House Burgled - What Alarm System?
Discussion
Got home from dinner Fri to find the garden door smashed in and £20-30k worth of gold and cash taken.
They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
TheGreatDane said:
Got home from dinner Fri to find the garden door smashed in and £20-30k worth of gold and cash taken.
They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
Sounds like an inside job if they went straight to where the valuables were. If I were keeping that sort of cash/gold in the house I would want an alarm linked to a security company/police to attend when it is triggered.They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
Sorry to hear about that, must be an awful feeling.
I found these "secured by design" guides quite useful when thinking about home security.
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/m...
https://www.securedbydesign.com/images/HOMES_GUIDE...
Main point for me was that an alarm system needs to fit in amongst a layered security approach. No point having the best alarm if you have crap windows and doors, or a nice concealed entrance way that affords a burglar the privacy to work away out of sight.
Think about the bigger picture and getting a series of security measures in place.
I found these "secured by design" guides quite useful when thinking about home security.
https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/m...
https://www.securedbydesign.com/images/HOMES_GUIDE...
Main point for me was that an alarm system needs to fit in amongst a layered security approach. No point having the best alarm if you have crap windows and doors, or a nice concealed entrance way that affords a burglar the privacy to work away out of sight.
Think about the bigger picture and getting a series of security measures in place.
greygoose said:
Sounds like an inside job if they went straight to where the valuables were. If I were keeping that sort of cash/gold in the house I would want an alarm linked to a security company/police to attend when it is triggered.
It's what they do, even to the lowliest of homes. Most people keep jewellery in the bedroom so it's the obvious place to start.rlw said:
greygoose said:
Sounds like an inside job if they went straight to where the valuables were. If I were keeping that sort of cash/gold in the house I would want an alarm linked to a security company/police to attend when it is triggered.
It's what they do, even to the lowliest of homes. Most people keep jewellery in the bedroom so it's the obvious place to start.In the north west there have been numerous ones done by gypsy / traveller families, see the following, b
ds!https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/crime/2019/04/...
https://www.warrington-worldwide.co.uk/2023/05/09/...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37307359
Sorry to hear that op.
We had scrotes pay us a visit three weeks ago and nextdoors dog (25 metres away) was going mental at 02:15 so they looked out the window and saw the scrotes on the garage roof prying the house window they then chased them off.
God knows how the dog knew as he couldn't have seen them.
Mrs and Niece were in the house I then had to come home from work and book a week off whilst they settled down and I introduced more security measures.
Got faces on the CCTV and the Ring doorbell Police not interested I also now have names for all four scrotes Police still not interested.
Get your neighbours to get a dog.
We had scrotes pay us a visit three weeks ago and nextdoors dog (25 metres away) was going mental at 02:15 so they looked out the window and saw the scrotes on the garage roof prying the house window they then chased them off.
God knows how the dog knew as he couldn't have seen them.
Mrs and Niece were in the house I then had to come home from work and book a week off whilst they settled down and I introduced more security measures.
Got faces on the CCTV and the Ring doorbell Police not interested I also now have names for all four scrotes Police still not interested.
Get your neighbours to get a dog.
Oh goodness, how awful. As a family, it's happened to us twice (across two houses), it's a truly stomach churning feeling.
Couple of points (from discussion with police etc):
1) Nothing is infallible, ultimately someone could come along with an EMP gun and disable your home. You simply need to be more secure than next door - yes, it's an arms race but if they've got nothing, you only need a dummy alarm box etc to make them think twice about which property to go for.
2) Dogs are a real turn off. Even the threat of a dog. We've ultimately put "beware of the dog" signs all round the property on advice of the police. Have to reassure the post man at first (and the cat) but it's a cheap deterrent. If I ever find one of those bark simulators that sounds half decent, we'll get that next.
3) If you have a nice car and can garage it, you should. For as much of the time as possible. One of our break ins may have been inspired by the sight of my TVR.
We're now in the country and a bit remote so going down the CCTV option etc but for most it's not necessary. We've also purchased a safe for the bits we'd really hate to lose (fire or theft).
If you are going down the alarm route, may be worth looking at some of the US stuff. They aren't subject to the "but you mustn't make the little darlings deaf or strobe them into having a seizure" rules that EU/UK will be bound to...
Couple of points (from discussion with police etc):
1) Nothing is infallible, ultimately someone could come along with an EMP gun and disable your home. You simply need to be more secure than next door - yes, it's an arms race but if they've got nothing, you only need a dummy alarm box etc to make them think twice about which property to go for.
2) Dogs are a real turn off. Even the threat of a dog. We've ultimately put "beware of the dog" signs all round the property on advice of the police. Have to reassure the post man at first (and the cat) but it's a cheap deterrent. If I ever find one of those bark simulators that sounds half decent, we'll get that next.
3) If you have a nice car and can garage it, you should. For as much of the time as possible. One of our break ins may have been inspired by the sight of my TVR.
We're now in the country and a bit remote so going down the CCTV option etc but for most it's not necessary. We've also purchased a safe for the bits we'd really hate to lose (fire or theft).
If you are going down the alarm route, may be worth looking at some of the US stuff. They aren't subject to the "but you mustn't make the little darlings deaf or strobe them into having a seizure" rules that EU/UK will be bound to...
TheGreatDane said:
Got home from dinner Fri to find the garden door smashed in and £20-30k worth of gold and cash taken.
They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
The one you install before the break in, not after.They went straight to the master bedroom, no other room was touched bar opening the doors.
Naturally everyone is paranoid beyond belief now.
