All of us have had that eerie feeling we are being watched at one time or another; as it turns out, that is becoming more and more likely.

Technology has advanced to the point that video surveillance cameras are going up almost everywhere.

On Tuesday evening the CVS pharmacy on Virginia Avenue in Bristol, Tennessee was robbed. Surveillance cameras caught the whole thing on video. 

It’s the kind of story we hear every day now. It turns out there is a reason for that -- video surveillance equipment is now so cheap that more people can afford it. 

But is it legal? "Yes, anybody can have surveillance cameras at their home," Sullivan County Detective Jason Hite pointed out. 

That is becoming a known fact to more people every day. There is a rise in the number of cases involving video evidence in court. 

"There is a rise in that and it's across the board,” assistant Sullivan County District Attorney Kent Chitwood said. “I had a case involving a killing where the family had a home surveillance system."

You can buy systems at big box stores and put them in yourself, but it is buyer beware.

Local companies have contracts with much larger customers like the city of Kingsport. The cameras they most recently installed are at the new parking garage downtown.

When consumers buy a system, the pros say be careful what you pay for. "The picture quality, playback quality is night and day,” Jeff Johnson of Building System Technology said. “You can tell a big difference. What we sell you can actually see a face during playback. That’s the biggest disadvantage of buying it off the shelf."

The trend is to protect ourselves with an eye in the sky. That video evidence really can make all the difference if a case goes to court.