Hi,

Saturday evening getting ready to go out, go upstairs to get changed, back down 10mins (literally) later to find someone had been into the house, specifically the kitchen, and taken 2 handbags and contents. However, and this is the weird bit, to get one of the bags they had to reach across a new Macbook, £12.00 in cash and another wallet, but they left those!

Lesson learnt though and door now locked even when we are in, though hate doing that, and steps taken to make others aware.

So has anyone any recommendations for a home CCTV system? Been looking at the Maplin 2 camera 500gb systems and they seem good value and straightforward to install and can be accessed remotely if required via iPhone etc.

Dog isn’t an option at the moment unfortunately.

Thanks,
Matt.

Dog isn’t an option at the moment unfortunately.

How about a goose? Better than a dog because it can also fly.

Best camera’s seem to be the EyeSpy24 having one inside would be creepy though so I would put one on the wall outside and stream the contents.

Bloody ‘ell. I’d move 🙁 .. That’s harsh luck.

If you are of a homebrew persuasion there is a good article in this months Linux Format about sticking together a customised system.

Move because of one burglary? unfortunately I don’t think you’ll find an area with zero crime! Good luck and sorry to hear that, it sucks!

Bloody ‘ell. I’d move

me too.

i realised this morning the road bike was leant up outside the back door and has been since friday…

So two handbags went missing but nothing else?

You’re absolutely sure it was a burglary?

I think it was the goose. There is a goose involved isn’t there?

Just lock the doors… I ALWAYS do out of habit.

Thanks for the comments:

Three Fish, goose is a great idea!

richc, camera is to be outside, will look at the Eyespy

brassneck, no time and lack of skill will rule out the homebrew option I’m afraid. Would be a project I would like to have tried though.

Munqu-chick, thank you.

I think it was the goose. There is a goose involved isn’t there?

Nah, couldn’t have been the goose. All they do is break arms.

I don’t think you’ll find an area with zero crime!

Zero reported crime in the last BCS for where I live….

OP – you may not need real CCTV, but something to act as a deterrent. And, yes, locking doors is always good policy.

I suggested this last week on a similar thread

http://www.y-cam.com/y-cam-bullet-black/

Friend has one and swears by it.

Try CCL computers. I bought a 4 camera and recorder package from them which was cheaper than anywhere else.

Have a look at this.
http://www.cclonline.com/product/67893/53317/Security-Cameras/Storage-Options-Home-DIY-CCTV-Kit/CAM1458/

My neighbour got burgled a few weeks ago, again they took wierd stuff, left nearly $1000 that was sat on a table, left bank cards, just took stuff easy to carry away. We are now going through the ‘locking of the doors’ routine, no doubt someone will forget soon though. I bought an infra-red driveway alarm off flea-bay for 30 quid, seems to work well and is a ‘slight’ visible deterrant, I too have looked at the Maplin cameras, still wondering whether to get some.

Sorry you got done over, but not surprised they left the Macbook, I’d do the same 😉

Ever had someone knock and ask if you’d like your gutters cleaning? or (insert something else here).

There are many types of grazing crime. Try as many doors as possible and you’ll find one open- same with car doors and house windows. House doors that are open are far quicker to escape from though and in the warm weather in the evening how many more will you come across like this when people are asleep?

Rather than CCTV just lock the door. I have our door locked when I go out and leave the hora’s alone.

brassneck
If you are of a homebrew persuasion there is a good article in this months Linux Format about sticking together a customised system.

Is that this magwasine?

Be careful with any Swan based CCTV camera system they are cheap for a very good reason, as they break an awful lot.

Some burglars will only take stuff they can carry without raising any suspicions.

Check your boundaries, gates, fences, hedges etc Can someone get up the side of your house, got any flat roofs? etc.

Remeber that CCTV won’t stop a burglary and its extremely hard to prove someone was there without a really decent mugshot. A hoodie, baseball cap etc, in fact anything to through doubt on someones identity will prevent your footage being useful.

Get your boundaries properly secured, prevent access to the rear or side of your property, locks on doors and windows. All of that first. then security lights and last of all CCTV

Anyone know if home CCTV footage can actually be used to prosecute someone?

My brother caught a gang using a hydraulic cutter (like what the fire brigade use) to cut the cat off his 4×4 on Friday morning. Police gave chase buy dropped the pursuit due to the speeds they were doing to get away. Some scum out there for sure. Our back door is always locked. Front needs a key anyway.

wouldn’t bother with CCTV, just put a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign on the doors AND LOCK THEM.

Anyone know if home CCTV footage can actually be used to prosecute someone?

Yes it can. A few years back my old neighbour’s CCTV was used as primary evidence in a murder trial. They got 24, 23 and 16 years.

