obscured, or unplugged will be apparent immediately if you have a recent baseline.
• If any camera on your property is found disabled or tampered with and no obvious cause exists, report it to police before assuming it was accidental — it may indicate your property is being actively surveyed.