Home Security

[CB ARGH]

Hey guys,

So I've just had the home broken into this afternoon. The cops caught the guy - he got nothing. Just wondering... I'm wanting to up the security of my home. We have a cat so the alarm is no good as the kitty will set this off when the alarm is set.

I've heard of driveway sensors that will make a noise whenever somebody walks/drives past them. Where would I find them?

Any other home security tips will be much appreciated.

STEVEN

[Moi]

Not nice to know there has been someone in your home, even if they got nothing... they invaded your home... ask for support for any family members who feel unsettled by this.

You can get alarms that have sensors that are "pet friendly" and don't detect the cat or dog.

Do you have deadbolts on the doors? Do you have french doors? If you do, have door jamb plugs so if they take the hinges apart the doors are still held in the framework.

[neels]

We have pet friendly sensors at our house, no issues with leaving the alarm set with the small dog inside.

[cc rider]

Sorry to here you have had an intruder Steven
Glad you are all ok. And they were caught.


I used a cable tie on the back gate bolt when someone came in the yard last night

[T.W.R]

if they're determine enough nothing is going to stop them no matter how good the security is

Simple option is motion detector cameras used for game hunting most are small camo units with plenty of power for taking good quality stills or short record video footage. Moultrie & Spypoint can be easily sourced the more expensive Spypoints have cellular real time capture capability too

[BuzzardNZ]

One of these might help...

[RDJ]

FWIW - I have shares neither in Harvey Norman nor Arlo cameras. (Given my gas-guzzling fleet and my bacon addiction I should have shares in Federated farmers and oil companies but that's a whole other story, I don't).

We have a semi-secluded house at the end of a longish driveway and a couple of times things have walked that I have left out overnight. At a recent Harvey Norman promotion we got a pair of Arlo cameras for two thirds of the normal price.

They don't pick up cats and so forth, but they do spot courier deliveries and random / all visitors. Best of all, you can check them over the Internet. We have two, placed at the front of the house and where the driveway ends up… so I can see if my beloved, and our children, have gotten home if their car's in the garage, and check who's been to the house during the day when we are at work.

Took 20 minutes to install, 10 minutes to set up remote access, extremely effective.

Of course they don't stop people entering your property without your leave, but they do keep an excellent timestamped photographic record…

[Jeff Sichoe]

When my garage was broken into last year I asked the fingerprint cop what his suggestion was for home security.

Basically he said the security systems which contact a third party guard are useless, as the guard can't actually do anything if they catch someone in the act anyway.

his opinion was (as mentioned above) a live feed to a cell phone etc so YOU can call the cops and tell em some jerkass is stealing your shit.

fingers crossed they can show up with the dog and the fucker gets a few bites for his trouble

[ellipsis]

if they're determined enough, nothing is going to stop them no matter how good the security is

^^

...my son being the techno whizz, installed a couple of cameras...one is a big bastard up a power pole on our boundary...they feed to his computer which is off the property...we can't stop arseholes but we can certainly see who they were...the one up the power pole is infra red and is surprisingly good even at night...it keeps tabs on everyone that enters our road from the only way, in a hundred yards away... the one night that somebody did pinch my neighbouring, cockies, truck, a fucking big spider had decided to rest for the night, mid lens...sometimes ya can't win...

[RDJ]

Yeah. One of the big problems is thieving ferals who steal a month or three or twelve+ of your life (the time it took you to earn your stuff) suffer no pain at all in the unlikely event the popo can be bothered to look for them (basically, NZ police chiefs - not the rank and file - don't give a fat rat's ass for domestic burglaries). I like the Arlo cameras as I said, but what I really want is the sentry guns from 'Aliens'.

[T.W.R]

^^

...my son being the techno whizz, installed a couple of cameras...one is a big bastard up a power pole on our boundary...they feed to his computer which is off the property...we can't stop arseholes but we can certainly see who they were...the one up the power pole is infra red and is surprisingly good even at night...it keeps tabs on everyone that enters our road from the only way, in a hundred yards away... the one night that somebody did pinch my neighbouring, cockies, truck, a fucking big spider had decided to rest for the night, mid lens...sometimes ya can't win...

Yeah similar things have happened around the district here and I know a few cockies who have given up on the likes of security lights etc (basically they just make it easy for thieves to see what they're doing) and have gone to using the cameras like I mentioned with the infra red detection and cellular connectivity for real time alert etc. The good thing with the camo hunting cameras they're small easily hidden self contained units and take powerful high res pics 9mp-16mp or 1080p HD footage of offenders on SD. Makes it simple to hand over to the cops.
Fortunately as of yet it's still like back in time here....don't even to worry about locking vehicles at night and inadvertently a month or so back left the front door unlocked for nigh on 2wks without incident

[Viking01]

Hey guys,

So I've just had the home broken into this afternoon. The cops caught the guy - he got nothing. Just wondering... I'm wanting to up the security of my home. We have a cat so the alarm is no good as the kitty will set this off when the alarm is set.

I've heard of driveway sensors that will make a noise whenever somebody walks/drives past them. Where would I find them?

Any other home security tips will be much appreciated.

STEVEN

Steven,
Your earlier post mentions a break-in to your house, and not to out-buildings on your property.

Can I suggest that as a first line of defence, you concentrate more on just physically keeping
the buzzards out of the house ?

