How to secure an abandoned building that has pigeons, etc.?

It may just be that you have too much time on your hands.

large areas that are not temp. controlled can be a problem, but using photobeam detectors as trap sensors and the magnet door switches you mentioned a reasonable amount of security can be had for such a building as you described.. RTS

My first guess would be acid but it sounds more like one of those smoke revelations, seems less profound when you're straight. Let's look at this again tomorrow.

So that got me thinking. Here you have this huge building that has all the windows broken out, has been severely vandalized over the years, has an immense perimeter, but has been a magnet for people to go exploring and vandalizing in. let's say they brick up the lower two or 3 floors of windows and secure that. I assume they would put standard magnet switches on the secured lower perimeter doors. But, since (As Vergara's book documents) frequently people will just bread a hole in the wall to get in, or maybe climb up to an upper window that wasn't bricked up. How would you alarm a building like this? I would think you'd HAVE to have interior motions of some sort, but I would think that the pigeons and any other animals that get in would cause lots of false alarms.

Before someone starts thinking that I want to go in some building and bypass the security. That's not my intention at all. I've got too much to lose to risk wandering through abandoned buildings. (wife, kids, mortgage...) I just can't see how you could secure something like that economically and not have tons of false alarms. I know how to secure an enclosed building that is maintained. I am just curious how one would handle a partially open situation like this?

Thanks, Middle Aged Curious Nerd

that was funny Mikey.

I've seen buildings such as this have systems ranging from just a few basic sensors to full blown everything.

And that is the thing with alarms. Depends on what the customer wants and the company installing the system. There are many different customers and many different alarm companies.

So far as bypassing systems... What they show on TV is nonsense - placing a jumper or two in an electrical box. This is silly. Some companies manufacture their own custom alarm panels. Few people would know about this. Nothing is labeled. Even the employees working for these companies have trouble understanding how these systems work let alone a burglar! Add to this the variables of different customers and different companies, then no telling what may be in a particular building!

Also sometimes there are paranoid customers or customers who are bound and determined to catch whoever is doing something. These customers will spend a small fortune on this and that. So add that to the mix as well.

So far as large retail stores, it is not unusual for someone to be there 24 hours a day. At night they restock the shelves and clean the floors. Many have setups where certain portions of the store can have the alarm on but other sections have the alarm off to allow restocking or cleaning. They have things pretty well covered for loss from an outside or an inside person.

In general, alarms have been bypassed, but this is *very* rare. And I feel the reason for this is WHO is doing the burglary in most cases. Most of these people are not very bright to begin with. If they were, they would probably have a job. Watch America's Dumbest Criminals and you will see your typical burglar type.

In one situation I saw, there was a jewelry store which had bars on all the windows and metal doors which required a key to open them from *either* side. So this guy cuts a hole in the roof and jumps down into the store. This triggered the alarm. Then he gathered up his loot and suddenly found he could not get out of the store and could not get back up through the hole in the roof! He was stuck there until the police arrived. Not very bright to say the least. And this is how they are. Not capable of "thinking ahead" - How am I going to get out of there, etc.

Then sometimes there are teenagers who don't know any better.

Of course there are a few bright and intelligent thieves. But I think most of these types have gone to work for large corporations and spend their time screwing you and I out of money by more legal methods.