Home Security (poll and recommendations)

[porqui]

And after all is said and done  ----

 

I know someone who has everything and I mean everything - they stole his phone and wallet from his bedside cabinet while he was sleeping.

 

I have a friend who has nothing as in nadda - lives in very close proximity to an informal settlement (whatever that means) and has never ever had anything happen ever.

 

You tell me ???

[DJR]

Prostitutes! Have prostitutes work in your street! The best security you can have. True story, I kid you not.

 

Years ago we had a constant problem of them meeting their clients in our street, mostly in parked cars. It was a nuisance and irritated the living daylights out of especially Mrs DJR (I suspect because she got mis-identified a couple of times). 

 

Then, one evening I had a knock on the front door. A very dodgy prison tattooed guy informed me that someone tried to break into the Landy where it was parked in front of my house. I thanked him and asked what brought him to our neighbourhood? He answered that he was the "security" for the "girls" who worked in our street! The pimp! He did not want any crime there because every time the cops got called his customers stayed away. If there were regular crimes then the cops would patrol and his business would dry up! 

 

So, what we never knew was that the guardian angel that looked after us was the same criminal we despised and wanted to chase away He was the reason we had basically zero crime of any kind in our street.

 

But the story didn't end there. He also said that he gave the would-be thief a slap or 2 and chased him away. The next morning in daylight, I found a fair bit of blood over the side of the Landy.......and decided that he knew how to dish out a couple of slaps.

 

Moral of the story?

 

Don't underestimate the value of that irritating nosy neighbour, pimp or bergie, you never know, they may well be your guardian angels.  

[WrightJnr]

For me, it was the dual zone alarm system. Had a complete outside setup with beams. Could be armed separately. Firm believer that if your siren goes off before they are able to breach your house perimeter they rather bail than continue.

[Long Wheel Base]

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/183335-home-alarm-system/?hl=home+alarm

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/181823-the-home-automation-thread/

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/140057-household-security/?hl=security

[V12man]

I am a firm believer in:

 

1 - People on the property always - and if they are not:

2 - Defending the perimeter - whats the point of only knowing when they are inside the house? High walls, electric fence, outside passives/beams - all hooked to response company

3 - Security gates that defend perimeter doors

4 - Camera's

5 - A solid rumour that there are pitbulls on the property - I never open an outside gate to a tradesman without letting them wait while I lock up the pitties... always with apologies.....

 

And finally - consistent use of the alarm and regular testing of it - Alarm company radios have been less than reliable recently for me.

[Vetplant]

Signage warning that you keep Snakes on the property... Or just keep actual snakes.

 

Word spreads insanely fast and you won't have many people walking past your property anymore, nevermind setting foot on it. 

 

It does create an interesting issue when you need some manual labour to do work on the property and no-one wants to set foot there...

[Long Wheel Base]

Signage warning that you keep Snakes on the property... Or just keep actual snakes.

 

Word spreads insanely fast and you won't have many people walking past your property anymore, nevermind setting foot on it. 

 

It does create an interesting issue when you need some manual labour to do work on the property and no-one wants to set foot there...

An ex boss of mine had spiders(the tarantula type). He was crazy about these things and often paid a k@k load of money for a spider. Once they changed their skin(sorry don't know the correct term) he would bring the old one to work and pin them all on a board in his office, even this was too freaky for some people and they refused to enter his office. At one stage he had 8 rather expensive spiders and a few cheaper ones. His wife was not crazy about these things and the one day he had to rush home early as his wife phoned saying one had escaped and if she saw it she was going to squash it.

[M L]

Signage warning that you keep Snakes on the property... Or just keep actual snakes.

 

Word spreads insanely fast and you won't have many people walking past your property anymore, nevermind setting foot on it. 

 

It does create an interesting issue when you need some manual labour to do work on the property and no-one wants to set foot there...

hahaha, seriously? 

[Vetplant]

hahaha, seriously?

Had a friend where this was a real thing. They never had any unwanted visitors

[Mojoman]

There was a guy some years ago in my area who had his weed plantation secured by snakes...

[Long Wheel Base]

hahaha, seriously? 

Would you rob this couple?

[Rob22]

CCTV does not necessarily prevent a break in, however it was essential in getting a 10 year prison sentence to a criminal that broke into our neighbours house and hid in our garden. He hid in the darkness not knowing that he could be seen via the infrared.

 

Called security and they nailed him hiding in the bushes.

 

I feel the more of the items you have on you list, the better

[McD23]

if they really want in, doesn't matter what you have, the more secure you are the more you become the weakest link.. entering or leaving.

That's when they will take there chance.

In my spare time I have qualified as a armed response officer and probably been 1st on scene to 40 odd home invasions. Every single one of those houses had either some or all off  the below,

electric fence, cctv,alarm,beams, burglar bars, high walls, armed response.

Not one had real dogs..I mean intimidating dogs.

I reckon cctv linked to offsite monitoring ( allows proactive response ) combined with several inside dogs trumps all the other bits and pieces put together. They have equal dislike of being on camera as they do of feeling a dogs canine.