home security

[nachogrande]

THE IDEA IS NOT TO REACH THAT POINT.

You forgot the the most important thing, which would be GOOD deadbolts properly installed. That is your first line of defense.

YES a quality deadbolt is a plus, BUT they are only as good as the doors framework. One of the biggest deterrents stated by the interviewed burglar I mentioned earlier, was loud noises made by alarms, smashing thru doors/breaking windows, & being visable & observed by nosy neighbors. His likes were windows he could see inside of to get the layout of the house & potential entry/exit points. Camera's placed way up high often only got pics of the top of his head, those placed lower got the face shots. Land line wired systems (becoming a bygone era) can be cut easily. Most burglaries now take place between 6 am & 6 pm (hopefully) when nobody is home. Guns left throughout the house would be his. He wanted to get in/out quickly with the most valuables as possible. Often dressed as & posing as a jogger, HE selected more expensive, well groomed looking houses. My OLD/DECREPIT truck parked in the driveway would make him go elsewhere. An intruder that wants in, knowing you are inside & waiting for him is a rare bird of an entirely different color.

 

[Goldstar225]

I've had ADT for 5 years. No problems with it. The two times we accidentally tripped it they called us promptly. We needed maintenance once. They arrived on time and made the repair in a short amount of time.

In my experience as a cop, from the time an alarm is triggered until the law enforcement dispatch center is contacted runs 3-5 minutes for all companies. This is based on my observations from tripping alarms when we found unlocked doors on business and entered to clear them. (My agency conducted night time checks of business doors and windows).

 

[Arm]

Well, all of those systems are good.

 

[Kanewpadle]

YES a quality deadbolt is a plus, BUT they are only as good as the doors framework. One of the biggest deterrents stated by the interviewed burglar I mentioned earlier, was loud noises made by alarms, smashing thru doors/breaking windows, & being visable & observed by nosy neighbors. His likes were windows he could see inside of to get the layout of the house & potential entry/exit points. Camera's placed way up high often only got pics of the top of his head, those placed lower got the face shots. Land line wired systems (becoming a bygone era) can be cut easily. Most burglaries now take place between 6 am & 6 pm (hopefully) when nobody is home. Guns left throughout the house would be his. He wanted to get in/out quickly with the most valuables as possible. Often dressed as & posing as a jogger, HE selected more expensive, well groomed looking houses. My OLD/DECREPIT truck parked in the driveway would make him go elsewhere. An intruder that wants in, knowing you are inside & waiting for him is a rare bird of an entirely different color.

Waiting for an alarm to sound is too late. Cameras aren’t worth the money. Of course the alarm and camera companies want you to believe that you are less secure without them.

I do this for a living. I have helped hundreds of people that have been victimized. I’ve been doing this so long that I sometimes have nightmares.

What people don’t understand is that there are products out there to increase your security for not a lot of money. I’ve tried to share them here before but nobody was interested.

My experience has been earned. My advice here is free. Some people pay a lot of money for it. All one has to do is ask.

 

[BC38]

We've had ADT for 5 years, and the equipment has held up fine. The only issue with equipment is that the motion sensor in my shop - which is a separate structure about 50 yards from the house - sometimes looses it's wireless connection with the main control panel. It just creates a minor trouble alert. All it takes is to go out to the shop and "trip" it once and it reconnects.

The service and response and everything else has been fine. The only problems there is the cost - almost $50 a month. It is the cellular based system though, so no phone line that can be cut to disable the monitoring. So I guess you get what you pay for.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

In addition, decoy handgun safes with bricks in them under the bed and dresser to give them something loose to quickly take, and leave the heavier safes alone.

 

[oldiegoldie]

i appreciate all of the responses. some things i didn't know existed, like the film that makes glass harder to break. i like the decoy safe idea....i've got 3 or 4 of the small boxes with cables. meeting with ADT the 7th of this month. the $50 or so per month isn't much more than i'm paying now.

please keep the suggestions coming....appreciate.

 

[oldiegoldie]

update on ADT....had a several hour walk through with ADT various plans. i did opt for their fairly basic plan. it is quite an upgrade from my present system. all of the doors that have glass have the sensor that detect sound of breaking glass as well as breaching of doors. 4 motion detectors. no window sensors, but will probably add some as i go along. i had to pay for cost of equipment, about $1250, payable over 4 installments [no interest charge] $48.99/month 36 month contract. there are 7 doors that have detectors. so, that's my first step.....upgrading. still plenty of work to do.
appreciate all of your suggestions and some will be implemented.