Home Security Blog

Which Camera(s) to Buy

If you have made the decision to add cameras to your home or are contemplating making that move to increase your home’s security, below I will outline some of your choices when it comes to the actual camera equipment itself.  The choices are literally endless when it comes to high, low and mid-range options in camera equipment to add security to your home. When I made this decision to add cameras to my home ten years ago, the X10 camera brand was the best deal I found in the marketplace, and the brand still seems to be holding strong a decade later.

X10 is currently offering a basic camera system for $79.99 on their website. This is for a pretty decent entry level camera security system and it really does include basically all you require to install a  good starter security and surveillance system in your home. They say the package can be installed in 10 minutes, but I’d plan on more like a couple hours just to be realistic time wise so you don’t get frustrated or try to rush it.  With the starter X10 package, you get two small daylight/low light cameras. The cameras are good for entry level consumers and are able to be installed indoors or out. After you mount the cameras, you plug the X10′s video receiver into your television or computer with the included RCA cables and you should be ready to go. The camera will send a wireless video signal to the X10 video receiver that can be shown on your TV up to 100 feet away. But if doors, floors and walls are involved, I’d recommend not installing the camera more than 50 feet from the video receiver just to be safe and make sure there is never any signal loss at a crucial time when you need the camera most.

Because the X10 is still basically the same camera I bought 10 years ago, it does not have infrared or night vision capabilities. However if installed indoors or on a door, porch or garage exterior that already has it’s own lighting provisions, either motion sensitive or otherwise, the X10 cameras can be a good solution. If you hear a knock at the door, all you do is turn your TV to the channel you have the video receiver set to and you can see who is there before risking life and limb to blindly answer the door without knowing who might be waiting there.
If you want to go bigger, there are countless other cameras available with higher resolution than the X10 models and of course night vision capabilities if you need that. Sony, Swann, Lorex, Logitech and a wide variety of other companies have cameras sold individually for as low as $19.99. Complete infrared camera systems with computer recording software can be purchased for $99 to 999, depending on what features you want and how much you want to spend.

Educating Your Family About Home Security

Educating yourself, your spouse and your children about home security is becoming increasingly more important in these crazy times we live in. When I was growing up in a small town, ignorance was bliss I guess – we would leave our doors unlocked whether we were home or not. People in my neighborhood let their dogs run loose because it was like one big happy community. We knew who all of the neighbors dogs were and the dogs I guess were smart enough to find their way back to their homes and remember who and where they got fed if they wanted to eat on a regular basis.  Nowadays in the big city I live in, if you take your dog off its leash for even a minute, you are slapped with a fine and verbal reprimand to take your self esteem to the basement, in case it wasn’t there already, and to be honest,with all the horror stories I’ve heard and read, I don’t even feel safe answering my door unless I am expecting someone at a certain exact time.

So in today’s times of serial killers, rapes and other violent home invasions, clearly we need to do everything we can to be diligent in equipping our homes more securely, keeping doors locked and making sure our children understand why we are going to these measures. You don’t want to breed paranoia and end up with a bunch of tiny Howard Hughes’ian scared children hiding in the closets and basement of your home for fear to come out. So while you need to teach them safety habits in the home, you also need to do same for when they are in the neighborhood or otherwise away from the house on their own or with friends.

Meet your neighbors, socialize in your community and be sure your kids do the same so that they feel comfortable going to a neighbor in a time of trouble when you or you spouse may not be around. Building relationships within your neighborhood with business owners, neighbors and police and security forces will lead to stronger, safer communities. Better communities are safer, happier places with lower home insurance costs and less stress for you as a parent worrying about if your kids are safe if, like with most families, the kids happen to get home before you get off work on a regular basis.

Putting a Security System in Your Home

Deciding to put a security system is a wise move towards a stronger and safer home front and it really doesn’t have to cost much, if anything at all and it will go a long way to adding to your level of home security.

Talk to you insurance company before you actually commit to any one brand or another as they may offer a better discount for certain accredited brand name security systems or security companies they may have an affiliation or partnership agreement with. No matter what company you choose, you should get a discount in your monthly insurance premium. If your company doesn’t offer one, then you may want to consider switching to one that does. Installing a basic security system with a few sensors and one camera or two really shouldn’t cost you anything in the end. Most security companies will install it for free if you agree to a contract with them for a year or two. And then your insurance company should discount you about the same amount of your monthly service bill from the security company, unless you are going with a seriously high end, multi-camera system.

ADT and Broadview(formerly Brinks) are two of the biggest national security providing companies in the country and they install and warranty security systems in every state. So if you want to go with a brand name and get possibly a lower price, one of the national companies may be your best bet.

Nowadays in these tough economic times, a lot of people are thinking and buying locally to help bolster their local economy. Money spent locally will affect your local economy 500% more than money spent with companies outside of your state. So if you want to think locally and keep the money at home, then look into some of the locally owned independent companies closer to your home. Talk to neighbors, look around your area on a bike ride or walk – look for security signage that looks like it’s from a local company and call them. Check Yelp’s ratings for local security companies as well.

If money is tight, start with the cheapest system you can get and you can always add cameras and other bells and whistles along the way as you can afford them.  If you want to go full bore into the home security game, then load up.  Get 20 cameras with night vision capability, video storage and back-up both locally and offsite, should something happen to the locally stored data. If you go big, you will want 24 hour security monitoring and possibly bi-hourly security patrol visits as well to be doubly safe. Of course you can also go in the middle of minimal and insane and have a couple cameras in front and back yards connected to you home computer and the internet for recording and back-up.

