To ask about your home security

[Homesecurity]

Regular on mumsnet but name change for privacy.

Posting here for traffic.

We were burgled recently and because of this DH would like to install home security. I’m all for this however would like to be sensible. The sh*ts came through the back garden which is off a private road.

We are looking at home systems from Ring as this is what we can afford and they seem to have good reviews. We will be getting a cctv camera at the front of our house and ring home security alarm kit for indoors. But I can’t decide what to get for the garden, a cctv with 2 way audio which records seems a lot for a garden as the only time it will be useful is if we were burgled again (hopefully, statistically this will not happen for a very long time), I understand the cctv will deter people though.

Do others have cctv in the garden? Or what security measures do you have ?

We have a PIR operated light on an outbuilding , it lights the whole back garden as soon as anyone (deer, fox, human) gets in the garden. Burglars don't like being on full view.

If I were you I’d install the cameras at all entrances, otherwise the ones you do have might be useless if an intruder uses the other entrance. I’d prioritise the back garden as this was considered the weakest point by the burglars recently.

We have Ring doorbell at front and back-really happy with it

The back has cameras and lights that are triggered by motion sensors so any movement results in garden being flooded with light and on camera-an excellent deterrent!

Not terribly expensive and sleep better for it!

I’m really sorry to hear you were burgled. It’s very distressing - we had intruders in the garage last year, whilst we were asleep.

To be honest, we have cameras, and the intruders were in full view of our Nest cameras for 20-30 minutes. They weren’t bothered. What did bother them was that they tripped the alarm. We have an adt alarm that we set every night before bed.

The footage that we have is from about 4am so is grainy and hard to see, they have big hoods. It might have been more useful in daylight, but they really didn’t care that they could be seen.

CCTV isn’t a deterrent. We’ve had bikes and a car stolen and each time was caught on visible cameras so it clearly made no difference whatsoever. What did make a difference was the car’s tracker as we got it back pretty quickly! I’d get a good alarm and look at your doors/windows where they gained entry to see what you can improve.

Also a sign on the gate with massive dogs guarding property printed on it

We are terrible so watching with interest. We have gates which we leave on automatic open and about 12 cameras around the property which we keep switched off as well as an alarm we've never turned on. All installed by previous owner (who also commissioned a built in gun cabinet and had German shepherds!) and we haven't figured out how to use most of it though we did switch on the cameras to watch the nesting housemartins over the summer...

Get door/glass alarms. Cctv is good for catching who but won’t always stop people.

Sorry to hear this happened to you. If you go for cameras then ensure you have excellent lighting- CCTV is really let down in poor lighting as it makes it impossible to identify anyone.

Most Police forces have local crime prevention officers who can come round and assess your property and make suggestions for you, maybe try contacting your local force to ask?

A dog who does not like having strangers in the house and will make a hell of a load of noise if someone he doesn’t recognise tries to enter. The noise would be enough to put most would-be thieves off as he sounds a lot bigger and scarier than he is.

We have four PIR sensor floodlights covering the back garden nearest the house and side entrance to the house. We also have door / window contacts on every downstairs entryway (which trip the alarm if opened) which you can actually see from outside if you were to look through the windows which should hopefully deter burglars. Inside there are motion sensor PIRs to trigger the inside alarm as well. Outside we have a Yale alarm box, front and back (obviously connected) and CCTV. Our CCTV is very good quality (can see faces, films in colour at night etc).

Personally I think we're a bit OTT but I'm anxious so, it helps with that! We got told burglars look for dark quiet areas, so lights / things that make a noise will put them off.

Yale keyless digital door locks , with new composite doors (My old insurance waved my excess for getting these locks, after burglary) there brilliant.

Doorbell is Eufy 2k with home hub. No subscription and fat better quality than ring. Can also connect to Alexa and smart lights so I have mine to turn on halfway lights ect when motion is detected on my path.

CCTV Reolink again there packages are excellent, cheap and the quality is excellent, i have used them for years.

Nothing.

