Do you have a home security system?

[DrPizza]

Yes, I have a home security system, it's called great neighbors. A fox once got one of my rabbits, around midnight in the middle of the winter. I heard the loud BOOOOOM. The boom was my neighbor shooting the fox 20 feet from where it grabbed the rabbit. If you're quieter and sneakier than a fox late at night, more power to you. Hopefully you can run faster than the fox too - you might make it a good 30 or 40 feet.

 

[Red Squirrel]

That system works on luck though. The neighbor just happened to be looking outside at the right time to notice it. It's easy to say "it wont happen to me" but it can happen. Nothing more devastating than getting home after work, or a party, or vacation, and finding all your property trashed/stolen, cat dead in the microwave, dog hung on the ceiling fan, blood everywhere etc... Or non thief related damage, such as house burnt down, basement flooded, etc... those are other perks of an alarm system, lot of them will do various environmental monitoring.

Now that I have a system, I can't imagine living without it. I can leave my house with more piece of mind that my property, and my cat, is safe.

 

[SSSnail]

 

[Kanalua]

Our building has a crap ton of video cameras, secured entry, and security guards. Moved to this secured building when our ghetto law school apartment got broken into and the landlord didn't give a crap.

 

[God Mode]

A few crowbars, hammers etc. I wish I could get my hands on a shotgun. Too much of a bother in NYC.

 

[Leros]

No, but I have ADT security signs. I figure that's good enough to deter any thieves since most homes in the area don't have security systems.

 

[vi edit]

That's fine and dandy if you're home, but if you're at work, they'll just shoot the dog and move on to trashing the house and doing their thing. In this world of 8+ hour work days, we are rarely home. It makes more sense to have a system that works when you are not home and does not depend on you being there.

Most criminals are lazy. That's why they are criminals in the first place. If they case out a place and there's a 90 pound ridgeback barking and growling at them at the front door they are probably going to skip your house and move on to the next one that doesn't have a pissed off dog greeting them.

Security systems don't prevent break ins. They simply detect. Somebody could still smash in a door or a window pop inside and grab stuff and be out in minutes. Where I'm at, I'm a good 20 minutes from any major police station. So absolute best case is 20 minutes...realistically? Probably 45 minutes or more before anyone got to my door. What's a security system going to stop there?

 

[bignateyk]

I installed my own system.

I have window alarms on all ground level windows.
Door alarms on the front/side doors.
Glass break alarms on the sliding doors.
Night vision DVR motion activated security camera observing the driveway and front door.
Two german shepherds.
Loaded 12ga tactical shotgun under the bed.

My wife gets paranoid when I go on travel for work. If it were me I would probably not even keep the doors locked

 

[dabuddha]

I just got a system from simplisafe.com 2 weeks ago. Everything is wireless and it literally took me about 20 minutes to setup everything. So far it's been working awesomely. I've tripped the alarm a couple of times on purpose just to test it out and the monitoring center called me within a minute.

 

[MotF Bane]

Yes, I have a home security system, it's called great neighbors. A fox once got one of my rabbits, around midnight in the middle of the winter. I heard the loud BOOOOOM. The boom was my neighbor shooting the fox 20 feet from where it grabbed the rabbit. If you're quieter and sneakier than a fox late at night, more power to you. Hopefully you can run faster than the fox too - you might make it a good 30 or 40 feet.

Don't you live on a 90 acre farm? How far away is your friendly sniper/neighbor?

 

[Thebobo]

Even keeps the cops out - for a while

 

[sourceninja]

My wife and I talked about an alarm system. Then one day, we had to call the cops and realized it's a 30-45 minute wait for them to arrive on scene (we live in the county not the city). So all the alarm would do is make sure the cops were there to take my statement.

So instead we put our trust in good insurance and accurate record keeping, and firearms for when we are home. Luckily my wife works from home so there is really very few opportunities for theft.

We live in a great area, but about 15 minutes from us is a city with huge unemployment and a huge illegal immigrate problem and a huge meth problem. They tend to drive to good areas and do smash and grabs for a week. Then when the cops step up in that sub-division, they drive a few miles down the road and do a different one. So there are about 2-3 smash and grab style break ins per year in my sub-division.

