When do you throw in the towel??

[Paul in NZ]

How does a CCTV system help? Even if it shows the villains, the police will not take any action, it is only property uncrime, so unless they happen to be known to you, you are not really any further ahead.

I would have thought that the Police will definately take action if there is clear evidence and it's an easy prosecution so why not gather it yourself? Besides, you can do lots of clever things with them easily once you have it hooked up to a PC (webserver) such as motion detection that will send an alert to your mobile with a picture of what set it off etc.

[ManDownUnder]

Throw in the towel?

When?

You don't. Then they win. Meet the neighbours - they're the best security of the lot. They see something - they respond. They hear an alarm - they respond... and likewise you for them.

Fire up the BBQ, invite them over. They'll have had the same problems and would love to hear about when you've been done over too.

Get the cops over for the neighbourhood watch chat bit if not done already. It's a start

[Beemer]

Thankfully we have never been burgled, it would really piss me off to have someone in my house going through my stuff, even if it isn't worth much.

We were in Feilding last night at a BMWOR dinner and when we came out the alarm on the shop next door was going flat out. It took about 10-15 minutes for the security guy to turn up - and in the meantime he missed one of our members loading a large television and DVD player into his car! Before you get the wrong idea - he brought them along to the meeting to show a BMW DVD! If the guard had turned up a few minutes earlier he would have wondered what was going on - bikes heading in all directions and a tv disappearing into a car!

Unfortunately I think moving is the only way to stop this - and I feel sorry for the poor buggers who buy the house as it will no doubt continue to be targeted. It really pisses me off that some people think they have the right to steal things that others have worked hard to buy. Scum.

[The Stranger:Me]

How does a CCTV system help? Even if it shows the villains, the police will not take any action, it is only property uncrime, so unless they happen to be known to you, you are not really any further ahead.

Best deterrent to crime is the certainty of getting caught.
They all know that unless they are speeding from the scene they aint going to get caught.

[MikeyG]

Are monitored alarms any good?

I kknow for commercial monitored alarms there are so many false alarms that the alarm company has to send a guy out to see if it is real or not before the cops will respond. The security guy just goes out and looks, if he does see someone he phones it in to the cops but doesn't have to get out of his car or anything.

Is it the same for residential alarms?

[Lias]

Are monitored alarms any good?

I kknow for commercial monitored alarms there are so many false alarms that the alarm company has to send a guy out to see if it is real or not before the cops will respond. The security guy just goes out and looks, if he does see someone he phones it in to the cops but doesn't have to get out of his car or anything.

Is it the same for residential alarms?

The only point to having a monitored alarm is if your insurance company gives you a discount for having one. It still wont stop shit.

[Paul in NZ]

Throw in the towel?

When?

You don't. Then they win. Meet the neighbours - they're the best security of the lot. They see something - they respond. They hear an alarm - they respond... and likewise you for them.

Fire up the BBQ, invite them over. They'll have had the same problems and would love to hear about when you've been done over too.

Get the cops over for the neighbourhood watch chat bit if not done already. It's a start

This is true

[ManDownUnder]

Are monitored alarms any good?

In my personal experience... no. The response times are shocking (well - to the ones in Auckland I've been involved with).

Hence my comment to get the neighbours onside. Elderly neighbours quite like it - gives them something to do too (to put it crudely). They're often home during the day so they're the perfect person to have onside.

[ManDownUnder]

The only point to having a monitored alarm is if your insurance company gives you a discount for having one. It still wont stop shit.

Interesting point... contact the Insurance co and see if they get a good deal on alarms. We got 30% off (from memory) and got the alarm installed in place of the video that was nicked (which we didn't use).

[imdying]

When I build my house, im putting some thick heavy steel doors on ever door. And slide down bars on all the windows. (they slide up into the wall/ceiling when not in use).

Gonna be a bastard ripping it down and starting again when you can't get a permit from the council due to fire regulations

Get a monitored alarm. Response time isn't an issue with a good monitoring company, you can get <5 minutes response if you like.

CCTV with PVR in the roof. Don't bother if you're not going to fit good cameras.

Get to know your neighbours.

Buy a crossbow, learn how to use it.

We need some sort of vigilante justice in New Zealand. I would love to bury some of these people alive... seems like a pretty nasty way to die. Perhaps sacrificing a car... tape them, in the boot, drive the car into a river with the windows down. Not nasty enough imho, but a pretty good start. Burglars are scum, lots of them are school kids... using the above remedies on children that wag from school might be a start, starting with the lower socio economic areas of your city.

[Jimmy B]

The only point to having a monitored alarm is if your insurance company gives you a discount for having one. It still wont stop shit.

Not necessarily the only reason, we had a monitored alarm in our last place and it was broken into twice over a short period. The first was a reconnaissance, nothing was taken and they were in the place for less than 5 minutes. Security arrived in 10 and I think they were probably watching the house after they left to see what would happen.

Second time they came in through the back, the sensors there have no delay and they ran straight out the front door, less than a minute, security arrived in 5 minutes. The spooky thing is the alarm was activated 5 minutes after my wife left to go shopping.

Never had a problem again and apart from having the front and back doors crow bared open, nothing was taken. I think if the Alarm had not been monitored then they would have got what they came for on the second visit

Edit, once I burnt some toast and set the smoke alarm off, the phone went 30 seconds later and it was the security company wanting to know if we were OK. Great peace of mind if it had been a real fire and we weren't there / was unconcious

[Macktheknife]

Bugger about the burglaries but sometimes it is better to just move out than continue with the shit, unpleasant but probably best.
On the other hand, a little bit of sleuthing might uncover who has the stuff that went missing, and a little chat with the right people may find the stuff returned rapidly.
Failing that there are enough people on here who know people or things that could come and have a personal chat with those responsible for nicking it in the first place, and ensure that it never happens again.