On 4/6/2012 3:03 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 6 Apr 2012 10:28:39 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy
wrote:

On Apr 6, 8:12 am, wrote:
Because of a recent burglary, I am going to install an alarm system in
my single-family ranch home (no basement)that I reside in alone. The
street is a quiet, family-oriented one (no loud cars, boom boxes,
tough-looking guys of any age).

The considerations (aimed at burglar detection):
1. A silent alarm so the cops might catch them in the act, vs. one that
lights lights and beeps horns to scare them away (so they're free to
strike elsewhere).

2. A silent alarm that signals me if I'm home, so I could defend myself
with a gun. If I'm away, the alarm could notify a next-door neighbor, a
monitoring service, or the police. Police allow three false alarms a
year before charging. (I believe there are systems that will call my
cell phone, but it's always off and in my car, as it is used only for
calls that I originate.)

3. Beefed up barriers to entry, like locking bars for sliding doors, and
high quality door locks. Problem is, if place looks too fortified,
rather than being deterred burglars might see this as a sign that there
is really valuable stuff inside and make a more determined (and
damaging) effort to enter.

4. How easy is it to defeat? The incoming AC power cable is enclosed in
heavy duty metal conduit. But it would be easy to cut the flimsy pin
that locks the cover over the meter and simply remove the meter. The
cable TV and phone lines are not enclosed and are easy to cut and
thereby defeat ordinary landlines or phone service via the cable
company. This forces a battery-backup wireless system.

5. Camera: Do they really do much good in deterring via their visible
presence or in identifying a suspect that the cops catch?

Other measures (mainly home security):

1. Lights on timers.
2. Radio or TV on all the time.
3. Shades for the garage window so nobody can see if a car is present.
In my neighborhood, a car is a necessity as it's a mile to a major
highway. So if the garage is empty, it's a excellent indication that the
house is empty also.
4. Locking bars on sliding doors.
5. Double-key deadbolts on doors with glass panes, so burglars can't
break a window and simply reach in and unlock a single-key deadbolt.
6. Fake decals warning that a system is installed even if not true.

After writing the above, I came across a book on amazon.com called
Essential Home Security: A Layman's Guide. Clicking on the Table of
Contents link,

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Home...uide/dp/145373...

it appears to address my concerns and many, many factors that I have not
considered. I can't tell, however, if he addresses defeating the systems
(consideration 4 above).

One of the reviewers was annoyed because the book was self-published (so
what?) and because there were no specific product recommendations. The
other reviews gave it high marks for at least pointing out
vulnerabilities you may have.

Thanks for your comments/feedback.

R1

My comments/opinions:

I was told by police of 7th largest city in US that in their
experience NEVER had power/telephone lines cut by a burglar, even when
all is prominently above ground and accessible.

ALARMS:
local alarm
external: loud/obnoxious for 5+ minutes, won't anger neighbors too
much, lights flashing for 10+ minutes. There may be ordinances
concerning noise makers. I mounted my siren INSIDE our home pointing
out through vent opening to meet local ordinance, yet still make noise
outside.
internal: loud/obnoxious 120+dB WITH lights flashing for 20 minutes

silent/monitored alarm
1-2 minutes BEFORE loud local alarms, silent alarm - maybe local
response actually catch someone exiting

cameras: for record/review, possible identification, system connect to
internet to notify you via cell phone, or to service. It is a nice
feature to be able to check for prowlers while you're inside. Once, I
put in military grade proximity alarms, even included radar that
looked through walls to 10 foot regions outside. You could NOT believe
the number of people that wandered around outside at night!

outside indicators:
no decal, just a visible alarm bell - not so discretely tucked away.

As far as 'fortressing' your home...
For valuables, after having a safety deposit box mysteriously lose
some contents [had written list of complete contents at home for
comparison] decided to NEVER let valuables out of my hands again.
Thus, used the dead spaces under our cabinetry in bathroom and kitchen
and built fake back walls into several closets. I converted the
kickstep covers for the cabinetry to become removable. Each was held
in place with those "push to open" latches. Contents under cabinets
were those heavy coin collections etc, heavy, thin flat items, more
than 200 lb total. The spaces made by the fake back walls in the
closets were to enclose larger items, like sterlingware, special
jewelry, etc. and wife's collection of furs. NOBODY knew about the
false areas, except us. Then added a more conventional, and
prominent, bolt down safe to occupy anyone who wanted to hang around
and get the lollipop out of it. Thus, the home was secure, but did
not appear to be fortified.
Pass the word around that your home has NOTHING of value inside it,
has cameras security etc just to prevent potential vandalism from any
angry intruder.
My brother's vacation home/trailer was a target for theives until he
installed an X10 alarm system with cameras and PC recorder - and a set
of Fiamm air horms - all run off a good UPS system so it works even 8
hours after the power is disconnected.

One miscreant left a patch of denim with better than a square inch of
skin/flesh from his shin on the "downspoout re-enforcement" at the
back corner of the trailer when he headed for the bush when the
flood-lights came on and blinded him.

That was the last episode - on a cold stormy winter night when the
power was out in the whole area and the guy must have figured the
"obvious" alarm system would be useless.

The neighbours know if they hear the air horn something untoward is
going on at the place on the bend - and they are often there, cell
phone in hand, by the time my brother is online checking out the
cameras. The last time the neighbour had the police called within
minutes. Didn't get the guy, but he spent a long cold (and apparently
painfull) night in the bush, because the cops were around for quite
some time waiting for him to come out. When my brother got there next
morning he found tracks leading from the bush to a house down the way
that is known to be trouble - no proof it was him, but apparently all
his bad-news buddies now know it's not worth the effort.

I had a friend who bought a small apartment complex from the city and
had a problem with trespassers invading the place at night while he
repaired the damaged done to the units by metal thieves. I gave him an
Edwards 870P-N5 AdaptaHorn wired up to some motion detecting flood
lights. We installed the lights/horn behind the complex where there was
a barbed wire fence. One night he was awakened by the horn going off and
the next morning he found bits of torn black cloth and bloody chunks of
human flesh all over the barbed wire fence. Word got out and he had no
more nightly visitations. ^_^

http://www.edwards-signals.com/index...d=257&level=45

TDD