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The world of aerial videography is a great place to start, 'cause the cameras attached to RC aircraft have to be very small, and their transmitters and receivers need to have excellent range.

I can't vouch for this vendor or product, but this is just one example of what's out there:

http://www.nitroplanes.com/wosmlora24gh.html

There are plenty of other vendors and manufacturers with similar setups, and I'm guessing you'll pay a lot less if you go this route, as opposed to dealing with a "spy shop." Spy shops, from what I've seen, tend to be very over-priced.

Now then, please dish the dirt! What's the deal with this dope-swilling relative?

You could integrate a new iPod nano into a nick nack sitting on a shelf?

Seriously, I've seen inexpensive systems at Sam's Club/Costco but they are usually multi-cam if I remember right.

Talk sense? To a drug addict? Ooooookay. I vote for the high-tech surveillance.

The cam would be in an 3 bedroom apartment in the master bedroom.   

Arrangement of the rooms from north to south:  master bedroom with bathroom, center area (kitchen, dining area, living room), center bedroom (which is locked whenever the drug addict (pain killers and other stuff) is around), hallway to 2nd bathroom and the south bedroom.    The PKA (pain killer addict) sleeps on one of the living room sofas instead of her own bedroom.

Master bedroom is grandma's.   Center bedroom is brother and sister in-law of the PKA.

For the unwashed masses, I'm now living in Petoskey, Michigan which is southwest of the Macinac Bridge.   The nearest respectable tech store is likely in 90 minutes away in Traverse City.

The goal is to catch PKA in the act of searching for drugs or money.    Most of us in the nearby family  (I'm now considered an apprentice part of the family) are in favor of forced treatment or prison.    Grandma is not one of those.   Grandma is an "enabler", often protecting PKA or indirectly financing the drug problem.   By getting some tangible evidence, we might sway Grandma to be less enabling.

a) not sure yet.    For now, just brainstorming
b) there has been prison time before.   My girlfriend believes that it (prison / rehab) was too short.
c) its possible that PKA will recognize that we know she is lying.
d) the wakeup coffee for grandma is the obstacle to overcome
e) at this point, only the master bedroom needs a great deal of oversight, as I understand the situation

Grandmother is definitely unable to defend herself when PKA gets combative.    When brother or I are around, PKA is definitely more polite.   Sister-in-law and PKA don't speak to each other.

PKA has been combative, causing grandma to lock herself in her bedroom to escape from PKA in the living room.

In terms of physical safety and relieving stress for Grandma, most of the family is leaning toward some kind of forced action: prison, rehab or changing the locks.

If she's a physical danger to Grandma, throw her out of the damn house. That's an intolerable situation.

WhirlinGraphics wrote:

user wrote:

If she's a physical danger to Grandma, throw her out of the damn house. That's an intolerable situation.

I agree, but it sounds like the problem is getting Grandma to agree and enforce.

Yep.   We are going to have to have a family meeting to lay it out to Grandma.  90 % of the family is unanimous.  The other 10 % are largely on board, but don't like confrontations.   We wanted to wait until after Grandma's big 75th birthday party before any bomb is dropped.

Between  son, daughter-in-law and myself, there's sufficient physical coverage.   Backup coverage is 2 blocks away.

Nefarious wrote:

Pardon my French for this thread from the dead.

I have a need for a wireless spy cam for indoor use.   I was looking at "surveillance" cameras at Geeks.com.     Friends of mine have a need to monitor a drug addict relative of theirs.

Hardware and software advice is welcome.

I have run systems with the Axis line of wireless network cameras. They are pretty nice, but a little pricey ($300-$600 a camera) There are some models that can be run using power over ethernet which is incredibly convenient for installation.

As for software, nothing tops Zoneminder. It is amazingly powerful, offering the ability to define multiple hotzones with varying sensitivity which can generate user specified alarms. It  has a built in server so you can manage it remotely. Best of yet it is free (but only runs on linux.)

Apartment.   More details when I get them straight.