Home security

[Tradie]

As the wave of crime peaks in our area again this topic highlights our group chats and discussions. It has been quiet for at least 3 weeks, then suddenly night afte rnight we are targeted.

3 days and they are shyting right on my doorstep, day 1 - next door they broke into the electricians van and stole his tools, day 2 - 2 houses up, in just under 11 minutes they derailed the gate and stole a vehicle, day 3 - the only water meter not replaced in our area with the new plastic meter, was stolen.

Which means someone has to review the camera footage.

What do we learn from this experience, when a camera is in IR mode, the footage merely highlights the time of the event and how many people were involved.

Armed response is about as useful as a fax machine, the only reason we have armed response is for insurance purposes, which makes me wonder. 15 minutes response time is pretty useless in 2025, if it take under 11 minutes to steal a vehicle out of a yard with a fence and gate.

If there is an incident in our area we call the neighbourhood watch, for the life of me I cannot understand why people dont start a fund, create employment for the people in the area to patrol at night.

[Tradie]

What have we learnt about home security:

You cant leave your dogs outside at night, why because they trigger alarm beams, get poisoned or run out if the gate is forced open, even a little.

Cameras monitoring the boundary and road are the first line of defence, but unless you just want to see movement, they are pretty useless with proper warm white lighting using full colour 4MP plus cameras.

Electric fencing sound like a good idea, but in many cases fails the test after the 3rd activation, when it is switches off or if a blanket is thrown over the fence to prevent spike injuries.

Moving on to the house, outside beams linked to cameras which can be entry level because you just want to see what triggered the beam. You cant have beams and dogs at the same time, unless you have a jack Russel (best siren)

Beams in the roof, good idea if you dont have bats and rats.

Security doors and burglar guards, great if you have them on all the windows and secured properly, not great if there is a fire, having a fire door on the ensuite, might not be a bad idea, especially if you use it as a safe room, with which has a full charged phone, fire extinguisher, and removable burglar guard.