The art of deterrence

I'm based in London, UK - so not sure if burglar culture is shared with the US/Canadians, but probably!

Thinking about deterring future burglaries of our house. We're a detached house on a pretty main road, but have vulnerabilities at the back and side. Also a bit at the front where there's a large bush providing a degree of cover for a burglar to enter (and this is where our recent entrypoint was).

Some ideas:

1) CCTV pointing at risk areas, with smart motion sensing software and some kind of indication that a presence has been detected (not a full-blown alarm) which would also send me an SMS/email. When I get the message, I can quickly review the last 5 mins of video to see if it represents a real threat.

2) Laser beam detection - eg. in front of windows where beam breaking is a pretty reliable indicator of a break-in attempt. An alarm would sound

3) Motion detectors with CCTV (similar to 1, but not so sophisticated)

4) Window-frame shock detection sensors (probably would be part of a conventional alarm)

5) Maybe some form of "pager" so I can talk to the potential intruder. Maybe that would slightly un-nerve them?

Some of the issues are:

- It should be obvious that an intruder has a high chance of being detected before they even attempt intrusion

- Don't want to go crazy just because there's a delivery being made

- Would be good if the system was self-testing (i.e. it would tell me if some part wasn't working properly)

- Simple wiring (so POE would be better than separate power & signal)

- How to program the behaviour (I guess this is an event-driven system)

In addition to this, I am looking at a fairly basic internal burglar alarm system. So interested in views on wireless vs wired, how many sensors one should have, if connecting to the police is a good idea or a waste of time, etc.

I do hope you are not expecting to get all this at a bargain bucket price. What you have asked for is a big ask and won't be possible (some of it anyway) from a low budget system. This sounds remarkable like a recent inquiry i had. I went to survey the property, I asked their budget and the cagey twit refused a direct answer. After spending about 5-6 hours preparing his quote I sent it and almost immediately got an email back saying he had a budget of around £750.00 If I'd known that I would have walked away almost immediately. How much profit did this twit think there is in CCTV? NOT Enough for me to spend the best part of a day preparing a quote and come out view the property and then supply the equipment and install it properly using quality materials AND MAKE A PROFIT ?

As long as you have a reasonable budget everything you asked for is possible.

I think however you will be really fed up with th constant emails and texts with images of the local tom-cat pissing on your prize azalia

or conifer (you might tolerate it for a week) The idea of CCTV is to give you peace of mind, and NOT to worry you to death.

Chances are if you telephone police in an emergency they won't bother to go out to the scene unless there is a car very near already, and if they know there is potential CCTV evidence your call will go to the back of the queue "oh we'll sort that one out late cos they got CCTV" How else are you going to explain there are intruders on your land when you are at the office?

Deterrent is th best you can hope for and after that capturing as much evidence as possible. You might consider PIR operated VOICE OFF units with a recorded message such as this one

You can buy ready made messages or record your own mp3 files. These units are widely available and each nit can have a single extension speaker and can play several messages according to which PIR is triggered and you also have the option of talk-through if your DVR offers that function using RS232 Hope this helps WHat area are you because I have a Voice Off demo unit if you are in my coverage area, I'd be happy to show you it in operation assuming this would be suitable for your needs

............!

I'm based in London, UK - so not sure if burglar culture is shared with the US/Canadians, but probably!

 

Thinking about deterring future burglaries of our house. We're a detached house on a pretty main road, but have vulnerabilities at the back and side. Also a bit at the front where there's a large bush providing a degree of cover for a burglar to enter (and this is where our recent entrypoint was).

 

Some ideas:

 

1) CCTV pointing at risk areas, with smart motion sensing software and some kind of indication that a presence has been detected (not a full-blown alarm) which would also send me an SMS/email. When I get the message, I can quickly review the last 5 mins of video to see if it represents a real threat.

 

2) Laser beam detection - eg. in front of windows where beam breaking is a pretty reliable indicator of a break-in attempt. An alarm would sound

 

3) Motion detectors with CCTV (similar to 1, but not so sophisticated)

 

4) Window-frame shock detection sensors (probably would be part of a conventional alarm)

 

5) Maybe some form of "pager" so I can talk to the potential intruder. Maybe that would slightly un-nerve them?

