Camera Idea I have for avoiding cops...

Matt Whelan · 07-17-2004, 02:27 AM

I don't know about you guys but I pretty much have CopVision. If a Crown Vic, a car with a roof rack(mistaken to be a cops roof lights), etc. are around me, I know it. I'm always searching to see if they are there.

When I am driving on the highway/other, I always see what I think is a cop from afar. Then I have to wait until I am close enough to determine if it is a cop.

Recently I thought, "I need to have some binoculars" to look down the road with to know sooner if it is a cop. So that idea breeded into the idea of having a tiny dash-mounted camera or a camera mounted inconspicuously on the front of my car.

It would have to be a camera with a zoom feature & a zoom feature that would prove useful(zooming far enough/helping me see cops sooner).

It would be neat if the angle(Up & Down, Left & Right) could be controlled by buttons on the Touchscreen LCD of the Carputer. Just an idea I had. Sounds expensive to me but I'm sure it can be done.

What do you guys think of my idea(s)?

SAScooby · 07-17-2004, 02:32 AM

there are a few ptz (point tilt zoom) web cams around controllede by usb

IBM makes a neat one

but think of it this way

how would you control it while driving ?

you would need some auto hold software to keep the camera focused on the cop and it would need to cope with the changing suspension on your car, terrain etc, 1 helluva job just go get a maginified rear view mirror

Curiosity · 07-17-2004, 02:37 AM

I want visual recognition stuff like they talk about in the airports, only for cop cars.

I'm still trying to install the cam inside the rear view mirror.

brandon · 07-17-2004, 03:29 AM

Florence Y'all
... sorry, couldn't resist

Curiosity · 07-17-2004, 06:48 AM

LOL Yup! Just about the only thing most people remember about this place. The local historians say that was originally Florence Mall, but they had a disagreement and being lazy they just painted over the sides of the M making it a Y.

kc8grq · 07-20-2004, 07:04 PM

HAHA My grandfather lives there, down off Zig Zag Rd.

I have tried using my camera zoomed in, but driving down the road with even the slightest bumps, the camera goes all over the place, too much to understand the picture.

xBrady · 07-20-2004, 07:15 PM

While you are zoomed in trying to see if that is indeed a cop down the road (staring at your screen) another cop comes from behind and ..........
You get the idea.

kandyman676 · 07-20-2004, 07:21 PM

actually, i was thinking a step FURTHER on this for nighttime driving and place a nightvision scope in front of a gutted video camera. video cameras can handle the picture a bit better, esp if they have the stablization feature.

falconey · 07-20-2004, 08:03 PM

intersting thread, although I have no further input

xBrady · 07-20-2004, 08:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by falconey

intersting thread, although I have no further input

Wow, thanks for the great post!

god_of_cpu · 07-20-2004, 08:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Curiosity

I want visual recognition stuff like they talk about in the airports, only for cop cars.

I'm still trying to install the cam inside the rear view mirror.

The state of the art in vision technology is at least a couple of decades off from having this capability, the best you could do is maybe recognize all cars of a certain color, but to distinguish a certain make, model, and then whether it is an undercover police car is well above and beyond what vision recognition to do espcially police cars that humans have a hard time determining as police cars. And that facial recognition in airports is WAY more talk then a practical reality.

vcbb5 · 07-20-2004, 08:35 PM

fuzz buster, anyone?

EBFoxbat · 07-20-2004, 08:51 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by god_of_cpu

The state of the art in vision technology is at least a couple of decades off from having this capability, the best you could do is maybe recognize all cars of a certain color, but to distinguish a certain make, model

I forget what its called... the DoD is playing with air-bourne lazers to identify aircraft model (and thus country of orogine) Apparently it will have a ridiculous range (limitless as long as its line-of-sight)

I have a QuickCam Orbit that has pan/tilt and zoom.... and a 1.3 megapixel CCD. It would be good for being behind a cop on the highway trying to see if that really is a cop way up there. The software that comes with it includes a face-tracking mode (for video confrencing) that could be adopted, as well as an intuitive control panel that SHOULD be adopted for touch screen:

christmaspie · 07-20-2004, 09:22 PM

This is a great idea. I've got a lot of cops around my area now that have laser and I've avoided so far by seeing them before they saw me and slowing down but they're getting better with range. If I could see down the road some distance I would just be money. Great idea and kudos to anyone who gets it working.

fantomas · 07-20-2004, 09:37 PM

around me cops drive crown vics, imapalas, explorers, cameros, and im pretty sure there was a contour. im sure there are more... (yes all these cars are unmarked)