Just a dog that barks at the slightest noise

just a quick tip also if you get CCTV cameras with IR (infra red) illumination / night vision. Choose ones that you can turn off the IR LEDs and get a separate IR floodlight for the camera. The IR lights attract spiders, so CCTV cameras with IR built in end up getting spiders building webs over the lense constantly 😉

Cameras are okay but they don't deter many burgers if you have something they want enough.
A dog is one of the best deterents, of course that is a big commitment so not for everyone.

I have cameras covering the entrances (inside and out) plus internal ones that I only turn on when I'm out.

It's best to have infrared ones that can pick people out in darkness. If you're covering a large area get a separate infrared floodlight because built in ones tend to be designed for indoor use and aren't that powerful.

Consider having a couple of different methods too, such as one that uploads footage to the cloud and another that records it onto a hard drive or SD card. At least if the cloud service fails you still have the other system in place.

Note that cloud systems (that don't also record to SD card) are more vulnerable. If your internet is down, or the burglar cuts the telephone wire outside, you're screwed. On the other hand if it's recorded onto a system in the property there is the risk that the burglar will steal or destroy it. That's why it's best to have a combination of both.

A battery-powered system is a good idea in case there is a power cut (or the intruders kill the power) but make sure that you keep an eye on the charge levels.

Personally I like to have a mixture of obvious cameras and hidden ones, my thinking being that while they are disabling or avoiding the overt cameras, they're being captured on the hidden ones. If your camera will be recording other people's property or a public road/footpath it's best to use hidden cameras, people get irrationally annoyed when they know you're filming them. Technically if you're doing this you're putting yourselves into the realm of being a commercial data controller so the rules (and fines) are harsher.

I don’t have a dog unfortunately but I think after the comments here and reading reviews I am going to go with cctv floodlights at the back and front.

I will also call the forensic team who is dealing with the investigation for advice

Thanks all

I don't live in the UK but here it's very common to have security bars on the windows. The people who lived in our house previously also had internal and external CCTV and door alarms but they aren't active at the moment.

The security bars are crazy strong - we had some windows replaced and they removed the bars (I was annoyed they did that but whatever) and it took a guy almost a whole day to remove the bars from three windows using an angle grinder and various other power tools!

We have a ring door bell and a ring Camera in the back garden.

Clarity is great

We have a ring doorbell at the front and Verisure inside and out the back of the house...feel safe and secure

We have a monitored alarm system so if they are triggered, the police are round within 15 mins. It's actually a condition of our home insurance, it costs about £60 a month but worth it for the peace of mind. We also had it installed after a burglary, it's a horrible experience OP, I hope you're getting through it OK.

We have loads as it was mainly already here when we bought the house. CCTV, gate into the drive has a video phone as well as coded pad, motion sensor lights, sensor alarmed windows, panic buttons in the house etc. I can only imagine the previous owner wanted the same security as the multi million pound houses on the road. 🤷🏼‍♀️

We also have a ring doorbell and appear to have adopted a couple of German Shepherds which I think is far more security than we really need. I also think anyone getting past all the security we have will be very disappointed at the end.

How much do all the lights and cameras and alarms cost? I know it varies enormously, but a rough guide, or if some posters could give figures would be helpful and interesting.
I have a burglar alarm that I never turn on because I have forgotten the code, and a dog who no longer barks much as he's losing his hearing. I was also told that as the alarm has a sensor in the room he sleeps in, him moving would trigger it.
I have single glazed sash windows and think my house would be easy to get into

We've had 4 attempted burglaries despite CCTV. Completely useless unless you enjoy watching them break in. They are usually hooded up so not identifiable.

Only one was successful and we had a dog so didn't have the alarm on. We stepped up security after this, they had to break through at least 2 locked doors to enter any of the doors and we always had the alarm on at night and as soon as we left the house. I'd recommend a driveway sensor, fantastic to let you know as soon as someone is on your property. The last attempt we had we were woken by the sensor, switched our lights on and they scarpered.

We've moved and have bought a new wireless alarm system including door sensors, glass smashing sensors.