House alarms – utterly without point?

Where we live there has just been a sudden spate of break-ins (including ones very close to our house) which has led to me considering getting an alarm fitted.

Then last night a neighbours’ alarm (about 4 doors down from our house) went off so I went out to check and fortunately all seemed okay – no sign of movement inside, all windows, doors and gates (that I could access) were secure. However, not one other neighbour had come out to check – and we live on a cul-de-sac where everyone is very friendly (regular house parties etc) and the owners of that house are pretty much the hub of it all, know everyone and have lived there since the house was built 30 years ago (we are newbies of three years on the ‘hood).

So I got to thinking – if no-one could be arsed to check for this guy, what would the point be in fitting one ourselves as apart from being a tiny bit of a deterrent to a burglar, no-one really gives a shit about the people around them.

(I am going round after work tonight to knock on their neighbours doors to see if anyone has a key as the alarmees are away at the moment).

IMO they are a waste of time for the majority of us.

Yep, no point. We had one installed at the other half’s insistence. She grandly declared to the home insurers we had a maintained alarm system fitted and can we have our discount. So our premiums are now a whole £10 a year better off. And we had to turn it on every time we went to bed (well, at least the downstairs zones) and pay £90 a year maintenance charge so we’re actually down quite a lot. Suffice to say that idea didn’t last long.

A friend had an alarm, it was actually set off by burglars. People checked, and even the police turned up. Nothing to be seen (toe rags had disappeared by then). They came back a little while later, set the alarm off again but people didn’t bat an eyelid assuming it was (another) false alarm and they helped themselves to all they could carry.

if no-one could be arsed to check for this guy,

But you checked? Maybe other people saw you going so knew there was no need. If an alarm goes off on our street there’s about 3 or 4 sets of neighbours out checking.

Ours is set up with zones so when it gets armed on a night if anyone opens an external door or goes in the garage it will trigger. I don’t doubt that nothing will happen if it goes off when we are not in although it alerts me by text if it does go off and I can turn it off remotely to save the siren going off for hours on end.

Depends why you have it I suppose. Our neighbours (and us) have a police monitored one, their went off recently when someone got in their back door and Police were there in minutes, due to the approach they didn’t get seen and caught the two guys red handed. So that was worth it. Our is same and we particularly use it for external buildings like garage etc. Unless its monitored I’d say not worth it, at least then you pay someone to pay attention.

But you checked? Maybe other people saw you going so knew there was no need. If an alarm goes off on our street there’s about 3 or 4 sets of neighbours out checking.

I certainly saw absolutely no sign of anyone else (curtains moving etc), it was very dark and I didn’t have a torch or anything so it would have been pretty much impossible to identify me as me (and not the burglar that set the alarm off).

Mine gives me a call (or my partner) and then I can check remotely via the cameras if anyone is around and then I can rush home if need be.

Its just a deterrant tbh, as its makes the cheeky chappies in the traveller camp who I’ve found in my garden looking for scrap, only take stuff that’s not chained/concreted/nailed down in my garden and they don’t bother to check the doors. Unlikely my neighbours who get robbed a couple of times a year.

Mine gives me a call (or my partner) and then I can check remotely via the cameras if anyone is around and then I can rush home if need be.

Yeah I have been looking at the Yale wireless ones that have all the remote monitoring stuff which appeals, however I can’t easily get a phone line to where I would need to house the base unit.

Depends why you have it I suppose. Our neighbours (and us) have a police monitored one, their went off recently when someone got in their back door and Police were there in minutes, due to the approach they didn’t get seen and caught the two guys red handed. So that was worth it. Our is same and we particularly use it for external buildings like garage etc. Unless its monitored I’d say not worth it, at least then you pay someone to pay attention.

Makes sense. Instead of having wailing sirens which just piss off neighbours so they don’t check, absolute silence but alarms flashing at plod central might actually result in a few wrong’uns being nicked.

If I’m a burglar and I have the choice of two houses to rob I’ll choose the one without an alarm

Yeah I have been looking at the Yale wireless ones that have all the remote monitoring stuff which appeals

I’ve also looked at these, but just be cautious that Yale are not guaranteeing access to a server post 2018!

