15 People Who Watch Security Cameras For A Living Reveal What Weird Things They’ve Seen

Surveillance systems are part and parcel of living in large cities and working at high-profile companies. It’s no surprise that people behave very differently when they’re alone and when they know they’re being watched. You can learn a lot about someone’s character when you monitor them without them realizing it. Sometimes, the results are very unexpected.

Inspired by user u/PopCultureNerd, the members of the r/AskReddit community who are in charge of surveillance systems and security cameras spilled the tea about the most bizarre things they’ve ever seen. Check out their captivating stories below!

We got in touch with the author of the popular thread, u/PopCultureNerd, who was happy to share their thoughts on safety and security. Check out Bored Panda’s interview with them below.

15 PHOTOS

#1

I monitored the security cameras for an apartment complex and saw a couple beating their dog. Right in front of the apartment building. I confronted them, almost got assaulted, they were arrested, and-- long story short-- my friend now owns their dog.

We were very curious about what had inspired the internet user to start the thread in the first place. “I was at a supermarket buying food, and I couldn’t help but notice that there were not only security cameras everywhere but that I could see screens showing their feeds. Something about it got me wondering what they record,” u/PopCultureNerd shared with Bored Panda.

From their perspective, one reason why the topic was such a big hit with so many Redditors was that we all deal with cameras more and more. However, at the same time, we have “no idea what is being recorded.”

#2

One night, I was reviewing the footage and saw a raccoon wandering into the parking lot. It then managed to climb into an unlocked car and reappeared wearing a pair of sunglasses it found inside. The raccoon then strutted around the parking lot like it was the coolest animal in town before eventually wandering off, leaving the sunglasses behind. It was the most confident and stylish raccoon I’ve ever seen.

#3

We had a lady who worked in our building who was married to another employee of the company who worked in another office.

The husband's building was under construction, so he was temporarily moved to our building.

Security saw them having sex in her car during the day and reported it to HR.

HR called them in and said, "Hey, this isn't a huge deal, but please stop having sex in the parking lot."

The husband was legitimately dumbfounded and demanded to see the tape. The guy his wife was banging in her car wasn't him.

It was her boss.

It was awkward.

In their opinion, there’s no longer any difference between how people behave when they’re alone and when they know they’re being monitored. Having a camera around at all times has become normalized.

“As such, I think many people have no real sense of their behavior in regards to private vs public spaces,” u/PopCultureNerd.

Bored Panda also wanted to get the OP’s thoughts on the link between security cameras and, well, security. The author told us that they don’t believe cameras make us safer.

“These cameras may make it easier for law enforcement to find suspects. As I see it, we now live in a time in which every person has a camera on them at all times. Every crime can be and often is recorded somehow. Yet, crimes still get committed.”

#4

#5

Not many things strange but here's the funniest one:

I work as the sole IT guy for a Head Start/child advocacy program that has a few daycare/Head Start schools in surrounding towns.    One day my boss came over to me upset saying that someone had gone into the playground of one of the schools and tore everything apart.   They asked me to go over and check the cameras to see if we could identify the vandal.

So I go over and look at the playground and it's a mess.   The plastic playground toys had been strewn all over the playground and a big plastic caterpillar had been disassembled and chucked over the fence.   Now I'm annoyed and go check the cameras with resolve to find out who did it. 

So I started narrowing in on the footage.  Finding the earliest time when the cameras showed the destruction and working back.    So I'm skipping in five-minute intervals and suddenly the playground is fine.    These people took less than five minutes to destroy the playground.  

Finally, I caught the culprit.   I watch as a dust devil makes its way to the playground,  sends everything flying in every direction, and then buggers off in less than fifteen seconds.    I started laughing my a*s off and told my boss.   Everyone was relieved that it was a freak act of nature instead of some a*****e destroying a kid's playground.

#6

Hospital Security. Watched a patient wearing an O2 mask, go and hide in a courtyard niche - directly opposite a camera as it turned out, to have a quick surreptitious ciggy. Smoking is not normally allowed on hospital grounds, hence the need to hide.

With his (running) O2 mask pulled down below his chin, he quickly proceeded to set fire to his beard.

I could see it coming and had already sent patrolling officers to his location doubletime, so the fires were put out without too much injury.

The fact that people behave differently because they know they’re being watched is known as the Hawthorne effect. It can affect a wide range of behaviors, from how someone takes care of their hygiene to even what they eat.

The Catalog of Bias points to a fascinating study conducted in 2006. It found that medical staff were 55% more likely to comply with hand-washing regulations than when they weren’t observed.

