Attempted Burgulary last night! Home Alarm Recommendations Please

Good Morning,

I live in a 1950's 3 bed house on a busy residential street in Surrey and last night at 6.00pm someone got into our neighbours back garden (seen on their CCTV) and was obviously scoping their house out to burgle (they were out at the time).
My neighbour is a recent Widow with a young child and is now terrified to be alone in the house. I went round and secured the back gate and checked everything else that I could. The house itself is well secured, with moder windows and doors that deadlock, but I understand that these still might not deter/stop anyone determined to get it

Anyway, the upshot is that she is now thinking of having an alarm installed. I haven't ever looked into this and would like to help her find the best avaialable to try to put her mind at rest. So, I would like to ask anyone on here that has experiences (good & bad ) to please offer any advice.

I am even more motivated to do this, as this poor lady called out a plumber for a leaky tap one night a few months ago & got charged £1200 to have to tap connectors fitted!! I don't want her taken advantage of again

Thanks in advance

John

Apparently two things which put off these kinds of people are dogs and ADT alarms as the chances are an ADT alarm is connected to the police.

From what I've seen they couldn't care less about cameras. I had two cameras and a bright spotlight at the front of my last house and when the thief who broke into my car saw the spotlight turn off he turned off the torch on his phone. It helped him.

Sorry to hear about your neighbour, especially the tap.

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Originally Posted by wileeeeeey

Apparently two things which put off these kinds of people are dogs and ADT alarms as the chances are an ADT alarm is connected to the police.

From what I've seen they couldn't care less about cameras. I had two cameras and a bright spotlight at the front of my last house and when the thief who broke into my car saw the spotlight turn off he turned off the torch on his phone. It helped him.

Sorry to hear about your neighbour, especially the tap.

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Agree with this. Get a dog. Absolute scumbags.
If you do install CCTV make sure it has sound. A hood defeats any CCTV system and most systems at night are shocking anyway. Flood lights may help.
They need to toughen the laws and actually actively catch these crims. The police stance is “that’s why you have insurance policies”

A guy I know had two Dogs and he still got burgled, the burglars actually killed his Doberman, obviously he was more upset about that than the goods that got stolen.

A dog is only good if you’re at home, to raise the alarm.

Getting an alarm would be the obvious choice, it might not stop them breaking in but it will alert other neighbours which means they can't carry on ransacking the house in peace atleast if it does sound.

Floodlights and an alarm are a must, cameras are even better (although it's not a guarantee it will stop them).

Thieves will look for the easiest option so if your house is well protected they may move onto the next unless you have something they really want.

P.s. get an alarm that they can zone/part set so it can armed downstairs if they are asleep upstairs.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Saint-Just

A dog is only good if you’re at home, to raise the alarm.

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If you have a dog you can't leave the house long enough to get burgled...

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Originally Posted by MB2

If you have a dog you can't leave the house long enough to get burgled...

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Unfortunately some people can. I even heard that they can do that with children when on holiday in Portugal

Banhams are decent for alarms although they have to be maintained annually for insurance purposes. We’ve had one for over 10 years without issue.

For an alarm - ADT bellbox with LED is a good deterent.

Otherwise a professional installer - I have a monitored Honeywell System which is wireless and works really well - I was a bit sceptical. It was about 500 installed and the maintenace and monitoring is 20 a month.

I would say if you having one longterm then maintenence is useful as the one at work has been completely replaced and mine needed a lot of work - were considering a new panel when a detector went rogue. That said my old house was a wired system and I just occasionally fixed the odd thing myself but the Honeywell seems to need a professional programming interface.

I fitted a Texecom Richochet system- Good value and highly thought of in the alarm world, expandable, linked to your mobile etc... Support based in the UK, very helpful.

A dog is all well and good but it's got to grow a bit if you get a puppy.

Regarding alarms.....I believe the idea is to make your house look harder or more bother to break in to than the immedient neighbours. If you are helping her to make her house look like Fort Knox then you had best do the same for yours!

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Originally Posted by Vanguard

A guy I know had two Dogs and he still got burgled, the burglars actually killed his Doberman, obviously he was more upset about that than the goods that got stolen.

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My alarm and cctv is mainly to ensure my dog is safe if we both go out.

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Originally Posted by Anygreg

......The police stance is “that’s why you have insurance policies”

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Based on what exactly?

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Originally Posted by hops

Based on what exactly?

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To claim against when you get burgled? Car stolen etc? And based on my own experiences of the above happening to me.

Plenty of security lighting, thieves don’t want to be seen.
You can get some excellent really bright security lights, just fit out of reach.

As had been mentioned, make your property at least look the more secure of those around you. The fact that you’ve thought about security and it’s clearly visible will make them think twice. That is unless they are after something in particular that you own. Then we’re into a whole other world of issues and options.

Nothing wrong with a yale wireless alarm, easy to install and reliable.

Also change locks to anti-snap ones, they're a good deterrent.

Most burglars are lazy useless two-hats. They look for the easiest target. Anything that is discouraging is useful as mentioned already such as dogs, alarms, cctv, pir lights or all of them. Always lock keys away if house empty. They might smash their way through your patio doors but if your keys are lying around it's easy to pinch your car(s) or carry your goods out. Don't leave items like bins or ladders in your yard that make it easy to climb your walls/fences. Thorny bushes are not nice to negotiate. Be disciplined in your security and systematic in your precautions.

I'm also Surrey and we had a new system installed by an independent based in Sutton called JTS.

https://www.jtssecurity4u.co.uk/

Can't recommend highly enough, the level of service and the finished product exceeded expectation in every way.

(I have no affiliation with this company whatsoever, apart from being a happy customer).

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Originally Posted by Vanguard

A guy I know had two Dogs and he still got burgled, the burglars actually killed his Doberman, obviously he was more upset about that than the goods that got stolen.

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That's horrific, though not the first I've heard of such things.

Cameras are genuinely a complete waste of time and not even the slightest deterrent.

The chaps that broke into mine gave the cameras a thumbs up !

All I now have is a 6 min video of group of lads ransacking the house.

Wireless Pyronix alarm should be sufficient, should get change from £800 if your lucky. Might be worth checking the door cylinders are 3 star rated while she is at it.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply with some great suggestions.

My Neighbour has decided to go with a monitored alarm system and will be contacting a couple of companies to get quots over the next few days.

Thanks again, another example of what a great forum this is

John

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Originally Posted by Coronet king

Might be worth checking the door cylinders are 3 star rated while she is at it.

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Defo worth investing in.

https://youtu.be/xdy78jktryE

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Originally Posted by g40steve

Defo worth investing in.

https://youtu.be/xdy78jktryE

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Totally agree small price to pay we have the Yale version on all our outside doors the bog standard cylinders are a waste of money Amazon are decent for both the cylinders and spare keys.

IMO any alarm that is not central station is a waste of time i wonder how many are going of right now due to this weather and nobody taking any notice?

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Originally Posted by village

Regarding alarms.....I believe the idea is to make your house look harder or more bother to break in to than the immedient neighbours. If you are helping her to make her house look like Fort Knox then you had best do the same for yours!

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Very true. Akin to a zombie apocalypse, where you don't need to be the quickest, just quicker than the fat bloke alongside (or trailing) you.

Decent physical security (locks, windows, doors, etc that are actually are effective).
Good relations with your neighbours. Agree to look out for each other, tell each other when you are away, etc.
Move to a low crime area.

Camera notification is one thing-but- my workmate rushed to his van to be confronted by two lads with crowbars while a third emptied his power tools- they gave him a broken English version of” come try if u fancy it”