Protecting your castle…
Discussion
They say an Englishman's home is his castle right?
Well having just moved from a small apartment to a large detached home, I feel some need for home protection.
We are in a nice area but on the local groups there does seem to be a few undesirable groups mainly focused on taking tools out of sheds/workshops (which I have) and also heating oil theft (which I have too)
We have an electric gate but no CCTV. Is CCTV worth it?
A lot of the time I see people capture footage of thefts but it's dark and the wrongun's have their hoods up and the police aren't interested so is there any point?
Any other deterrents to think of?
Thanks
Well having just moved from a small apartment to a large detached home, I feel some need for home protection.
We are in a nice area but on the local groups there does seem to be a few undesirable groups mainly focused on taking tools out of sheds/workshops (which I have) and also heating oil theft (which I have too)
We have an electric gate but no CCTV. Is CCTV worth it?
A lot of the time I see people capture footage of thefts but it's dark and the wrongun's have their hoods up and the police aren't interested so is there any point?
Any other deterrents to think of?
Thanks
It's about making it less of a target than the next house. Gates so you can't see what may be pinchable is a good start but ultimately if people want to get over and have a look then they will.
Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
simon_harris said:
Make sure stuff is well secured and plenty of reactive lighting. CCTV isn’t a bad thing but generally more of a deterrent than useful if you do get burgled
We had a security survey done when we moved into our current home 6 years ago and the advice was that like car alarms and burglar alarms, reactive lighting is universally ignored by most people so doesn’t deter burglars anymore. We were advised that permanent lighting was a far greater deterrent and as such have dusk to dawn LED lights illuminating all round the house.
We had our shed/cave alarmed as part of the house set up for negligible cost.
Otherwise as said, it’s really just a case of being less desirable than alternative properties.
Decent night lighting
Gravel
Animals who will kick up merry hell at the first sound of any noise…
(Not this one though, she would just watch)
We are relatively rural, location wised.. and the best defence we have are neighbours, many of whom are farmers…
One sighting of a transit tipper, and you can hear the shotguns being racked from across the valley
Otherwise as said, it’s really just a case of being less desirable than alternative properties.
Decent night lighting
Gravel
Animals who will kick up merry hell at the first sound of any noise…
(Not this one though, she would just watch)
We are relatively rural, location wised.. and the best defence we have are neighbours, many of whom are farmers…
One sighting of a transit tipper, and you can hear the shotguns being racked from across the valley
AB said:
It's about making it less of a target than the next house. Gates so you can't see what may be pinchable is a good start but ultimately if people want to get over and have a look then they will.
Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
This.Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
CCTV, getting cameras that show they are recording (like the ubiquity kit) is a good deterrent.
Secure your boundaries as much as possible so getting on to the property is a pita, they want quick in and out. Hedging like holly or hawthorne/blackthorne is great as a security hedge.
JQ said:
We had a security survey done when we moved into our current home 6 years ago and the advice was that like car alarms and burglar alarms, reactive lighting is universally ignored by most people so doesn’t deter burglars anymore.
We were advised that permanent lighting was a far greater deterrent and as such have dusk to dawn LED lights illuminating all round the house.
Why would a light coming on attract less attention than lights that are on constantly? Surely that just means they can see what they're doing and can see what you've got to steal without even getting close?We were advised that permanent lighting was a far greater deterrent and as such have dusk to dawn LED lights illuminating all round the house.
That does explain our suburbanite neighbours though, who moved to a rural area and yet light up their house like the Shibuya Crossing every night. Their house glows like a giant 'we've got stuff to nick' beacon in the countryside!
Bloody irritating to have their lights penetrating across the fields towards our house.
Asked the insurance company about installing CCTV. Makes absolutely no difference to insurance premium which I guess tells you about how much it does to deter burglars.
Dog that barks and a gravel drive was what I was told by the police. Oh and don’t shut your dog in to a single room….mate of mine got burgled despite having a big dog. They broke in and went in to every room the dog didn’t have access to. Apparently they’ll bang on windows to alert the dog before breaking in….if it doesn’t come to the window they know the dog can’t get to that room.
Dog that barks and a gravel drive was what I was told by the police. Oh and don’t shut your dog in to a single room….mate of mine got burgled despite having a big dog. They broke in and went in to every room the dog didn’t have access to. Apparently they’ll bang on windows to alert the dog before breaking in….if it doesn’t come to the window they know the dog can’t get to that room.
AB said:
It's about making it less of a target than the next house. Gates so you can't see what may be pinchable is a good start but ultimately if people want to get over and have a look then they will.
Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
That’s all very well however my neighbours have a shed full of tools that are completely unsecured. Tried dropping hints but they don’t care. In fact the shed is not really a shed, it’s practically falling over.Realistic looking dummy CCTV cameras are probably just as useful as real ones in terms of a deterrent.
Just try and make it too much of an effort to bother with and they'll go somewhere else.
JQ said:
We had a security survey done when we moved into our current home 6 years ago and the advice was that like car alarms and burglar alarms, reactive lighting is universally ignored by most people so doesn’t deter burglars anymore.
We were advised that permanent lighting was a far greater deterrent and as such have dusk to dawn LED lights illuminating all round the house.
The same neighbours complained about the lights around my house. 5 standard leds around probably 40m perimeter…..We were advised that permanent lighting was a far greater deterrent and as such have dusk to dawn LED lights illuminating all round the house.
CCTV is good for seeing whether you actually have a problem in the local area, especially if it’s generally a quiet area. Without it I would never have known that my house and car were being targeted last summer; I would never have seen the baseball bats and machetes they turned up with one night! It at least enabled me to move my car elsewhere before it escalated further and, ultimately, sell it.
It also meant you could see how they operated and what put them off. They went to great lengths to avoid the gravel. They didn’t give a s
t about the CCTV or lights as a deterrent. They didn’t bother tampering with the timber doors with five-lever mortise locks or the ‘Secure by Design’ handles. They did, however, attempt to snap the locks of the door with the Euro cylinder lock.
The most obvious deterrent was having nothing on show to draw the attention whilst also making it inconvenient for them to get on your property. There’s something to be said for having an old, ratty car on the drive to make it look like you’ve got nothing of value!
On the other hand ignorance is bliss and there’s a chance that with CCTV it might start consuming your life!
It also meant you could see how they operated and what put them off. They went to great lengths to avoid the gravel. They didn’t give a s
t about the CCTV or lights as a deterrent. They didn’t bother tampering with the timber doors with five-lever mortise locks or the ‘Secure by Design’ handles. They did, however, attempt to snap the locks of the door with the Euro cylinder lock. The most obvious deterrent was having nothing on show to draw the attention whilst also making it inconvenient for them to get on your property. There’s something to be said for having an old, ratty car on the drive to make it look like you’ve got nothing of value!
On the other hand ignorance is bliss and there’s a chance that with CCTV it might start consuming your life!
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