BURGLAR ALARM OR CCTV

geek84

Hi Folks

Would you recommend that I have a burglar alarm or CCTV fitted in my property for security purposes?

Thank You

Ant555

When I was thinking the same around the beginning of last year, whilst walking the dog I was looking at all the houses and if anything stood out - pretty much everyone had an alarm box but only a few had CCTV.  Around 3 years ago, a friend had their house burgled at 3pm on a weekday afternoon by someone smashing their patio doors - the alarm was blaring and the police reckon the intruders would have been inside for 2 or 3 minutes max, literally rushing around looking for stuff to steal and then getting out - they got ipads, laptops and some cash on a bedside table, it seems that there was not much rummaging.  A locked house and a visible + audible alarm didnt put them off.

My own opinion was to buy a 4 camera cctv kit and mount them in very visible locations as that 'might' be enough to send an opportunist to the next street - however, that was before the time when seeing someone wearing a facemask to cover their features would have roused suspicion!

I have also put a small smoke alarm immediately above the upvc doors at both the front and the back - there is a spate of people using blowtorches round here to literally melt the area around door locks.  My thinking here is that it 'might' sound the smoke alarm and might put them off - at night it will certainly alert me.

I may not have helped sway your decision but that was my process.

Hope it helps.

Jeepers_Creepers

One is a deterrent, and the other is a deterrent plus a possible means of IDing/catching the perp?

The latter might also help deter anti-social behaviour, discourage theft of/from your vehicle and outbuildings, stuff like that.

One helps to deter folk from breaking in to your house. The other gives a wider area of protection.

twopenny

If you want cameras remember to find out the correct definition needed for prosecution and it needs to work at night.

Not all do.

DB1904

twopenny said:

If you want cameras remember to find out the correct definition needed for prosecution and it needs to work at night.

Not all do.

Anything with a clear enough image to identify someone would do. 

Doozergirl

I'm guilty of wanting to kill any neighbours that 'allow' their alarms to go off!  

We have cameras which are brilliant at night, linked up to a DVR in a loft room.  

I really liked the idea of the Nest ones that alert you when there's movement and you can actually talk to people through a speaker.  A bit like the Ring doorbell.  We'll get one of those eventually, I think.  It seems to be tradition that the Doozers don't have a doorbell.  

TELLIT01

Doozergirl said:

I'm guilty of wanting to kill any neighbours that 'allow' their alarms to go off!  

When our new neighbours had been in their house a few days they did something which set their burglar alarm off.  They were charging around in a panic because they couldn't find the piece of paper with the instructions on how to switch it off    Fortunately I knew the code.

travis-powers

I have dummy alarm boxes, nobody pays attention to an alarm going off, I set an alarm off on a church roof once and nobody turn up until the afternoon ( I was working)
we have the ring doorbell which is great and will be adding more cameras to it in the future.

Rosa_Damascena

I'm a little wary of CCTV purely because it needs to be monitored before overwriting. Too much of a hassle IMO.

Jeepers_Creepers

Are there cameras with PIR sensors so they only record if there's movement?

cymruchris

It depends on your budget - and what your aims are. 

CCTV has many benefits.

Alarms have many benefits.

A combination of both - even more benefits.

All down to budget though - depends on what you want to spend.

I have an integrated system of a house alarm and CCTV whereas both talk to each other in the same app - if the alarm is triggered it sends me instant CCTV.