CCTV fixing?

[mich]

Have been burgled and had my car trashed by nasty sh*ts who were trying to take all they could. Me abed!

is it very hard to fit your own alarm and CCTV system ?

Anyone done this? What cost?

[BigWallop]

It is a horrible experience to think uninvited strangers have been through your home, I know what you're going through. I would, however, strongly advise you now, not to go haywire on buying and installing things that will not help in making your house any more secure than having just the basic good locks, bolts and perimeter protection that makes bandits like these think twice about attacking your property.

A good security system is one which stops attacks before they happen, not one which allows the bandits in and tries to catch them in the act. It is better to have your local crime prevention people have a look at your house and give you recommendations on how to stop thieves from even attempting to attack it. No amount of boxes with bells in will stop the professional burglar, so don't think that having an alarm or high-tech surveillance system is going to put them off.

There are far better things to stop it before it happens, than there are things for catching them in the act. Please, don't go buying everything in sight just because this has happened to you. Get the professionals in to advise you how to stop it happening again.

I don't know which area you are in, but this site gives loads of information on how to go about making your home, and your person, more secure with simple and basic techniques.

've been in the security business for many, many years now and I always advise people to stop and think about the things they can do themselves to stop these kinds of attacks from happening to them. Yes, I will sell them things. Yes, I will design and install things for them. Yes, I will take money for all these services. But I also tell them that the services any security provider offers them are only a secondary line of defence against being burgled or attacked.

Please ask your local police office for help with this, before you go spending your money on things that don't help in actually making the house and you feel more secure.

[Owain]

"mich" wrote | Have been burgled and had my car trashed by nasty sh*ts who were | trying to take all they could. Me abed! | is it very hard to fit your own alarm and CCTV system ? | Anyone done this? What cost?

CCTV.

The hardest part is screwing the bracket to the wall, so I didn't and cable-tied it to a convenient pipe. End of camera cable plugs into SCART on telly/video and a wall-wart.

PIR controlled lights can be a useful deterrent/detector and can be had with a chime unit in the house which dings every time the lights come on. (That may not be an advantage unless you are a nocturnal animal-loving insommniac.)

Owain

[MikeS]

I agree with your advise B.W.

But most of crime is casually committed by passing youths who are probably suffering the excesses of alcohol. As happened near me, where the local lads jumped from car to car causing thousands of pounds damage. A CCTV record of this may have helped to catch them.

My wife's school was vandalised the local youths wore hoods so the CTTV didn't see their faces,but the cans of lager discarded had finger prints on them but surprise surprise the police didn't get any prints or promised DNA.

It was not just the material damage that cost it was the loss of records as they trashed all the admin. building science labs etc.

Also when the police where informed of the incident they where to busy to attend for 2 hours and the next night the same thing happened police to busy. On the third night a patrol car spent the night out side the school, guess what no vandals.

Showing the flag is no deterrent these days, but its formula the police are fond of and its a good earner (overtime that is) much more cost effective then catching them (all that paperwork) and they only get community service handed down to them, because the jails or over flowing, why bother?

Community police seem much more effective than regular police who might when you need them be in a radio silent area, or sorry sarge your braking up say again? what was that Fred don't catch em to quick as the its a good OT earner.

Having said this I think you will see a rapid improvement when community police are given more powers. Freeing the so called normal police to concentrate on terrorism and state security as we march toward a totalitarian society. George Orwel's Big Brother seems to becoming reality. But it won't improve yours or my security just the fat cats.

MikeS,

[mich]

Where I live nothing should pass , youth or otherwise. I am out in the sticks , up a dark unadopted lane ( privately owned) and down a longish drive. I dont even know how they could realise I was there ( without having done a daytime reckonoiter (sp?) and thats suggests someone close with local knowledge.

I do have a security light but it only reaches part way down the drive currently.I dont know how they could see let alone break in. My car was parked outside the back door. They came to the car, pulled it apart to hot wire it and to the back door ( furtherst point away from bedrooms - I live in a bungalow) . Failed to hot wire car because it was too new , took off with what they could get their hands on and carry including ome credit cards from my handbag, which foolishly I had left in the kitchen! load of stuff ditched just up the lane.

Since I cannot see the lane from the house I though a camera on the end of the drive might be useful.

My near neighbour has a CCTV system on his house and it seems to work for him. No one goes up his lane.

Not to do the Police down they did come, take finger prints, took two hours to take statements from me and list all my lost cards and things but didnt make any suggestion as to what I could have done to stop what happened.

I have been told that once you have been targeted they tend to come back on a regular basis. I am not always in. I worry about what is going on when I am not here, let alone what happens when I am.

[Howard Neil]

If you go to:-

will be offered the download of a pdf file entitled "CCTV Operational Requirements Manual". You may find it of interest.

[BigWallop]

The bobby's that call to the crime report and take statements aren't the crime prevention people, they're just the cops. I would advise you to call your police station and ask for their local security advisor to make you visit. They can suggest things that are so simple and cheap that you wouldn't think they would do anything to deter these bandits, but they are very effective at creating noise, jagging their arses, make them fall over and break something. Anything that will make them think twice before making you their next target.

I don't know if you visited the website I linked to, but there is a section on it for "Gardening for security" which show what can be done with a few prickly bushes and plant pots in the right places, that will create noise and a physical barrier to anyone walking in to them in the dark. That's something else which can also be used to your advantage, the dark. Strings attached to trees and roadside hedges with tin cans and stones in them is a great deterrent when all hell break loose and the racket from all the tins can be heard from a couple of miles away.

Please.......speak to your local security advisor. Your local police station are always in touch with them, because they are usually the people who come to take all the forensic details on a crime site. They are trained in all these things, so they give great advice on the silly things you wouldn't even think could be used as some sort of deterrent to a would be attack.

Do it NOW !!!! PLEASE !!!!

[Lurch]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 04:18:29 -0000, "mich" strung together this:

No. It does take some expertise to do it effectively though.

I do it all the time.

[Paulr]

It is not hard fitting a CCTV system, but if you cannot drill a hole in the wall to put a camera up then I think it would be worth paying somelike like our friend Lurch here to do it properly. After all, look how upsetting it was to be burgled - would you have paid someone =A3150

- =A3300 to install a system and prevent (or catch) the blighters in the first place? If you want it to be effective, do not dash out and buy the cheapest old camera you find - it will not work. I can supply easy to install systems from a few hundred quid, so it need not be expensive, and would be happy to advise. PaulR

0870 950 1114

[Lurch]

On 25 Jan 2005 06:55:41 -0800, "Paulr" strung together this:

Thankyou very much! You're here too then!

[Paulr]

Yes, hi Lurch! Maybe that last post didn't come out right! It is not hard fitting a CCTV system BADLY! Fitting it correctly and getting the best out of your investment is a different matter. However, I still maintain that a competant DIY-er could fit a cheap 'plug and play' type system and get images on a screen, if that is what he wants. With yourself, Lurch, you have a reputation to install a system that will be suitable for the purpose, installed neatly and correctly, maintain a call back/servicing policy, and would need to advise correctly on the Data Protection Act. Years of experience & training worth paying for especially if you cannot hold a drill I'd say! Trouble is, I think our friend who started this thread is looking for a Micromart solution in the hope that a =A329 camera will see in the dark and pick out faces. It will not so don't waste your money please!