Burglar alarms

Burglar alarms go off around here and nobody pays any attention.
I have an alarm but I also have CCTV with large notices warning of 24/7 video recording. Does it work ? Does it heck, someone broke into the car on the drive, right under the camera.

I’d get one for peace of mind. We had when we moved here one in and the outside box was very dated an electrician updated the box with his details on and the box has a strobe light which you can see in the dark, I think you would like that. Alarms go off in power cuts sometimes if the battery needs renewing, during a power cut the system uses the battery.

Never had one and they do tend to get ignored but they can be off putting to opportunist burglars apparently. I've always had dogs which bark madly when anyone comes near . Saw a programme once with a reformed burglar saying a barking dog is the one thing that they tend to pay heed to and move on. However, it's not always the case. My Aunt had a black Lab who was in when the hose was ransacked. The burglars, clearly dog lovers had left him sausages and a squeaky toy to keep him entertained.Not the best guard dog!

Last time our alarm was serviced the electrician asked me to give him the code so that he could do the necessary work. I refused and he couldn't understand why . The man who fitted it and serviced it for years always simply asked me to enter the number on the keyboard while he looked away. No point having an alarm if all and sundry know the code (a neighbour does for emergencies, though).

Live on a smallish estate build 20 yrs ago modern houses. The alarms are going off constantly no one takes blind bit of notice..only that wish they would shut up..

When we last lived here in the NE, 20 years ago, there were many burglaries. And car thefts. We had two of each. So we got a burglar alarm and it did seem to deter the main villains, who were caught by the police eventually.
The insurance companies had started to put up their premiums because of all the claims.
Since our return we don't have an alarm, but it's only rarely that we both leave the house for long.

Salsaqueens's husband is confused if he thinks that an alarm just highlights that the house is empty. How could that be? The alarm goes off when the burglar breaks in, not while he is walking around wondering which one to rob!

If you have a visible alarm, a potential housebreaker will go and find a house without one - anything for an easy life, why risk alerting the police when there is a soft option elsewhere?

If he doesn't see one on your house, you will be the one he/she moves on to when he sees that your neighbour has one.

I refuse to have one , it just screams and no one takes notice round here , except to complain about the noise ! One neighbour has an alarm installed by her son , she won't set it , instead she pulls a chest of drawers across her door , she says she would have a heart attack if it went off

The police recommend home owners “install a visual burglar alarm” with a box on the outside of the house. But the police say it must be as part of a suite of prevention measures because “a burglar alarm on its own will not prevent entry to your home”. isecuritysolutions.co.uk/domestic-home/

Eglantine Neighbours may come out to see what's happening if it goes off .... that's a good thing..... but you are ignoring the deterrent factor of having an alarm box outside (and these days they are lit up to draw attention to them at night), and the "scare factor" for a trespasser of it going off if someone does try the doors.

I'm a decisive person so I find it hard to understand your indecision after a week of reading 3 pages of posts in answer to your query.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I’m still undecided. It does seem to rely on neighbours coming out to see what’s happening. Think I’ll probably wait and see what everyone else in the road does.

( Dear Lord, a friend once accused me of being “Just a tag-a-long”. I think he was right.)

When we first had our alarm we had a monitoring contract. An attempted breakin was aborted when the alarm rang. The neighbours were out within a minute. The police did not arrive for 30 minutes. (this was a long time ago. I suspect it would be nearer 3 days these days!).

We always use the alarm when we leave the house, even for a short walk. What is the point of paying all that money for an alarm if you do not use it?

We had an attempted break-in with in days of the alarm being installed. As we live in a listed building we had the alarm on the side of the house rather than the front and the hopeful intruders didn't see it. They certainly heard it when they jemmied the window - and did a runner. Fortunately, the lock was weak and gave, so no damage was done to the window. We just fitted a better lock.

Re reduction in insurance premium. I don't think you are covered if you haven't set the alarm.

