Security 101 after having been burgled

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#3230498 14-May-2024 19:44

A workmate of my wife was burgled a couple of years back, while she was away. When she got back she put up cameras, bars over the windows, better locks, strengthened everything. A few weeks after that the guy came back, didn't care about the video cameras, just smashed in the door and took all the new things. The police knew exactly who it was but declined to follow up. If someone wants to get in, they will get in, and they don't care if you know who they are.

Gordy7

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#3230506 14-May-2024 20:19

The most important thing for me is to protect my computer records in the event of fire and theft.

- All my storage is encrypted.

- I have my main computer storage and 2 other remote storage sites using Samsung T7 USB SSDs.

Of course all of this will be a waste of time if the Hikurangi Fault lets loose.... but I probably won't be around to care 😃

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TAKid

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#3231010 15-May-2024 21:47

heavenlywild:

jjnz1:

A burglars residential house checklist:

Is the house exterior well lit?
Can I see cameras?
Can I see an alarm?
Do they have dogs?
Are there gravel paths around the house which makes noise when I sneak around?
Is the house and entry points visible from the road?

If you say no to all of these things, you are screwed.

And I always leave.a pair of shoes outside the front door for good measure.

Wellingtondave

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#3231481 16-May-2024 21:16

timmmay:

A workmate of my wife was burgled a couple of years back, while she was away. When she got back she put up cameras, bars over the windows, better locks, strengthened everything. A few weeks after that the guy came back, didn't care about the video cameras, just smashed in the door and took all the new things. The police knew exactly who it was but declined to follow up. If someone wants to get in, they will get in, and they don't care if you know who they are.

Yes, this is when real time alerting / snapshots / video comes in.

If there's an active break / prowler the Police are interested. They've hoofed it to mine with dogs when alerted within a couple of minutes.

martyyn

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#3232392 19-May-2024 12:17

Back to this now I have the time to work out what I need.

To answer a couple of points made by others.

You can access every property on our street easily from the front. No fences, no gates and infact I would say of the 80-odd properties around here you could access the property on almost all of them without even trying. It's an old-school, beach suburb with a mix of proper old batches, 60's houses, 80's lockwoods and the odd recent mansion on the waterfront.

At the back of our property we have 5/6 other properties all accessible by jumping a fence. Three of us have been burgled.

We think they broke into my office during the day, it's a caravan at the back of the property which can't be seen unless you go right to the back of our property, or look over the fence ! There was a car on the driveway and shoes at the door. They drilled out the hinges and lifted the door out. Two neighbours are doing renovations and power tools are going pretty much all day, seven days a week so no-one would bat an eyelid at hearing another one.

Four neighbours (that we know of) have also been burgled. One has a dog and they hit him one evening when the dog was elsewhere. They turned the house upside down of another but only took food. Another has been burgled three times and they took the insurance replacement tools each time. The fourth they entered when the owners were in another part of the house taking off when he walked in on them.

So that might answer some of the myths people have mentioned !

I forgot one more. A local business, a few km's away from here was hit twice. The first time they took the tools they would need to get into their shipping containers. I'll let you work out what they did the second time.

There was a meeting with the local police this week where they admitted they don't have the resources to have the local station populated 24x7. Everyone in town knows the local station closes at 9PM and the closest station is at least 30 minutes away, so you can pretty much do what you like after dark.

So what do I do from here ?

With a large open section, a house, garage and office all spread out I don't think it's going to be cost effective to cover it all with cameras. So I'm thinking I cover the outside areas with lights and the insides with cameras. If someone wants to get in they will. But if they are in, I want to be notified and I want to record what they do. There is power and internet to both the garage and office, so that should be relatively easy.

Any cameras on the outside of the "hidden" side of the house would be high up, so easy to hide faces from and would overlook our neighbour which I don't feel comfortable with so I may have to think this area though. It's also where all the bedrooms are for both houses, so lights going on when the local cats are cruising about isn't going to be very welcome.

martyyn

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#3232420 19-May-2024 13:26

Ok, I've decided to go with Eufy and have ordered the EufyCam floodlight which will cover the entirety of the back garden and replace our aging floodlight which rarely detects us arriving at night these days anyway.

So, now I have the hidden side of the house and the front. I've pretty much decided on a S40 for the hidden side because that has all day sun, all year around, so should just be plug and play. But for the front of the house I'm trying to decide on another S40 or a doorbell.

It's a reasonable amount of garden and driveway to cover, we don't have that many visitors and the local couriers know to delivery to the back of the house, so is the added functionality a doorbell offers worth it over a plug and play camera which will cover everything?

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heavenlywild

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#3232421 19-May-2024 13:36

Good choice, Eufy has been awesome for us.

Over time cover the outside fully. And, Eufy has many internal cameras as well. The internal one that can rotate can also do 24/7 recording.

Any questions just shout out.

martyyn

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#3232426 19-May-2024 15:18

I'm not so worried about indoor cameras. If I can see people getting in and see them carrying items out, that's enough for me I think.

The only question now is whether the S40 is overkill for peering down the side of the house which is a patch 20m by 2m at best and whether I really need to cover the front given it's openness I can't imagine anyone trying to break in whilst in full view of our neighbour and the street.

heavenlywild

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#3232428 19-May-2024 15:25

martyyn:

I'm not so worried about indoor cameras. If I can see people getting in and see them carrying items out, that's enough for me I think.

The only question now is whether the S40 is overkill for peering down the side of the house which is a patch 20m by 2m at best and whether I really need to cover the front given it's openness I can't imagine anyone trying to break in whilst in full view of our neighbour and the street.

Like insurance, you don't wanna have any regrets. Put them all up so there are no regrets.

Check out the outdoor 360 degree unit.

k1w1k1d

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#3232443 19-May-2024 16:41

Are burglar alarms still a good idea, or do people just ignore them?

timmmay

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#3232447 19-May-2024 16:57

Cameras don't such much prevent crime so much as let you get video of it happening. Many criminals don't care if they're caught on video. Alarms make a loud noise inside and which will probably deter burglars and attract unwanted attention, a monitored alarm is even better because someone comes to see what's going on.

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martyyn

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#3232451 19-May-2024 17:15

Car alarms went off daily when we lived in Kelburn. No one even blinked.

We had a house alarm go off at 10pm once when my wife was away and I was out.

None of our neighbours called either us and they all had our mobile numbers. I got back at 1.30am just as the police arrived.

At least with a camera I'll be alerted, I can check the video and if anyone is in the house I can luck of the alarm.

heavenlywild

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#3232458 19-May-2024 17:23

Yeah no one does anything when an alarm goes off nowadays.

It forms parr of a defence but not the full solution.

martyyn

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#3234700 25-May-2024 21:11

Here's something I wish I'd read up on before making my purchases.

Motion detection in the dark is roughly 6-8m for the s340.

Pretty useless when we have 20m of fence line to monitor.

heavenlywild

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#3234702 25-May-2024 21:29

Well for a wireless option it's not bad but for your needs you would need multiple cameras obviously.

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