Good deadlocks on all external doors. Safety stays on all outward opening windows. Special locks
for ranch sliders. Secure the cat flap. Look up tools in the garage so that they can't be used to
support a break-in attempt. And when I say "good locks", I mean something a good crowbar is
going to struggle to crack open.

And then once you've done all the physical security, then start looking at cameras and sensors
and alarms / remote notification.

Because if they manage to get past an un-monitored zone outside the house, the physical counter
measures should stop them proceeding further (or at least make it difficult for them - and slow them
down).

Also very useful for arguing with your insurance company, should you suffer loss of possessions.

Cheers,
Viking

[Akzle]

statistically, criminals do less crime after being shot.
bloodied heads on pikes in the front yard should be a good deterrent.

[T.W.R]

Good deadlocks on all external doors. Safety stays on all outward opening windows. Special locks
for ranch sliders. Secure the cat flap. Look up tools in the garage so that they can't be used to
support a break-in attempt. And when I say "good locks", I mean something a good crowbar is
going to struggle to crack open.

And the crims put said crowbar or brick or garden ornament through any window or door pane and in they waltz

[Viking01]

And the crims put said crowbar or brick or garden ornament through any window or door pane and in they waltz

TWR,

I don't disagree entirely with your reply, but I will comment a little further.

Please note I didn't say:

1. that it was guaranteed to keep all burglars out (it's not)
2. that all burglars are necessarily experienced at their trade (many are opportunists).
3. that physical security measures should be the only measures taken (do consider secondary measures).

This is a situation where you want to increase the chance of them being denied entry, or them being
delayed long enough to increase their chances of discovery (or becoming sufficiently nervous that they
decide to take off - hopefully empty handed).

If a burglar is determined to break in, they will - but the more difficult that you make the task for them,
the better the chance of frustrating physical entry to your house.

If people want to stop burglars, then get an audit and some professional advice - and be prepared to
spend some money.

A. External

Some configurations will leave you more exposed (e.g. large windows; a large glass pane within an
external door; windows low down to the ground). It's up to you whether you decide to take some
action to reduce some or all of those risks.

Another item I omitted from the earlier list was a lockable metal security screen door outside your
wooden external door. It's all about slowing them down, and ensuring that they draw attention to
themselves in the process.

B. Internal

And once you've done some (or all) the external measures, do consider the internal measures, like:

-Alarms systems (with internal and external horns)
-Camera systems (internal and external)
-Remote alerts to your phone (or to an external company)

We have all three of the above mentioned fitted at our current home.

The alarm system can be activated upon leaving home, and the sensors in the house are "pet sensitive"
(invariably the cat gets tossed outside anyway). If triggered, the external horn tells the neighbourhood.
If inside, the 120 db piezo internal alarm is both deafening and painful. Take my word for it.

External cameras are fitted up high on three corners of the house, so that very little of the house and the
garage is unable to be seen (when looking through the related web based viewer system). One of the set
scans the garage and down the driveway, which is the primary access path onto the property. The section
is quite well fenced.

IR cameras are also fitted at two key places inside the house, and linked through to a dedicated computer
system (allowing the creation and sending of alerts to my mobile).

If I get an alert, I can remote-in to the computer, start up the viewer and scan around most of the
house. The software app also triggers storage of a certain amount of footage after an alert has been
tirggered, so it's likely we would capture some video of the offenders.

The two internal IR cameras offer both panning/rotational features, so I can scan main internal areas.
They also have a speaker feature, which allows me to communicate with anyone in those areas. [That
assumes that mains power is still on].

The computer system and network termination has its own UPS/battery backup, in case some-one tries
to turn off the mains power for an extended period (the external alarm has its own gel cell battery, and
will trigger if the house alarm has been "set" and the mains is then switched off).

I don't think use of an external third party security firm is necessarily a good solution. Having some
retired neighbours is much better - and cheaper ..... 8-) They just call me (or text me).

And if you have valuables like jewellery, then consider a small safe. Doesn't have to be fancy - just
enough to deter the buzzards (assuming they find it).

The house contents insurance policy should cover replacement of items such as electronic goods (e.g.
stereo gear; computers; X-box; mobile phone or tablet) as well as the cost of getting window reglazing
done.

And keeping a list of electronic devices and serial numbers is useful if any of the items are subsequently
recovered.

C. Effectiveness

Have we had any break-ins ? Yes, once in 35 years. In our previous house. Where some of the above
mitigations were not in place.

The house had some large windows down low, just large enough for a person to get through. The buzzards
ended up breaking more than one window (why ?) and getting entry, but they were then disturbed (but
not before taking a few small electronic goods).

The only satisfaction I had from the whole episode was when the Police turned up to review the scene
and to dust for prints, they found some blood on a few shards of glass. So one of the little buzzards
must have cut himself on the broken glass when getting in or out of the window. Karma !


Ultimately, it's up to you how far you go security-wise. But for us, the one-and-only break-in felt like
such a "violation of our safety and privacy" that I have spent a little time, effort and money to better
secure the house, garage and section.

A determined burglar could still get into our house, but I'd probably know about it pretty damn quickly,
and internal and/or external alarms would both be screaming their heads off. And after logging in for a
quick check, I'd be on the phone to central Lower Hutt Police logging a burglary in progress. They're
only 5-10 minutes away.

Cheers,
Viking