Forgive me if you know this Eglantine but there are different types of burglar alarms, so do not be under the illusion that the police will necessarily hot foot it round to your house if one goes off. A basic bell alarm merely rings audibly if tripped, and that is all. Will depend on neighbours or those nearby to investigate. Some will be connect automatically to your smart phone or designated numbers to let you know it has gone off. Some are monitored by a company, for an annual fee, and they will inform you, or designated key holder when the alarm goes off. Some require a much larger annual fee and are monitored and the company will also contact the police when your alarm triggers. There's no guarantee of a rapid response by the police even for this type of alarm because they will prioritise according to availability of resources.

We inherited one with the house and do use it particularly when we go away.

As to do they work - yes! Two occasions spring to mind - once when a friend was staying I showed her to the bedroom she was to sleep in when she arrived but didn't go over the 'facilities' (thought it was obvious where the light switches were!). We went to bed and about 20 minutes later I heard a car door shut. Peering round the curtains, I saw two policemen getting out of their car! I grabbed my dressing gown and went down to see what was wrong. It seemed that in the dark my friend had pressed both buttons of he emergency call that were in her room!!!

On another occasion I'd been to visit my mum for the weekend (DH was away) and came back to find the porch door locked with a piece of paper taped on the other side (it's glass). Went round to the front door, intending to use the spare key to open it and found it was unlocked. The note was from the police who'd had an alarm for our house and had come - had a nice chat with the policeman on the other end of the number to ring on the note and got my porch door key back from the local station!

How much you have to steal has nothing whatsoever to do with the risk of you having a break-in.

Over 4 break-ins/attempted break-ins, the value of good stolen was less than £300. The cost of repairs to the windows, came to nearer £1,000. The sentimental value of what I lost is immeasureable.

I’ve never bothered before because I’ve never had anything that you couldn’t go to the shop and replace fairly cheaply.

Eglantine For me it's not that I have valuable goods that would cost a lot to replace but the bad feeling that someone had been in my house and invaded my space .... and having once been married to a detective, I know that sometimes an intruder will vandalise the place, wee on your bed or whatever, just for the sake of it.

Around us people do react because we do not have any going off unnecessarily. Most, if not all of them, were professionally installed by reputable installers and are service regularly.

You are right about frames MOnica. Our house was burgled some years ago (no alarm) and the back door frame and panel were kicked in. The police seem to manage when raiding houses and batter doors open, even double glazed ones!

Nobody reacts really....the house opposite ours with an alarm that’s forever ‘going off’. We now ignore it....it’s like the boy crying wolf....too many alarms going off all the time. There’s nobody listening anymore. Get an empty box...just as off-putting maybe.

With four break ins or attempted breakins over our lifetime where the cost of repairing the damage done to the house trying to get in far exceeded the cost of anything stolen, I will rely on the alarm, visible on the outside of the house to do its job.

What matters is not the strength and complexity of the locks but the strength of the window or door frame. We have had window frames smashed and broken out around locks that remained firmly locked.

When we lived in a London suburb (high crime rates) we had an alarm system and set it every time we went out. We were never burgled although our neighbours were.

When we moved to the country we took it with us and fitted it. Our neighbours were most amused and told us people here rarely lock their doors or shut windows and everyone watches out for each other. We soon realised very few homes had alarms. It is now so long since we have set it when going out that I can't even remember how to do it. But it does give us a discount on our home insurance and it is a visual deterrent. A good dummy alarm could also be a deterrent. The only time it triggers is when there's a power cut and every time a neighbour has popped round to check on us. Base your decision on the area you live in and whether it will give you more peace of mind to have an alarm.

New homes with their modern locks are much more secure than older homes.

So, if you didn’t see a need for an alarm on your old home I would suggest that you have even less need for an alarm on a new one.

I must admit though that until we moved into our new home and became comfortable with the neighbourhood we had an alarm.

Now we never use it.

We were burgled many years ago and as the horse had bolted we had an alarm installed. At the subsequent 3 homes it’s been one of the first things we’ve purchased. I’m not entirely sure if anyone would respond to the bell but it makes me feel more secure and according to the police a burglar is more likely to choose an unalarmed house to one displaying a working alarm.