I was broken into ... last questions before purchase

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

Most thieves are smash & grab and hope they get away before the homeowner shoots them or the police come. Wireless is reliable as long as you don't buy some cheap piece of Belgian (inside joke) crap.

| > If you're on the second level of apt building it shouldn't be too | > expensive to install a wireless alarm, one door a motion, maybe a | > glassbreak. If you're on the ground level you'll need more. | >

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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.

Yeah, unfortunately one of the downsides to spending money on physical security devices is that with rare exception, you must leave them in place when you go. However, it still might be worth your while to beef up that lousy arrangement you say you have on the front door. The thing about locks is that you don't know they're working, or how many times they've worked, until they fail. So it sounds like a little money spent wisely, and depending upon how long you plan to live there, might go a long way. But the alarm you can take with you at least...

Remember, the three factors that you want working in your favour when you take any sort of extra security steps:

Time:.....too long to get in (good physical security helps here) Noise: ....too noisy to get in (both physical and electronic help here) Light: .... (or exposure)....too much chance they will be seen (here the presence of an alarm goes a long way, especially if it draws a professional response)

RHC

What about your landlord sending workman into your place while you are away? (and likely without your knowledge.... You said it was a crappy apartment). How many people have the keys to your front door? This could set off the alarm and cause you to be a nuisance.

BTW... Anytime repair people are in your place they can look over your stuff and your alarm system. This is definitely a security problem.

Apartments are hard to hard wire for alarm systems. Landlords generally don't want you drilling through walls and such. Wireless may be prone to false alarms and unreliability.

Maybe you need a safe as first priority... Then an alarm system.... If no monitoring system, than get one that at least pages you or calls your cellphone.

Beachcomber

"Crash Gordon" wrote in news:o7R4f.18$ snipped-for-privacy@news.uswest.net:

I'll certainly admit to being confused !

My hunch is that these are not overly sophisticated thieves ... I just didn't have any idea how easy/hard it is to jam/screw up these wireless systems. From what you just said, it sounds like that is not as easy as just running to radio shack and buying a $5 piece of equipment ... so that gives me a little more confidence in them.

Of course, I'm guessing about their skill level, but I don't think they are terribly sophisticated. One thing they are clearly good at, however, is jimming the locks open in the types of old buildings that exist around here ...

Cool ... I was a little worried about that. You hear lots of horry stories about lots wireless equipment interferring with itself.

Well, I didn't necessarily mean CCTV. Just a simple webcam type set up, that takes a photo every 2 seconds and uses ftp to shoot it up to another computer. I don't intend to monitor this all the time. The reason for the camera was simply to check and see if I really had an intruder if the alarm went off.

From what you just said, it sounds like if the alarm goes off, that pretty much means I have an intruder. The Landlord/maintenance people around here are required to put a notice on the door at least 48 hours before entering your apartment, so I'm not worried about them. If they go in without giving me notice, they are breaking the law themselves and I consider them an intruder.

Anyway, I was just thinking of the camera because i was under the impression these systems had far more false alarms. So I feel better about that too.

Thanks for the info.

I've just never used any of these, so don't really know much about them. It's good to know I won't be having to head home every other week over a false alarm ... at least more than likely I won't.

Of course, I certainly don't expect this system to guard against a sophisticated burgler ... but I would think such a burgler would be far better off spending his energies in a more well to do part of town !

"R.H.Campbell" wrote in news:JIGdneGW1q snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:

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You know ... you make an excellent point. I'm convinced this guy hit me instead of the guy across the hall simply because that guy had one more lock on his door than I had.

I think I'm going to order some of these warning stickers too. That say "secured by ..." or something along those lines. Anyone know where they can be ordered ?

I looked your site over a bit and there is lots of good info on there.

I think 90% of the burglers in this area definetely fall into the first or second category of burgler you discribe. Noise, lights, etc ... are almost certain to cause them to just hit the road looking for something else.

Partly I was thinking of getting an alarm system because I hesitated to spend a great deal of money updating this slumlords apartment for him.

He is a total cheapskate. I had to call and threaten to sue just to get him to fix a friggin broken lock ! This is after I already got broken into ! My door had one working lock, and one broken lock on it (before getting broken into)... and he wasn't even going to fix the broken lock ...

You're not even going to believe this though ...

He didn't even fix the wooden trim around the door on the front side ... so you can see where the guy chistled/crowbarred in. There is a nice little slot in the wood for the next guy to stick his chistle/crowbar set up into ... so basically, the next guy has already had 40% of his work done for him !

Unbelievable.

Anyway, I figured I could at least take the alarm system with me when I leave.

But ... I think you're right ... being pissed at the landlord isn't going to protect my stuff ... :)

Besides, the next occupant will thank me ... maybe I'll save them a few hundred bucks too ...

On what ..... do you base your statement that..... " Wireless may be prone to false alarms and unreliability"?

The newer wireless stuff is not unreliable in the least. It's a matter of

99.9% reliability with hardwired vs 99.8% reliability with wireless. Anyone who tells you differently is living in 1985. (or in Belgium)

"Stanley Barthfarkle" wrote in news:vzT4f.145$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com:

Awesome. That is really good to know. I would have got one of these things already but I stumbled on some older threads that cast doubt in my mind. I'd love that Paradox Magellan system, but it looks like it would be $450 or so to set up, with all the sensors I require, vs. $200 for the PowerMax+.

Also, these wireless systems sort of look like neat "toys" in their own right, hee hee, so I think I'm going to get one.

As well as following the advice of increasing the physical security.

Even without monitoring, I imagine the loud sirens scare off 60% of would be burglars at least ... particularly in a crowded apartment complex/city like environment. If you live in the quiet suburbs where there are big lots, then it might be another story entirely.

"Crash Gordon" wrote in news:1RT4f.21$% snipped-for-privacy@news.uswest.net:

Yeah, you know ... this brings up a good point, and that is, the "type" of thefts in your area is an important consideration.

Apparenlty we have a very active "stealth" type thief in this area. He robs during the day, and apparently can do it without causing much noise at all. My neighbor was home while this happened, and swears he didn't have his stereo up loud. This thief seems to have been active for a couple of months now. I think he dresses up like a student, with a backpack. He only takes small items like laptops and iPod's that can be easily carried out.

I don't know for certain ... but my guess is that smash and grabs are more popular in the suburbs, where there is a little more space. In areas with a lot of foot traffic, like an apartment complex in the city, I bet the more stealthy type thefts are more common. Like I said ... I certainly don't have statistics, so I'm more or less guessing.

Alarm systems are next to worthless against a smash and grab, I suppose.

How did they get in??? Unlocked window? Kicked in front door? Broke window and reached in and unlocked door?