Home security advice, please!

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:03

Hi folks.

Been a spate of burglaries down my road and nearby lately, which has prompted me to look at upping my home security game from basically 0 to something decent.

Unfortunately one old dear across from me left a note on her front door saying "back at 1pm, please leave parcel behind bin", stupidly. Her house of course got burgled that morning. The street (a close) is open to the public, public parking and of course lots of random builders and rubbish collectors, posties and the lot coming and going. They went down the side alley (public shared access...) , jumped her fence and did her brand new french doors in... luckily nothing of huge value was nicked but she's obviously affected by it.

So...

I'm looking to do a self-install home burglar alarm system and hoping for recommendations for this and for general home security. I've read that the new smartphone ones are very unreliable and there are issues with the back-end involved, whereas the telephone-based ones are really solid. Thinking this:

http://www.yale.co.uk/en/yale/couk/...ies/easy-fit-telecommunicating-alarm---kit-2/

Plus a couple of the key fob accessories to make it easier to arm and disarm outside when with the kids. (get kids out, shut door, arm, go).

I'd put one of the yellow sirens up on the front of the house and one on the back by our extension. With the PIR detectors in all the main entry points including upstairs (we have an extension so that's a risky POI I think). No pets so that should be fine.

I'm also thinking about putting up a dummy CCTV camera outside in the garden and maybe another one at the garage door too.

We've currently got a porch, which we think is helping to deter burglars going in the front. It's 2 lots of doors they'd have to break into, after all. Yet I also read once that burglars quite like porches because it gives them some cover once they're in the first door for them to work on the main door...

Any recommendations for general home security tips? Much appreciated!

CapitalOne · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:23

If you are doing this yourself then take a look at HD IP CCTV - I was sceptical but the motion detection and night vision work really well. Using cloud services means you dont need to rely on an HDR box which has all the issues of somewhere safe, dry and cool to locate and all the wiring.

Good luck

Semple · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:34

If you're going to the extent of putting dummy CCTV cameras up, why not spend a small bit of money on having some real ones installed?

CapitalOne said:
If you are doing this yourself then take a look at HD IP CCTV - I was sceptical but the motion detection and night vision work really well. Using cloud services means you dont need to rely on an HDR box which has all the issues of somewhere safe, dry and cool to locate and all the wiring.

Good luck

Do they have some on-board memory? What happens if your internet connection is dropped?

I'm not against storing data on the cloud, but i'd at least think about having some kind of buffer for saving data locally before uploading to the cloud.

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:36

I don't think I really need that level of security. It might foster a degree of paranoia. I can kind of see myself monitoring it while on holiday and that sort of thing...

I'm really just looking for deterrents to put would-be burglars off, and of course an alarm system to give them a scare should they go for it.

Tackle_Berry · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:43

I have a similar Yell alarm (http://www.screwfix.com/p/yale-hsa6400-wireless-alarm-kit/54473), really pleased with it. Was easy to setup and never done a false alarm in 20 months.

I wouldn't expect it to be the best alarm and I imagine professionals could get round it pretty easy, but for the average druggy or whatever I would guess it's enough to put them off.

If your looking at camera's the Hikvision ones are great and good value, don't bother with dummies most the time you can tell they're fake at least get a faulty real camera and stick that up if you just want something there as a deterrent.

Edit* If you go for the alarm make sure to install the boxes up high so they can't access them easy. Being wireless it doesn't take much to pop them off silence them.

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:44

Ash2097 said:
I got that Yale alarm you linked, really pleased with it. Was easy to setup and never done a false alarm in 20 months.

I wouldn't expect it to be the best alarm and I imagine professionals could get round it pretty easy, but for the average druggy or whatever I would guess it's enough to put them off.

Cool that was what I was hoping. What I've read is that it's a good idea to keep the main control panel away from the main entrance areas, and use one of those spare keypads instead. That way they'd find it harder to locate the panel to disable it.

Skiddley · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:48

I would look at your physical perimiter security first. Nothing like a big gate to stop oppertunists.

I locked myself out recently, and had to think as a burgler to get in. Worth doing as you quickly identify the weakest links.

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 10:51

Skiddley said:
I would look at your physical perimiter security first. Nothing like a big gate to stop oppertunists.

I locked myself out recently, and had to think as a burgler to get in. Worth doing as you quickly identify the weakest links.

Yeh I mean there's no additional physical security that I can install really. I'm mid-terrace. There are 3 entry points - porch+inner door, over neighbour's fence then into our garden (back door), then the garage into the garden. But there's nothing I can really do about any of those. The porch is glass and timber, which is good I think - nowhere to hide in there, really.

I think it's about things like dummy cameras, big yellow alarm boxes and that sort of thing to make it look like it's not worthwhile.

a1ex2001 · 23 Jul 2015 at 11:15

mothermachine said:
Yeh I mean there's no additional physical security that I can install really. I'm mid-terrace. There are 3 entry points - porch+inner door, over neighbour's fence then into our garden (back door), then the garage into the garden. But there's nothing I can really do about any of those. The porch is glass and timber, which is good I think - nowhere to hide in there, really.

