Help catching intruder at vacant property

[Michael Yeung]

Hi everyone,

I own a duplex in a rough neighborhood in Atlanta, GA.  It's vacant and we're finishing the rehab, but someone keeps breaking in and stealing things, vandalizing the property, and sleeping inside.  I just want to rehab this and then either flip it or get a tenant inside ASAP.

What do folks suggest?

We've repeatedly boarded up the property, but they just pry the boards off.  We set up outdoor motion sensor lights to try to scare them off, but they just tear them down (I think they tossed ropes up to pull them down).

I think at this point ideally we could just catch the person in the act.  It appears to be the same vindictive person each day who must live in the neighborhood. 

We've filed police reports but they haven't done much.  I'd love if the police could just swing by at night some time and try to catch them (since I think they're sleeping in the property), but haven't been able to get through to the police on the phone to see if something like this is possible (and I assume they're busy).

I'm considering security cameras / systems, but am not sure how effective these are at actually catching the person in the act and getting the police to swing by in time to catch them.  I'm worried that the police won't get there in time to catch the intruders, and in reality all we'll get is some video footage of someone breaking in, which the police may / may not do something with.  Then in the meantime the intruders will just steal all the security equipment.

Does anyone have any first hand experience here?  Are there better ways to partner with the police on this?  And are their private security solutions worth considering, such as guards etc?  I found vpsgroup.com, which includes guards and temporary tenants, but unfortunately they only operate in Europe.

Thanks for any tips!
Michael