I was wondering what alarm system is the best one to get?
But if you're serious about it, then a proper monitored alarm may at least make them think about going next door instead.
Oh and don't keep that amount of cash and valuables insecurely in the house.
Sorry to hear that.....but £20k-£30k of cash and gold in the house ! Really ! You should have had a hidden safe, that's where I'd start if I even considered having anything close to that amount of valuables in the house (I don't !).
As well as alarm, garden lights / PIR that trigger an alarm or beep inside the house when triggered. We have these and over the years, anyone wandering onto the drive in the night always scarper pretty quick when the lights are triggered and simultaneously it beeps loudly inside the house. Good deterrent to get them to move onto someone else. Rarely triggered by animals though once we had a deer get into the back garden and the lights / alarm went mental with the damn thing running around trying to remember where it got in :-)
Also agree with the advice above (and reference to the lights/PIR/beeper)...layers of security. Need to think of the whole, not single solutions.
I'd still buy a safe.
As well as alarm, garden lights / PIR that trigger an alarm or beep inside the house when triggered. We have these and over the years, anyone wandering onto the drive in the night always scarper pretty quick when the lights are triggered and simultaneously it beeps loudly inside the house. Good deterrent to get them to move onto someone else. Rarely triggered by animals though once we had a deer get into the back garden and the lights / alarm went mental with the damn thing running around trying to remember where it got in :-)
Also agree with the advice above (and reference to the lights/PIR/beeper)...layers of security. Need to think of the whole, not single solutions.
I'd still buy a safe.
Edited by Steve Campbell on Wednesday 10th May 17:36
We used to have an ERA (self installed alarm system) but I swapped it over to a Ring one which I think is a really decent system and definitely more reliable than the ERA. A couple of CCTV cameras front and back then allow us to remotely monitor the house should it go off. We've only ever had one false alarm over the course of two years which I think was the dog knocking something over and setting a motion detector off.
We had a break in shortly after moving to a new home, ironically the day before the security company were due to install a system. And no it wasn’t an inside job!
Rather than internal alarms they installed cameras outside and cover each face of the house. Linked to a monitoring station with hi res recordings stored for about a month. Best thing IMO is the speaker on the roof so if a scrote tries to break in the voice of God will bellow at them.
Rather than internal alarms they installed cameras outside and cover each face of the house. Linked to a monitoring station with hi res recordings stored for about a month. Best thing IMO is the speaker on the roof so if a scrote tries to break in the voice of God will bellow at them.
gred said:
We had a break in shortly after moving to a new home, ironically the day before the security company were due to install a system. And no it wasn’t an inside job!
Rather than internal alarms they installed cameras outside and cover each face of the house. Linked to a monitoring station with hi res recordings stored for about a month. Best thing IMO is the speaker on the roof so if a scrote tries to break in the voice of God will bellow at them.
"Get back you bRather than internal alarms they installed cameras outside and cover each face of the house. Linked to a monitoring station with hi res recordings stored for about a month. Best thing IMO is the speaker on the roof so if a scrote tries to break in the voice of God will bellow at them.
d or I'll break your legs"myvision said:
Sorry to hear that op.
We had scrotes pay us a visit three weeks ago and nextdoors dog (25 metres away) was going mental at 02:15 so they looked out the window and saw the scrotes on the garage roof prying the house window they then chased them off.
God knows how the dog knew as he couldn't have seen them.
Mrs and Niece were in the house I then had to come home from work and book a week off whilst they settled down and I introduced more security measures.
Got faces on the CCTV and the Ring doorbell Police not interested I also now have names for all four scrotes Police still not interested.
Get your neighbours to get a dog.
Surely that's worth a letter to the crime commissioner, chief constable, local mp, etc. Squeaky hinge and all that. We had scrotes pay us a visit three weeks ago and nextdoors dog (25 metres away) was going mental at 02:15 so they looked out the window and saw the scrotes on the garage roof prying the house window they then chased them off.
God knows how the dog knew as he couldn't have seen them.
Mrs and Niece were in the house I then had to come home from work and book a week off whilst they settled down and I introduced more security measures.
Got faces on the CCTV and the Ring doorbell Police not interested I also now have names for all four scrotes Police still not interested.
Get your neighbours to get a dog.
We've got an Ajax alarm. Not cheap but it's got lots of clever features and can be configured in lots of different ways to suit whatever you want. particularly useful is geofence which means if you go out and forget to set the alarm it'll send your phone a notification when you're about 30 meters away and you just unlock your phone to arm it (same when you return in order to disarm it). If you're getting cameras with a suitable NVR you can set a 'line' on any of the camera's images so that if anything moves on that line the alarm is triggered.
In theory, you need to get Ajax installed by a pro but it's easy to get hold of and easy to set up, configure and control just using your phone.
In theory, you need to get Ajax installed by a pro but it's easy to get hold of and easy to set up, configure and control just using your phone.
https://ajax.systems/
https://cctvdirect.co.uk/collections/ajax-wireless...
Wifi and mobile network connection. Wireless between receivers and box. Beauty is you can put electronic relays in the system, so mine is linked to 3 external floodlights and a very loud mains powered alarm. Place lights up like a Christmas tree when it goes off. Can also link CCTV cameras etc into it.
https://cctvdirect.co.uk/collections/ajax-wireless...
Wifi and mobile network connection. Wireless between receivers and box. Beauty is you can put electronic relays in the system, so mine is linked to 3 external floodlights and a very loud mains powered alarm. Place lights up like a Christmas tree when it goes off. Can also link CCTV cameras etc into it.
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