Re: I was broken into ... last questions before purchase

["R.H.Campbell" <rh.campbell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sir, I strongly suggest you look at physically "hardening" your apartment
before you spend a lot of money on an alarm, especially if it's only going
to be a non-monitored one. For many years before I sold alarm systems, my
speciality was "target hardening" homes against break and enter. In my
experience, an apartment is one of the easiest types of habitations to
secure since it often has a limited number of entrance poinst.

Assuming your door is of solid wood construction, and not some flimsy thing,
a quality deadbolt lock with a long steel strike properly anchored to the
studding inside the walls with 3 to 4 inch screws will almost guarantee that
no one will get through the door without a lot of EFFORT and a lot of NOISE.
If your apartment door frame is steel mounted in concrete, so much the
better!! Make sure your patio door is secured with a visible swingdown bar
across the inside, and make sure the door can't be lifted up and out of it's
track with a couple of screwdrivers (this is secured by putting screws above
the door to keep it from being lifted up). Lastly, check each window to make
sure that it locks properly and is secured in some way against being forced
open.

Remember, what is the sense spending a whole bunch of money to warn after
they are already in the home, if you haven't taken the simplest of
precautions to keep them out to start with. My site has a great deal of
information on  the variety of simple things to do to physically secure your
home properly (but be prepared to read a lot...I'm pretty long winded !!)

You're asking for advice on a newsgroup full of people who's primary centre
of interest in the security business is the electronic end of things. If you
were to go to a locksmith newsgroup, the information you receive might be
quite different. There's absolutely nothing wrong with alarms; they work
well for their intended purpose. Hell, I make the majority of my living from
selling alarms !! However, they are only PART of a comprehensive approach to
security. Nor are they the first thing you should do, since they don't
protect you in against smash and grab robberies.

Walk around your residence and look for all the weak points of entry, and
address them all....

R.H.Campbell
Home Security Metal Products
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
www.homemetal.com



"Armadillo Soup" <louispoint@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns96F27B995157Elouispointyourmommac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Like a lot of people that pop up in all of a sudden, I was just broken
> into last Thursday. They stole my digital camera and my headphones.
> Apparently the guy broke into 6 places within a few block radius.
>
> Anyway ... I realize all security is a balance between cost and
> convenience. Just how much money, time, and effort are you willing to put
> into being secure ?
>
> I live in a crappy apartment and probably will continue to for a long
> time to come. Basically I have a TV, stereo, and computer. Anything that
> was small and valuable this thief took last Thursday. So in short, it
> wouldn't make a lot of sense to spend a fortune on securing my place ...
> it obviously makes no sense to spend more than your stuff is worth !
>
> As far as the threat model I would like to defend against ... I think the
> most realistic scenario is something like what happened last Thursday. A
> realitively unplanned, fairly random break in. I can't see burglars
> spending a lot of time and energy planning for an eleaborate breakin
> where I live.
>
> I am almost 100% confident that had ANY alarm sounded last Thursday, I
> would still have my digital camera. This guy didn't want confrontation,
> and he didn't want a lot of razzle dazzle, bright lights, or loud noises
> I can tell you. If he is breaking into 6 places in a day, he doesn't have
> time for sirens.
>
> So ... considering all that, I was thinking of getting the Powermax+,
> partly because it comes all ready to go, and I don't want to mess with a
> monitoring service. The Paradox Magellan looks really cool but seems to
> be a bit out of my price range. Also, it looks harder to set up. As for
> the PowerMax+, I'd like to add one of the hardwired sirens to the unit if
> I could, simply to add confusion and throw off the crook, in case he has
> the nerve to try and disarm/yank it off the wall. I am confident
> (considering I live in a cramped apartment complex) that the siren will
> immediately scare off 80% of intruders in this area. Like I said, I do
> not live in an area where carefully planned burglaries really make much
> sense.
>
> My only reservation is relying on wireless completely. The Powermax+ says
> it can connect to 2 hardwired devices. One will hopefully be a siren. It
> would be ideal if the other was a motion detector, but I don't see a
> hardwired motion detector as a module.
>
> Are these wireless units that easily jammed and disabled ? You think an
> amatuer "crackhead" style thief would have the means to do so ? Some of
> these crackheads are more talented than you might think ! Breaking into 6
> places in a day shows at least some talent.
>
> Anyway, if anyone has any last minute recommendations for me, I'll take
> them. Right now my only security is a radio I left on today when I went
> to work ! Far from Ideal.
>
> Things I consider important:
> 1) No monitoring service required.
> 2) Ability to disarm via telephone ? I think I'd like to do this. I'm
> considering setting up a camera that can post images/video to an external
> website via my Linksys wireless router.
> 3) Cost and ease of use ... proportionate to what I am trying to protect:
> $600 TV/DVD player
> $400 stereo
> $1500 computer
> These are the only things I own of value in the world. All my clothes are
> from the thrift store.  :)
>
> Lastly, just how common/frequently do you get false alarms ? Is this from
> flakey units ?  Wild exotic radio transmissions on your units frequency ?
> I will be using 3 door sensors and 1 motion detector. I am a little
> worried about the false alarms.
>
> Cheers, and thanks for any final advice.