Are you expecting someone to show their face to the camera in full HD clarity?

Then an officer to turn up and say ‘thats Bill McGuire I’ll just go and arrest him’.

Or in reality you don’t quite get a clear picture or the Officer says ‘hes 15, sorry’.

Lock the door.

Move because of one burglary? unfortunately I don’t think you’ll find an area with zero crime!

Is where I live, though I am extremely fortunate and know it.

toys19 – that’s the one – I haven’t looked to see if the content was available online, as the mag is sat on my desk. I think it usually does turn up in a month or so.

I have our door locked when I go out and leave the hora’s alone.

You are Joseph Fritzel and I claim my £5 😀

I’m looking for a door entry chime/bell/alarm thingy.

Something that when the gate is opened a bell rings inside the house.. Anyone know of anything like that?

Saw a while back (probably on here) a motion detection system that set off some very realistic dog barking. Could be a simple and effective deterrant.

40mpg – You mean something like this:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6EOvYZ93o4[/video]

😀

Why do you want to badly film people walking in to your house, not some thing id be that bothered about keeping memories of to be honest. Also sticking cameras on your house just says you have something worth knicking.

Oh and even if the camera identifies the person, the Police still need to know who they are, and if they know who they are, they will probably have their fingerprints already…

All,

Thanks for the comments and some very good points made around the issues of CCTV. This was my first response to the problem, other than acting and locking the door all the time when in the house in future. I do have concerns over the quality of the images and whether they would be any use at all.

Door alarm (as Milkie) mentions above is a good point and something we are also looking at.

May end up with a CCTV anyway but fully apprecate it is not the be all and end all.

Matt.

Brassneck, is it the mar12 or apr12 issue? I have to buy the bloody thing online here as there is nowhere in exeter town what sells this, not even trusty whsmith.

@Milkie, try this:-
http://doorchimesuk.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=464
Have a look on ebay, I got mine for less than the price on the linkee above.

April 2012 it is toys – I do buy it from WH Smiths, theres usually plenty of copies 🙂

Well, I say buy – a couple of us take turns and share it around.. £6.50 for a mag!! I wonder if I can buy it cheap a month in arrears?

Castrol,

We’ve been victim to a sneak in theft at least once (and probably on a previous occasion when a bag dissapeared but we didn’t even consider it at the time only a year later when we knew what had happened).

The police were very thorough, finger prints, etc. never caught anyone though. There was a spate of it that week in the local area. They suggested we should ‘expect them to come back’ at some point in the future; as once they realise you are a soft target they will come back. (we have moved but not because of this).

I’m not surprised they left the macbook, you’ll need to know what you are doing to flog a nicked macbook. The cash is a little surprising, so either they had spied the bags through the window or were after something specific. Assuming the bags weren’t valuable themselves, were there any keys in them? Its much easier to nick car keys than hotwire a car these days. Likewise if you have several grand of MTB sitting in the garage it would be easier to get your garage keys than break in…

Proof if proof were needed that the whole Mac thing is over.

How to protect your home
No need for a dog…just a beware of sign! (and other top tips!)

So unless you are going to be around £1500 on CCTV you aren’t going to get anything good or worthwhile, there is no point spending a couple of hundred. Dummy cameras or even real cheap ones will not deter the kind of people who do walk in thefts. If you are going to invest then make it worthwhile, something that will store for 28 days (maybe not necessarily that long) and that is good enough to ID someone, ie police can use it.

IanMunro of course you can use people’s CCTV it’s no different to council stuff, as long as home owner has given you permission iedownloaded it for you. you may well be surprised what types of people have personal CCTV which has been used for other alternative crimes, ie a camera which looks over front door gets bloke cycling past wanted for robbery for example.

Ourmaninthenorth, BCS is different to the police crime records. I can’t believe there are more than a handful of areas where there is not reported crime to the police…okay a lonesome house in the countryside maybe!

Without being patronising I think the best bet is a bit of common sense, I know we shouldn’t have to lock our doors all the time but unfortunately reality is we have to, as we do not do enough/have strong enough powers to deal with the drug users who steal, rob and burgle to find their habit. CCTV will not dissuade them and unless it’s super effective you’re wasting your money.

Good luck though as it certainly sucks and makes you feel angry!

Proof if proof were needed that the whole Mac thing is over.

Oh, please…
Anyone remotely clued-up would know stolen Apple products can be tracked.

A good alarm! The single most
Important bit of kit.people mock them but burglars absolutely hate them

But for the walk in theft that he experienced an alarm wouldn’t have done anything!! and for those that are away from the home the burglars just disconnected them. Personally I wouldn’t bother!! !