I think it's about things like dummy cameras, big yellow alarm boxes and that sort of thing to make it look like it's not worthwhile.

It's all about making your house less appealing than next door's which is why it's worth having dummy cameras and alarm boxes if nothing else. Hell even a be-ware nasty horrible dog sticker will make someone thing next door is a better option. Most burglaries are not professional jobs carried out by those that know what they are doing and case/plan the job they are opportunists dropouts looking for cash, jewellery and stuff that sells 'down the pub'

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 11:18

a1ex2001 said:
It's all about making your house less appealing than next door's which is why it's worth having dummy cameras and alarm boxes if nothing else. Hell even a be-ware nasty horrible dog sticker will make someone thing next door is a better option. Most burglaries are not professional jobs carried out by those that know what they are doing and case/plan the job they are opportunists dropouts looking for cash, jewellery and stuff that sells 'down the pub'

That was my thinking. Anything that would make them think "not worth it".

roadie · 23 Jul 2015 at 14:07

Peronally I would go down the physical security route. So better locks on the groundfloor and locks on all windows.

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 14:42

roadie said:
Peronally I would go down the physical security route. So better locks on the groundfloor and locks on all windows.

Yeh we've got a few upper floor windows that we need to replace with key locks. They are easily accessible from the extension, which is easily accessible from the neighbour's extension and the street, so that's a priority for us to sort out.

D.P. · 23 Jul 2015 at 14:53

I wouldn't use an internet or phone based system, the burglars cut the internet cable and phone line. You need a 3G connection to a call center.

Do you have pets? If not then the motion sensors are very reliable,, cheap and effective. SOme of them work OK with dogs because the are designed to ignroe the 4 feet from the floor but we have cats that will climb up anyway so had to disable the motion sensor. Instead we installed a audio sensor. This is pretty good but gives a few false positive if you drop a big china plate etc. A regular wine glass smashing is not enough though, they are quite clever and really are looking for breaking windows.

You can get a sensor for each window but the costs add up (depending on how many ground floor windows you have).

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 14:56

D.P. said:
I wouldn't use an internet or phone based system, the burglars cut the internet cable and phone line. You need a 3G connection to a call center.

Do you have pets? If not then the motion sensors are very reliable,, cheap and effective. SOme of them work OK with dogs because the are designed to ignroe the 4 feet from the floor but we have cats that will climb up anyway so had to disable the motion sensor. Instead we installed a audio sensor. This is pretty good but gives a few false positive if you drop a big china plate etc. A regular wine glass smashing is not enough though, they are quite clever and really are looking for breaking windows.

You can get a sensor for each window but the costs add up (depending on how many ground floor windows you have).

No pets, no. With the phone cable being cut, this won't stop the alarm bell sounding, so that's the main thing I would think? Do you reckon this would be a problem?

Skiddley · 23 Jul 2015 at 15:59

Bell will still sound, but the call center response is prevented.

mothermachine · 23 Jul 2015 at 16:21

Skiddley said:
Bell will still sound, but the call center response is prevented.

I'm not sure that this model actually alerts the call centre anyway.

LeeUK · 23 Jul 2015 at 17:53

Police won't attend just because some alarm company told them that there is an alarm going off. Someone needs to see burglars going in before they will attend.

I was a key holder for a high street retail chain once and this was the case.

Ivyforce · 23 Jul 2015 at 18:13

LeeUK said:
Police won't attend just because some alarm company told them that there is an alarm going off. Someone needs to see burglars going in before they will attend.

Not been my experience, one sensor activated, they wont attend in case faulty, just a phone call to key holder.

Second sensor activated they normally attend.

In fact nowadays they even call to tell me they detected a mains power cut, which when I am sitting in darkness and/or silence is daft, but nice to know they still monitoring.

D.P. · 23 Jul 2015 at 19:19

mothermachine said:
No pets, no. With the phone cable being cut, this won't stop the alarm bell sounding, so that's the main thing I would think? Do you reckon this would be a problem?

Bell ringing is pretty meaningless though. You want the security system to be linked to a call center who will phone when the alarm is tripped and ask if everything is OK, if you are out then they will call the police.

I hear a burglar alarm go off every couple of week around here and never bother sticking my head out the window. people just assume it has been set off accidentally and dont give it 2 seconds of thought.

the actual alarm is pointless, just annoys the neighbors. I'm actually looking to disable the sound on our alarm because it does nothing more than annoy the cats and baby.

D.P. · 23 Jul 2015 at 19:21

LeeUK said:
Police won't attend just because some alarm company told them that there is an alarm going off. Someone needs to see burglars going in before they will attend.

I was a key holder for a high street retail chain once and this was the case.

Pretty sure the police are legally enforced to respond to a 999 call.
If they don't turn up then you can sue the police for all their worth.

Besides which, the alarm companies also have their own security guys who will turn up.