 

Some of the issues are:

- It should be obvious that an intruder has a high chance of being detected before they even attempt intrusion

- Don't want to go crazy just because there's a delivery being made

- Would be good if the system was self-testing (i.e. it would tell me if some part wasn't working properly)

- Simple wiring (so POE would be better than separate power & signal)

- How to program the behaviour (I guess this is an event-driven system)

 

In addition to this, I am looking at a fairly basic internal burglar alarm system. So interested in views on wireless vs wired, how many sensors one should have, if connecting to the police is a good idea or a waste of time, etc.

As a London based CCTV specialist with oer 26 years in the business, I would suggest that installing CCTV should be the lowest priority when spending your budget.

In order of priority:

Target harden - physical security install efficient locks on doors and windows that exceed insurance requirements. Make sure you use the double locking facility on uPVC doors every time (remove keys from lock and do not leave your car keys where they can be easily found). In very high risk areas install security shutters or grills.

Risk assess your boundary - Remove climbing points, aggressive planting, improve fencing, install secure gates, make sure that garages and sheds are secure.

Increase natural surveillance - remove vegetation which offers cover, install sensor driven floodlighting.

Improve deterrence - Property mark valuables and install stickers by front and rear door stating the same. Record all serial numbers and photograph valuables. Join Neighborhood Watch (if there is one) and install stickers. Get a dog.

Install a professionally monitored intruder alarm (and use it!) to maximise chances of a Police response in quick time. Consider one that includes video verification.

Once you have done all of the above then think about CCTV (make sure that images recorded do not include public areas.)

Hope this helps

Ilkie

WE know who you should contact don't we?

I would agree, intruder alarms before CCTV is right.

Oh! Just seen that I've had some replies - apologies for not responding sooner - was assuming that I'd get email notification...

In terms of budget, I'm not sure, but would consider myself lucky to get away with as little as £750, but I was intending to install this stuff myself and possibly over a period of time to ease the cashflow. Like I said, this would be the "belt" to the "braces" of a professionally installed intrusion alarm.

Some of the suggestions are a little extreme - eg. removing the vegetation and getting a dog. However, putting a sticker up advertising tagging of items is doable - although I'm skeptical about whether that would deter or encourage!

In terms of my location, I'm North London (N11) although I work in town, so regularly travel in/out.

I am wondering about using VOIP technology to do the audio stuff. I work in that area, so suspect I could put something together reasonably cheaply.

An early question would be what the panel would recommend between a kit of cameras (eg. the Swann stuff that they sell in CostCo) vs more standalone IP cams (which are more expensive, but perhaps more flexible).

The intrusion alarm that we're looking at is based on Risco Agility 3 - any good? Apparently it does have the facility to work with CCTV, but I'm not sure how that would affect my dual system approach.

By the way, the uPVC windows (Anglian, installed by the previous owners) are absolutely rubbish in terms of security - the lugs in the windows engage into metal plates which are just held by a pair of smallish screws into the uPVC frame itself - VERY easily jemmied. Someone has suggested fitting a metal lock (sash jammer?) that works in a way not a million miles different to those "crook locks" that some people have in their cars. I presume that the sash jammers can be bolted into the frame.

This is odd - thought I'd replied just a few minutes ago, but can't see anything. Oh well...

Just wondering if there's an elegant looking way to cover up a lock, particularly of the Euro-cylinder variety. For example, our rear patio doors have these things and if there was just a cover that would trip alarm when removed, that would be a good thing to have.

Our front door has proper Chubb-locks as well as the Euro-type (not even sure why we bother with the Euro-cylinder!), but the sliding doors have what I assume to be easily snappable cylinders.

Also, do we really believe that stickers saying that valuables have been property-marked have any effect? Of course it's unlikely to do any harm (Bill Burglar's hardly going to say "Ah ha! So they HAVE got some valuables...").

This is odd - thought I'd replied just a few minutes ago, but can't see anything. Oh well...

 

Just wondering if there's an elegant looking way to cover up a lock, particularly of the Euro-cylinder variety. For example, our rear patio doors have these things and if there was just a cover that would trip alarm when removed, that would be a good thing to have.

 

Our front door has proper Chubb-locks as well as the Euro-type (not even sure why we bother with the Euro-cylinder!), but the sliding doors have what I assume to be easily snappable cylinders.

 

Also, do we really believe that stickers saying that valuables have been property-marked have any effect? Of course it's unlikely to do any harm (Bill Burglar's hardly going to say "Ah ha! So they HAVE got some valuables...").

OK, suggest you read this [url http://www.northyorkshire.police.uk/8291][/url]

Ilkie

Thanks.

Strangely enough I was looking at those max security Eurocylinders just this morning. Not even sure if the current locks use them. Will have to take a look.