Home Security

We have outdoor lighting linked to motion sensors - and a large German shepherd!

It seems to be car theft that is escalating. Breaking into houses for car keys or remote scanning. The local police say they steal to order. I just have a house alarm that's on when I'm out and at night...and a car that no one wants to steal!

What happens with ring if the Wi-Fi is down? Cameras might be better. Large fierce sounding barky dog also effective even if it’s a soft Labrador.

We have an intruder alarm, CCTV and a ring doorbell.
We had a break in 5 years ago, the intruders were clear on the CCTV, they were arrested and imprisoned.
We had gone out for dinner and not put the alarm on!

We recently changed our outdated alarm, we also have motion sensors which light up the whole of the back and side of the house, timed spotlights front and back under the eaves, cameras front and back and timers on lights.

We have motion-activated outside lights, and a small but very noisy dog who barks when so much as a leaf blows by. Annoying most of the time... 🐕

I cannot see the point of security lights. All you do is light up the surroundings and make it easier for any intruder to scout the ground and decide what to do and where. the back of our house is pitch black and completely unoverlooked. An intruder would need a decent torch to work out the best way to get in

We have an intruder alarm, which we always set when we leave the house. It seems to work because we have had no breakins for over 25 years.

As for cars, ours are all well over 10 years old and not popular makes or models, so no market for them overseas, and distinctive if used for crime locally.

We have security lights, alarm and a ring doorbell. Safe area but rural so a bit isolated.

We have motion activated lights front and back and a ring doorbell - so do most people around us.

Motion activated lights are useful for lighting up nefarious activity which scares away the perpetrators.

Motion lights are only useful for lighting up nefarious activity if there is someone to notice, but if anyone snooping around a house that they have first ascertained is (temporally) unoccupied then all lights do is make their work easier for them. then there are the cats, foxes etc that activate the lights.

What scared away our potential intruders, who had failed to see the alarm box, was the burglar alarm going off when they jemmied a window - and all the neighbours rupting in the street when they heard it go off.

Our security lights suddenly coming on would be enough to scare off a burglar, regardless of the ferocious barking. It wouldn’t make their job easier. We live in a ‘dark sky’ village and the security lights suddenly coming on is quite something.

Our neighbours had their 11yo car stolen overnight at the weekend. It’s a particular type of car and over a dozen have been stolen in the last month locally, so it sounds like planned crimes.

We have a motion activated security light at the back. For some odd reason, it comes on when it’s raining. 🌧️ At the Fri t we have a street light. We have a modern house with up to date locking systems on doors and windows. I haven’t noticed any houses with a burglar alarm but I’ll now keep an eye out to see if I can spot any.

I believe a lot of Ford Fiesta cars are being pinched for the spare parts.

SueDonim was it a Ford Fiesta? Older FF are very popular among car thieves.

Dogs are a definite intruder put-off, but if a house is empty and there is no one overlooking a back garden to notice if security come on, no determined intruder will worry about them.

We live in a row of very old houses where both our neighbours have barns ranges running at right angles to the road for about 50 feet. It effectively stops any of us seeing into each others gardens and blocks any light coming from security lights.

We have a burglar alarm, motion lights at the front and a cctv cameras. The camera is in a window so can’t be tampered with.
Also a very substantial 6ft gate leading to the back garden.

Indeed it was, Monica! It was quite a fancy model - both this couple like their cars, he has a special version Audi. They’re such a nice young couple.

Many years ago, as a single mum of three girls, I asked for a visit from my local crime prevention team (do they still exist I wonder?). An officer came round and gave advice on securing windows, doors etc. and discussed burglar alarms, but I had the feeling he was simply reciting a script, so I pushed him to tell me what security he had himself. Finally he revealed that his only security was a dog - and he said that in his opinion it was by far the best burglar deterrent to have.

Off we went to the dog’s home and bought our first dog. Sure enough, just a short time later he was barking the house down one night (not usually a barker) and the next day we discovered signs that someone had attempted a break-in. The continued barking was because our dog heard them robbing the house next door instead. 😱

We were burgled years ago. They took jewellery and DD2’s Motability Polo!

Did one of the dogs bark???

Not a peep out of any of them, until the Police arrived the following morning and they barked the place down!!

Now I make sure the alarm is on whenever I’m out of the house and overnight it’s always on.

We have had 4 break-ins or attempted break ins. The first two times we had windows securely locked, but in one case a window was jemmied. The second time the miscreant worked there way round the house breaking ground floor sash windows until he found one where he could get in without cutting himself.

We then put in a ground floor alarm in a tall, high ceilinged Victorian semi, overlooking a very busy traffic light controlled junction that our house dominated like a light house.

Third time, at around 8.00pm on a light bright summer Saturday evening someone climbed a drain pipe at the front of the house, inched his way along the front of the house at first floor level using a narrow (+/- 4 inches) decorative noggin to get to the middle window of three large sash windows, which had been left open about one inch, pulled the sash down and climbed in. All in full sight of all the traffic at the traffic lights. After scouting around upstairs and finding nothing worth stealing, he went downstairs, set the alarm off - and scarpered.

When the police came, despite the window being wide open and there being trainer prints on the window sill and radiator the police refused to believe the intruder had got in that way. It was only when they had inspected every other window and door in the house and found them locked tight and untouched that they finally accepted what had actually happened - and they were completely gobsmacked. It was the talk of the police staion for a week and, I was told, a lot of the police members, drove past our house just to see how gobsmacking it was!

Last time was over 25 years ago when we moved to our current house. Someone jemmied a window - and the burglar alarm went off, and, again, the burglars scarpered.

In three of these four events, the cost of repairing windows cost more than what was lost. No money in the house, no jewellry. nothing readily saleable. The first one I lost all my jewellry - such as it was, mainly silver braclets. Even today the value of what I lost was well under £1,000.