CCTV - Advice & Opinions welcome

Phil_L_2

See here it has some good information.

gadjah543

The previous owners of our house had external security blinds fitted after a spate of break - ins in the area. I don't know what make they are...sorry, but I definitely think they are worth the money .

ic

On my own house, I've fitted a six foot fence surrounding the back garden, keep the side gate locked at all times, have a 500W PIR light covering the driveway at the side, and three 150W PIRs covering behind the side gate/shed, outside the kitchen, and the back of the house, and then have a PIR activated lantern by the front door. I also have an automatic light that comes on each evening in the hall. Burglars don't like to be seen when they're breaking in!

I'd agree with others, cameras generally won't help a great deal and are easily defeated by baseball caps and hoods.

Sunnyday

ic wrote: »

cameras generally won't help a great deal and are easily defeated by baseball caps and hoods.

If the person commiting the crime is known to the police or in fact anyone who views the footage the cameras can easily help identify them, the way a person walks and mannerisms etc do not change no matter how much they are covered. Cameras can also identify places where forensic evidence can be collected ie what has been touched and where the intruder has been.

I do understand what is being said by people who think that they are a waste of time but i still think that thay are a good deterrent and can be really useful.

SD

Igol

Your better off with dusk til dawn lighting rather than PIRs and look at target hardening rather than hoping that a CCTV system will be of some use after the crimes been committed.

Unmanned CCTV rarely provides anything of any use and if your lucky enough to see something of the hooded crim who's already nicked your stuff you're going to be relying on their goodwill and hoping that they'll admit it under interview.

Lots of advice on the Home Office website or try your local Crime Prevention Officer who'll go through the 10 principles of prevention (in which CCTV barely rates a line).

ianafh

If you do decide to go down the camera route you will need to spend a reasonable amount to get anything like useful quality. Try to see a demo (in different lighting conditions) before you buy if possible.

I have two installed two systems, one with 8 cameras, the other with 4. Started off with some of the '0 lux' cameras from ebay which have infra-red illumination built in. The spiders seem to love the IR.

Moved on to decent low light cameras from rfconcepts (no connection to me). These are far superior to the ones that I got from ebay and work well in low light, although the area is covered by PIR lights.

I managed to catch the van that reversed into my fence in enough detail to get reg number to report to police - and they took action too. Two witnesses within 30 feet couldn't remember the make of the van let alone the reg number.

Ian.