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Hi all, last week i had my bike stolen from our shed and our next door neighbour got broken into. I am in the process of having an alarm system fitted, but in the meantime have fitted alarm to shed, contact alarms to front and back doors, 5 lever dead lock, 3x timer plugs for when away.

Does anyone have any further advice/idea's when they go away?

Caravan is in storage so no obvious signs.

I think the best people to ask is the Police in your area. They will be more informed than anyone as to what would be the best protection for you.

The area I live in attracts a particular type of thief and the best way to encourage him to go elsewhere, may not work for the thief in your area.

Our neighbour has a few cars, what with kids and all, so I tell them they can use our drive to park a car whilst we are away...looks like someone in....

Phil

Quote: Originally posted by holtpj on 11/3/2011

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Hi all, last week i had my bike stolen from our shed and our next door neighbour got broken into. I am in the process of having an alarm system fitted, but in the meantime have fitted alarm to shed, contact alarms to front and back doors, 5 lever dead lock, 3x timer plugs for when away.

Does anyone have any further advice/idea's when they go away?

Caravan is in storage so no obvious signs.

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have CCTV cameras fitted and warning notice in the window of 24 hour CCTV.i like mine.

We always leave our adult daughter and her partner to house sit for us, but also have two big dogs who are well known in the area from when they 'stand gaurd' at our side gate whilst they are out in the garden.

Having recently witnessed the tragic deaths in the Hulland fire first hand, I would strongly advise you that whatever you do please dont make the place so secure that you would cause yourselves to be trapped indoors in the event of a fire. The Hulland family would have had a better chance of survival if it wasnt for the high tech window and door locks on their double glazing, they had effectively blocked their means of escape, or any way for the rescuers to gain access quickly without specialist equipment.

Julia

Beware of the little devices that turn lights on and off. Some of them appear to not be very well manufactured and they short out. Bloke down in Poole is still fighting his house fire claim and that's a few years now.

One thing is "House sitters"

without sounding to negative i beleive if your going to get burgled irrespective to how much security you have they will still get in.

But this doesnt mean leave the door/windows open for them.

your on the right track with the house alarm.

im no expert but stand opposite your house and take a look,how would you get in?without a key.

remove hiding places such as tall hedges big wheelie bins etc,the more open your front is the better,pir flood lights are a deterant as well as the alarm box on the front.

I have quiete a good cctv system installed to my property but i made the mistake of hiding the cameras hoping to catch any prospective burglurs in the act.the camaera did just that and caught 2 crettins entering my property.casually wader around my back garden 1 even sat on the bench while on his phone,then both carried boxes of expensive radio controled cars to there car/van just off camera.then come back and shut gate etc.

Now if i had put camera's in a more visual spot and some warning signs around the property warning of the camera's i dare say they would have thought twice as they wouldnt want to be caught on camera.

another reason I was targeted is that all yr round when not using caravan its on my drive so the weekends im away its gone so is my van. I guess it dont take much working out that were away.

all in all I beleive the deterants are a much better way to stop the thiving torags than the actual security devices,im not over keen on the indoor light timers as ive heard of them causing fires, i now use a pir the sort for the out door lights wired up to an old portable tv so if its set off the tv comes on (this will only work on the sort that dont have standby as they will just enter standby) it stays on for a few mins then goes off again.

dont forget a good houshold contents insurance and as i learnt keep receipts for everything you may need to claim for,as im sure your aware you wont get paid out for that 55inch led tv if you carnt proove you had it in the first place.if you have anything of high value make sure you let your insurance company aware that you have it,

I also keep all my irreplaceable docs in a safe thats screwed down and hidden away passports driving licences and car keys and house keys are always locke away in there.a theif wont think twice in loading your cr up with your valubles and making a quick gett away in your car..

Im sure your doing everything correctly and wont have any further problems

one last thing maplins (aswell as other good outlets) sell an excelent camera system i think its a quad pack, that connects to broadband internet and providing you have the right sort of phone (im guessing one that has internet and color screen) then you can actually take a look at whats happening on your phone,

there was a recent posting about these some time ago,

if cameras are a plan then search for this post and get some feedback on if there suitable (sorry i carnt remeber what the post was titled or who started it)

I do a lot of internal fixing to secure my outbuilding doors & my main garage door so they can't be opened from the outside. IMO alarms & CCTV doesn't put the scum off having a go at taking what they're after.

I also do my best to vary my pattern of activity as much as possible. I'm onvinced those who intend paying a visit sit & watch to establish when they'll have a safe window to come in. It makes my teeth itch to think they were wathing us when they pinched our caravan. I leave around 0515 & they left here with the van at 0440.  A neighbout saw the van go up the road & thought we were going away.

Some kind person had 260 litres of diesel out of my lorry over christmas & they did so in an area covered by CCTV so I'm not wasting my money on them.

BB

4 cctv cameras with night vision & digital recorder and linked to a remote  laptop

plus thers always a vehicle home when we`re not and plenty of security lights on pir`s round the place.

no guarantee of not getting done over but lessens the risk and its interesting to view what the cameras have recorded.....

There are things that people do when they are at home that does not happen when they are away, like bins going out for collection or not.

Garden gates being opened at certain times or not.

Washing being hung out on wash day, etc, etc.

Potential houses to be targeted tend to be observed over a period of several specific days before an attempted burglary takes place and whilst the would be thief does not know how long the house is going to remain empty, it is usually none too difficult to work out whether is actually empty due to the folks being away on holiday.

And even if he does work out that you actually are away on holiday, a Burglar Alarm Box on an outside wall is a sign that you have taken steps to protect your home and as the potential thief cannot tell from just looking at it just what measures it is connected to inside the home, he will probably take his business elsewhere and to a house with no visible signs of protection.

We had a brilliant demonstration of how good a burglar alarm is last summer. Julie & me went out for a walk with the dog, we could hear an alarm but had no idea where it was until we walked out to a junction of the main road & the big house across the road had its alarm going off.

A double deck bus pulled in a the bus stop & not one person getting off that bus even bothered to look at the house as they passed it. I phoned the police & they wanted to know more about me & what I was doing than they did about the house with the activated alarm.

BB