However, one issue with studies that look at the Hawthorne effect is that they might affect people’s behavior simply by them being aware that they’re taking part in a study. Hidden observation, however, could help sidestep that problem.

#7

My oldest son was probably around 4yrs old at the time. My wife had borrowed some flour/sugar/something that comes in that type of packaging from the neighbor.

She gave the bag to my 4-year-old and asked him to go leave it on the porch by the front door.

My wife was standing on the sidewalk and watched the little man run over to the neighbor's front door, go out of sight momentarily, and come running back proud and happy as can be with an empty bag.

Wife was pissed at first until I asked her what she told him. It was then she realized he did exactly what she asked.

Neighbors sent us the video from the Ring camera and we all laughed hysterically.

#8

In a very small police department, watched a deputy escort an inmate to the bathroom. When the inmate came out of the bathroom the officer wasn't there so he opened the door to the lobby and casually strolled towards the front door. An assistant district attorney was also leaving the building at the same time and held the door for the inmate has he fled.

They did manage to chase him down a couple of blocks away.

Based on the data collected by IHS Markit in 2021, there are over 1 billion surveillance cameras around the world.

According to Comparitech, the most surveilled country in the entire world is China, with 626 million estimated cameras or an average of 439 cameras per 1k people. After that comes the Indian cities of Hyderabad (900k cameras or 83.32 per 1k people), Indore (200k cameras; 60.57 per 1k people), and Delhi (449,934 cameras; 19.96 per 1k people).

Meanwhile, Singapore boasts 214k total cameras, Baghdad has 120k, Seoul has 144.5k, and London has over 127.4k.

However, Clarion Security Systems estimated that there were 942,562 CCTV cameras in London, or 1 for every 10 people, in 2022. However, these numbers are still a guess.

#10

Probably the time a group of penguins waddled up to a security camera and seemed to be discussing their escape plan from the zoo. Either that or a very organized gang of squirrels attempting a break-in at a nut store.

#11

I had to watch the overnight video feed because my LP auditor told me one of my employees was coming into the closed store in the middle of the night. His job was on the line over it, because that's a big no-no.

He never did anything shady or criminal, and usually, he came in because he realized he had forgotten his phone or something, but one time had me dying laughing. It's probably one of those "you had to be there" things.

He came in, grabbed a trash bag from the roll, and carried it around for a couple of minutes. Then he stood perfectly still for a few more minutes, staring at something in the distance with a trash bag in his hand. He finally put the trash bag in an empty can and left.

Imagine almost losing your job because you needed to go to work at 3 am and put a trash bag in a can. It must have been giving him anxiety or something. I'm not even the kind of boss who flips out over a trash bag.

#12

Across the street from where I live is a former grocery store with an animal statue on their roof that recently went out of business. One night around 12:30 am, I heard some noise outside, checked my security camera, and saw four teenagers carrying a very large ladder. They placed the ladder against the building, climbed to the roof, took selfies with the statue, and then climbed back down. Just as they were grabbing the ladder and leaving, the local sheriff pulled up and started berating them. He let them all go in the end but made sure to give them a good scolding lol.

The need to balance security and privacy is going to be an ongoing debate in the foreseeable future. On the one hand, we all want to feel safe. On the other hand, nobody wants to be treated like a potential criminal. Let’s be frank, being constantly observed on the off chance of preventing crime sounds dystopian and totalitarian…

…which is making a lot of folks who live and work in London a tad uncomfortable. The Metropolitan Police is continuing to use so-called live facial recognition, or LFR, in parts of the city and during important events.

Essentially, this “vital” policing tool maps an individual’s unique facial features and then matches them up against the faces of people on watch lists. According to the BBC, there have been around 50 arrests in Croydon during 8 deployments of LFR vans so far.

#13

Bass pro shop. It was one of the big a*s stores. There was an employee that lived at the store, several days a week, for months. I thought I was losing my god damn mind because the guy knew all the camera angles and was able to be a ghost. Yet I'm there thinking I'd be hearing s**t or the place is Haunted. Eventually, over time the routine revealed itself. Poor guy had to sneeze and that's what got him. He could have easily done it a few more weeks if I wasn't one curious bastard. He lost his job but they gave him a pass on criminal charges because no damage was done and he was compliant
/apologetic when busted. They just banned him from all Bass Pro shops forever. Anyway, this was back in 2008 when the quality of security cameras was going digital and it looked like pure garbage. When you see something move at the corner of a screen in 280p, you don't know what it is. To us, it says "Someone is in the store" but the guy just avoided detection for so long it had us freaked out. Almost had my dumbass believing in ghosts.

#15

A guy shot a gun at another guy from about 20 ft away five freaking times. He missed the guy with all five bullets.