If I’m a burglar and I have the choice of two houses to rob I’ll choose the one without an alarm

That is the rationale I used with my wife (she doesn’t want one as she would panic if she heard the alarm go off in the night – which she used to do before we decommissioned our existing alarm due to persistent faults).

Still – I have the old box up on the wall so it does look like we have an alarm fitted 🙂

I’ve also looked at these, but just be cautious that Yale are not guaranteeing access to a server post 2018!

Really? Where does it say that and why are they saying this????

Really? Where does it say that and why are they saying this????

I’ve just seen it at the bottom of various product pages including Amazon and professional companies.

The SmartPhone feature requires our central server. Yale offers no guarantee on the availability of our server. Yale aims to maintain a server until 2018. We would contact individual users via email should this situation change.

Example site[/url]

Happy to be proved wrong, as had also considered this option.

That’s a bit rubbish!

They are very useful to alert you if anyone has broken in downstairs and avoid been surprised…

To get it Police monitored we had to set it up such that there would be 2 sensor activations (doors, windows or room sensors) for a police call, single sensor it calls us

Alarms of any sort seem to be completely pointless. I had a commercial monitored gardner system at our old house. It gave me peace of mind for a while but was expensive to maintain the monitoring. So I dropped the contract and re-programmed the autodialler to phone me.

All that would happen then would be I’d get a string of nuisence calls from the ‘house’ when I’d forgotten to disable the PIRs having locked the dog in, or when a door sensor got rattled during high winds, or after the power had come back on during a blackout. I’d then have to stumble around in my brain to recall what key combination to mash into my phone to shut the thing up (was it #**#1 for the burglar alarm, or was that for the fire alarms? Did that cancel the alarm, or just stop it from phoning me?)

Having shut the bleeding thing up for the n^7th time you then had to decide what to do next – was the place really burning down, was there a guy with a swag bag stuck in the dog flap? Invariably I’d just ask my mum to pop around the next day. I never once considered calling the police – I’d just be laughed at. Occasionally I’d call my neigbour, mainly to apologise for the clanging beeping din, which it transpired she’d not heard at all.

I think the whole system woud’ve been much more effective if it had been fitted inside out – make the house utterly unbearable for any intruder. I’ve often thought this would be a good approach for a car alarm: fit the siren inside the car.

If I’m a burglar and I have the choice of two houses to rob I’ll choose the one without an alarm

And if you are a Burgular and you have the choice of 2 houses, do you choose the one with the alarm or the one with the dog?

The point is it’s something in a list of things that you have control of. Saying it’s waste of time doesn’t add up. What would be the alternative?

The trickier your house becomes to target the less likely it will be broken into.

And if you are a Burgular and you have the choice of 2 houses, do you choose the one with the alarm or the one with the dog?

It’s not an either or.

You dont choose the one with the dog, alarm, dusk till dawn lights, CCTV and gate. I.e you do everything in your control that is practical.

and we live on a cul-de-sac where everyone is very friendly (regular house parties etc)

Never mind the alarm tell us more about this . . . . Pampas grass on the front gardens? 😆

Alarms are really easy to disable as well- the type with the siren in a box. I’ve done it to one going off and disturbing me ( no burglary, daytime)

In some ways it merely advertises that you have something to steal

Theyre pointless, we have an alarm and were still burgled in broad daylight, and nobody noticed a thing

I’m a copper and used to work on a dedicated burglary team. The house we moved into 3 years ago has an alarm. We’ve never used it.

Our neighbours (and us) have a police monitored one their went off recently when someone got in their back door and Police were there in minutes, due to the approach they didn’t get seen and caught the two guys red handed

In the UK 99.9% of monitored alarms are managed by a private company who you pay handsomely, and when it goes off someone in their office phones the police. I’m not aware of any burglar alarms directly monitored by the police here, but giving the benefit of the doubt that some force might do it.

In some ways it merely advertises that you have something to steal

I’ve thought this through, but then you’ve conversely not shown any level of defence I can’t see how that’s a better alternative.

Anecdotally – I had an attempted break-in with alarm. Put CCTV up and then nothing in a year. At the very least it would alert me.

*pops over to Crashtestmonkey’s house*

We have an alarm, but TBH we rely on good neighbours to keep an eye out for us. We dont pay for the monitoring any more as by the time the monitors call us to check we didnt set it off, then call the coppers who might drive by if they get a moment the robbers will be long gone.