The usual targets are garages with windows, sliding glass doors, and cars parked on the street.

 

[DougK62]

I have stickers on the front and back doors saying that my house has a security system...but I don't have one. No one in my area has a security system - they just all have guns.

 

[Doppel]

I have ADT stickers at all entrances, so my system cost me about $15 shipped, i think

I have yet to come across a monitoring alarm system I'm happy with, based on reviews. I refuse to pay $30+/month for anything, that's absurd. $15 would be a hard cutoff for me. There are a couple that do that, either over the net or simplisafe I think it is that does cell, but reviews are very inconsistent and I refuse to beta test with cheap chinese-manufactured sh*t that gives false alarms all the time, so for now I have nothing.

 

[FoBoT]

... realized it's a 30-45 minute wait for them to arrive on scene (we live in the county not the city). So all the alarm would do is make sure the cops were there to take my statement.

this is my situation
where we are, the sheriff (deputy) will take as long as it takes to get there from where ever they happen to be in the county. could be five minutes if one happens to be driving down our highway, but it could be 30-45 minutes if they are all at an accident on the other side of the county or something

we have to take care of ourselves out here. if i had anything 'that valuable' , it'd be in a safe

the last time i heard of a burglary in the area, the home owner came home while the 'burglars' were still inside. he held them at gun point until the sheriff could get there and arrest them

 

[Doppel]

Criminals have cars.

It's like having a fire extinguisher, I don't plan on having a fire and none of the homes near me have burned down but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

Same with the security system. If someone kicks my back door in at 1:00 PM when everyone is at work, I'd like to be notified and have the police respond. I'd also like a siren to go off so the bad guys know they are being observed.

It's indisputable fact that burglars are more likely to burgal close to home. Zeze is right, living out in the suburbs is the best security there is, either that or a secured apartment building with a 24 hour security desk.

Only an idiot wouldn't have a home security system.

Well, I've been in my neighborhood for several years, and other than unlocked cars gone into once and unlocked garages on that same night, to my knowledge not a single person has ever had a break-in.

Security systems don't prevent break ins. They simply detect. Somebody could still smash in a door or a window pop inside and grab stuff and be out in minutes. Where I'm at, I'm a good 20 minutes from any major police station. So absolute best case is 20 minutes...realistically? Probably 45 minutes or more before anyone got to my door. What's a security system going to stop there?

If it has a loud alarm that criminal is not going to do sh*t but run away because your neighbors are now up wondering what is going on, calling the police (even if 20 minutes away), and getting a description of the car and plates (if close enough).

 

[sourceninja]

If it has a loud alarm that criminal is not going to do sh*t but run away because your neighbors are now up wondering what is going on, calling the police (even if 20 minutes away), and getting a description of the car and plates (if close enough).

Not where I live. We live by a fire station, we are used to loud alarms at all hours of the night. In fact we had a lady who's car alarm ran basically until the battery died and all that happend was the HOA sent her a fine.

Now that I think about it, I only know 1 person in my sub-division. The crook could just tell me he accidentally set off his alarm and I would just assume he lives there.

 

[ockky]

did a quick read thru of everyones responses and figured i'd add the following:

1. The main reason to have an alarm system is to alert neighbors and to rush the burglars out of the house. if you get an alarm system, you should put it on it's shortest timer possible from when the entry door is opened to disabling the alarm. most systems default to 45seconds to disable the alarm. many burglars know this. 45s is plenty of time to run in grab a tv or laptop and run out before an alarm actually goes off.

2. to pair with an alarm you should reinforce possible entries such as windows and doors. for windows, you can just add some wooden braces to prevent the windows from being pushed open, making burglars crawl/climb thru broken glass. The best thing you can do for your doors is to purchase a StrikeMaster. The only way someone is coming thru your door with a StrikeMaster is with an axe. We have a few people in my neighborhood that have had their doors attempted to be kicked in, however the strikemasters held (had nice big boot marks on the door) so the would be thieves moved on to their neighbor's house and kicked in their door instead.

