I don't know about you and your neighbor. But my neighbor (a black man, fyi) was very happy that my Nest camera's field of view was just barely wide enough to include his door and window, and recorded video of the dude who climbed through his window and stole his kid's MacBook.
A couple days after that, my neighbor got a camera of his own. I'm happy that he did so; my camera made his home safer, and his makes mine safer.
The point is, he didn't opt in to being surveilled by Amazon. That it had a positive outcome is irrelevant to the point. It's a strange anecdata.
What's the difference between what you wrote and responding to someone who is in favor on limits of publicly brandishing guns with: I don't know about your neighbor. But my neighbor (a black man, fyi) was very happy that I sat on my porch with a loaded shotgun every evening, and shot the dude who climbed through his window and stole his kid's MacBook.
The difference is that your example is made-up while mine is true, recent, and (I believe) representative of normal people's attitudes. Normal people love cameras because normal people much prefer being surveilled by Amazon (or, in most cases, by Amazon's cheaper and less secure Chinese competitors in the camera business) vs. having their home broken into and their pawnable electronics stolen.
Shotgun on the porch isn't exactly made up, it has happened before.
The Joe Horn shooting controversy occurred on November 14, 2007, in Pasadena, Texas, United States, when local resident Joe Horn shot and killed two burglars outside his neighbor's home.
To be very pedantic back, it's not public property but it is in public. Brandishing laws obviously differ from state to state, but the "public" part of brandishing means that people can see you.
As far as I know, the dude has not been arrested. Thanks to the video though, the probability of the burglar eventually being arrested is at least slightly higher than zero.
Buying lottery tickets instead of a camera also has a slightly higher than zero probability of a positive outcome.
I wouldn’t doubt that a webcam (real or dummy) deters crime. I’ve looked hard for statistics on arrest rates for home property theft with security cameras, but propaganda/fearmongering from camera companies clogs up my search. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
A couple days after that, my neighbor got a camera of his own. I'm happy that he did so; my camera made his home safer, and his makes mine safer.