Ensure you have good neighbours, good deterrents and good insurance.

She grandly declared to the home insurers we had a maintained alarm system fitted and can we have our discount. So our premiums are now a whole £10 a year better off. And we had to turn it on every time we went to bed (well, at least the downstairs zones) and pay £90 a year maintenance charge so we’re actually down quite a lot. Suffice to say that idea didn’t last long.

I always wondered what the discount was, as they always ask….

Can’t comment if house alarms are effective or not as i’ve never been broken in to – maybe that is proof they are a deterrent. OK I don’t live in an area that is particularly plagued by home break ins, but they have and do happen from time to time and our next door neighbours were broken into last year. I also make use of outside lighting, personally In think outside lighting is the best deterrent.

However if someone did break in then the’d have to be very brave or stupid to continue robbing the house with the alarm blaring. If a neighbours alarm goes off I don’t rush out and check things out, but i will give their house a quick look from the front window to look for signs of anything untoward.

I don’t bother declaring mine to the insurance company as they require it to be serviced annually – which is pointless just like getting your boiler serviced annually.

However if someone did break in then the’d have to be very brave or stupid to continue robbing the house with the alarm blaring.

This. If you were a burglar would you stick around? The louder the alarm inside the house, the better. Disorientates, distracts and stops them hearing the old bill or bomber wielders arrive.

However if someone did break in then the’d have to be very brave or stupid to continue robbing the house with the alarm blaring

Professional experience suggests they pay no need to alarms. We’ve caught someone red-handed burgling a shop with the alarm still blaring, and this was a shop that fronted straight onto a busy road, metres from a 24hr petrol forecourt, and it was the combo of the alarm but mainly the clearly-smashed-in front door that had someone passing call 999.

I spent a few our this after new installing ours after it stopped working a few months ago. The siren went off several times and didn’t attract any but, both our cars are on the drive and I know our nosy neighbours knew we were in and to be fair they are the best security system we have.
In our last house the (fitted by previous owners) alarm went off one night we were out, soon after we moved in. When we got back our new neighbours knocked on the door to say that it hand gone off and that they had a look round to check so in my book they are better than nothing.
The alarm in our current house is for my wife’s piece of mind, she loves Crime Watch and is paranoid about being victims of crime. We’re going away for 1 night this weekend and she’s made me put all the Christmas presents up the loft as she know burglars are more active this time of year 🙄

Yep, they donr care about alarms, when we were burgled our alarm triggered as it should,but they still cleaned us out

What are the rough costs for installation and upkeep? I need to get one for insurance purposes and I don’t know the codes for the old system

I’m not aware of any burglar alarms directly monitored by the police here, but giving the benefit of the doubt that some force might do it.

Far as I knew, you couldn’t have alarms alert the police directly, due to false alarm risks. You have to use a monitoring company to vet the alerts.

I used to work with an ex cop who worked as a crime prevention officer. When he did home visits, he said the first thing everyone asked him was which alarm they should buy. He advised people that they should invest in good locks and doors, and an alarm was the last thing to spend money on. He said that a lot of robberies are quick in and out jobs, and the burglar won’t hang around long enough for the alarm to make any difference.

Well we have halogen spotlights around the front of the house on connected PIRs so on balance of this thread I’ll save my money and spend it on something else 🙂

He advised people that they should invest in good locks and doors, and an alarm was the last thing to spend money on.

This ^^^^

Call me Captain Paranoid, but a good starting point for upvc doors would be upgrading door handles and eurocylinder barrels to TS007 3*** standard. Decent barrels would be ABS Avocet Mk3, Mul-T-Lock XP
Kaba pExtra Guard, Evva 3-star. Easily doable yourself without requiring a locksmith.

For 44mm wooden doors, 3 good hinges with long enough screws and hinge bolts, reinforcing plates over your mortice lock and something like a London/Birmingham bar to protect the box keep too. And hopefully your door frame is well attached to the surrounding masonry too http://www.kickstop.co.uk

Much better than an alarm!

The alarm worked well for my Mum a few weeks ago – aborted burglary. She does live in a small village where most people know each other and actually do something if they hear an alarm going off. There isn’t much excitement otherwise! 😉