3. someone mentioned eariler to talk with local police to see what kind of alarm system to go with. i completely agree. you want to go with a local vender if at all possible.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Security systems don't prevent break ins. They simply detect. Somebody could still smash in a door or a window pop inside and grab stuff and be out in minutes. Where I'm at, I'm a good 20 minutes from any major police station. So absolute best case is 20 minutes...realistically? Probably 45 minutes or more before anyone got to my door. What's a security system going to stop there?

Sure, but when that 100db+ siren is blaring and there's a voice coming on asking to identify yourself, they're sure as hell going to run out. Police here can normally make it in 5-10 minutes at most as they have their own zones and patrol so at any given time there is a cop somewhere not that far. They don't actually drive right from the station. Even then, it would be 15 minutes at most. They also get right of way to lights/stop signs when their siren is on so they can just go non stop. What takes us 15 minutes probably takes them 5.

By the time the crooks start unhooking your TV and stuff, the cops will be there. Though a lot of them just cut all the wires too to make it faster. But even if they make it out when the cops are driving down the street and see a bunch of guys in masks putting a 55" TV into a nondescript cube van, they'll go ask questions.

The cops also tend to know who the crooks are, problem is often they don't have enough evidence, so if they can catch them in the act it helps them a lot.

So yeah they'll still bust down your door and stuff but at least there's a much greater chance of them being caught in the act. There are some cases of well planned 10 second smash and grabs though, but no system is really going to stop that.

 

[cr2250]

Homesecuritystore ftw!

Installed an Alexor system. They had free technical support and walked me through with any questions I had. Hold times were very long but I figured they would spend that much time with me as well.

Awesome support

Using alarmrelay 8 dollars a month for internet/landline monitoring.

 

[Modelworks]

Install one yourself and forget about the monitoring fees. I also like using a camera and DVR if you live in a rural area. It lets you go online when you are gone and see the yard and anything you keep like chickens and see what is going on in real time. I have a webcam that I used when I was away once and from that decided to get the real thing. Systems are cheap with DVR , under $200.

 

[Leymenaide]

No, but I have ADT security signs. I figure that's good enough to deter any thieves since most homes in the area don't have security systems.

The sign is 80% of the package

 

[Modelworks]

If it has a loud alarm that criminal is not going to do sh*t but run away because your neighbors are now up wondering what is going on, calling the police (even if 20 minutes away), and getting a description of the car and plates (if close enough).

They also make alarm sirens for indoor use that are designed to be so loud they hurt even with you hands over your ears. Makes an effective defense method because if the sirens are mounted where they are hard to reach or multiple locations it makes it really uncomfortable to stay and steal stuff.

 

[velillen]

I remember watching a show on discovery a few years back that was two "buglars" who would break into a house. I remember them pretty much saying if they say the signs for a protected house they would almost always just move on to the next rather than risk/deal with it. not sure how true it is but if i had my pick between two houses as a thief and one had a protected by sign I'd move to the next.


My parents have Brink (adt now i think?) and i can tell you those loud ass alarms work great. We had a dog but she wasnt well trained. She barked like mad till the guy opened her gate then she took off running. But soon as he opened the window and set off the alarm (a good 110+DB alarm mind you) he booked it. Only way we really knew was his shoes were muddy and he got two steps in the house then turned around and left through the window again. To be fair some of it was our fault as the window had been left unlocked and no wood was in place to stop the sliding window. but in almost 20 years of living there that has been the only incident. Most of the other alarms are from stupid things like leaving the garage door open or us entering the wrong door which trips the master alarm. As for neighbors...they can faintly hear it when it goes off (the closest is a good 500+ yards away. But if they have music/tv on they cant hear it.


I think for my new home i'm going to just go with the signs and a camera setup. I just need to get off my ass and figure the camera stuff out. For those with the DVR....where do you have the dvr? The logical place would be in my equipment rack in my office closet with everything else.....but thats also the first place i'd look if i was a thief I do have a large crawl space i was considering building a small enclosure but not sure due to heat/moisture/coldness. So where do you guys keep yours?

 

[ManBearPig]

How much would it cost to initially outfit a moderate sized house with a security system? Is it difficult? I'm trying to see if it's worth it (we get an insurance reduction with one iirc).