Make Your Community Safer

Home security is indeed a team sport. If your community can learn to work together as a team of sorts, crime rates in your area can see significant declines. Meet your neighbors, give out some simple holiday presents to your immediate neighbors as a show of kindness and in an effort to build a stronger bond with them.  Friends look out for each other’s homes when they are away, friends look out for each other’s kids when they are playing outside. If you don’t get to know your neighbors, not only could you be missing out on getting to know some nice, interesting people and all the safety benefits that of course do come with building a sense of community.

Talk to your neighbors about having monthly community events – block parties, block sales(big group yard sale), pot luck bbq’s, community talent shows and such.  These events are great for visibility, getting to know each other and also makes a clear show of force and mutual support to anyone that may be lurking in the shadows. Robbers and violent criminals don’t want to prey on strong neighborhoods. They prefer areas of individuals where people don’t commune in any way and as such aren’t looking out for each other as much. It’s a lot easier to take on/down one individual than a whole community.
At your block party you can invite your beat police officers) to come as well to meet people, enjoy some food and drink, educate a bit and become a part of the well knit fabric of your new community. If you are going away for any vacations this summer, this is a good chance to let the police know so they will be alert to any possible criminal action in you house at night while you are gone.

Once you get to know your neighbors then you can discuss setting up block parent and/or neighborhood watch programs to further strengthen your area against bad elements. These programs really don’t require a lot of time or effort. Just means that you and your neighbors are agreeing to make a conscious effort to keep your eyes and ears open on behalf of each other. And if you do notice something fishy, notify your community and your beat police officers.  This is not an excuse to be nosy of course, though unfortunately some bored people with too much time on their hands will sometimes use this as an excuse to pry into other’s affairs.

Generally speaking you and your community will definitely enjoy great benefits from both of these programs. Crime rates will get lower and you and you and your kids should feel safer as a result. Then your home insurance rates may get lower too, so if you do see a decline in crime, take that data to your insurance company or their competition and rally for a lower rate.

Defend Yourself & Your Home

Learning better skills to defend yourself and your family is never a bad idea to increase your home security, even when all that means is having a good escape plan to evade danger if/when things do ever get hairy and your family and home are under attack.  Teaching yourself and some kids some basic escape/evasion techniques is always a good idea, and the sooner you start the better. Whether it is to escape your home in a fire or in a situation where you or your family is the victim of a home invasion and you need to get out of the house as quickly and safely as possible.

Windows are one of the most common ways to get out of a hairy situation in your home. Practice this with your entire family – how to remove or just push/kick the screen out and then how to safely climb out of the window.  If the window is on a second or higher floor, then a rope chain ladder may be required and/or some kind of harness and belay device do that you and you and family can descend safely as a group. Don’t put bars on your windows unless they have some kind of emergency release device that can only be controlled from the inside – even then, you are doing more to keep yourself trapped in your home than you are deterring bad elements. A better way to scare off ruffians or thieves would be cameras and a monitored security system with signs in you front and back of house areas clearly visible day & night from the street and alley.

Go over various escape routes to use in different situations, factoring in potential fires or home invaders blocking different escape routes in different situations. Sometimes it might be a back or side door, other times a window or even a skylight. Craft a plan for every possible scenario and be sure your entire family tries out each escape plan with you – you can make a game out of it to keep their interest from waning – make it fun, just make sure all the important details get across. If you make a game of it you can play the escape game once a month or once a week or so.

In extreme cases, when under the attack of a home invasion, when at risk of violence of any kind, some kind of self defense or pre-emptive strike may be required.  Mace can be good in these situations, as most people don’t want to pass out handguns to their entire family. But again, everyone needs to respect the weapon of choice and be trained and experienced on how to properly utilize it as an effective tool to cripple the attacker. If you and your family haven’t practiced using a can of mace in a simulated attack/high stress situation, then chances are you will fumble with it and it may just end up raising the ire of the attacker and leave you worse off than when you started.

A Good Dog can Help Keep Your Home Safe & Secure

A good dog is many things.  It can help keep your family safe and your home and belongings secure.  It can be a friend, a confidant and, if you pick the right  one, it may even help you get lower insurance rates due to lesser chance of home invasion and theft.

A good dog is also one that doesn’t bark all the time (see the Boy who cried Wolf if you forgot that lesson). We’ve all heard beagles and similar breeds that bark, yap and yip seemingly constantly throughout the day and (ugh) often the night as well. Dogs like this just get ignored when they bark so what’s the point really with that? You want a dog

If you are a female living alone, a chow can be a good choice as they are some of the most loyal and protective canine creatures wandering this earth. But be aware, all it takes is someone to look at you the wrong way or speak a few stern words in you direction and the dog may attack the person in question with ferocity. If you do buy a chow, be sure to get it trained and train yourself on how to curb it should a hairy situation arise and the dog misreads a situation thinking you are in danger when you really are not. These animals are still wild beasts at their core and are not to be taken lightly.

Rottweilers are similarly loyal to their owners as Chows but aren’t quite as Deniro in Taxi Driver crazy when it comes to attacking. Don’t get me wrong, they will attack too when they feel their owner is in danger in any way, but a chow may actually kill a person when it’s rage is induced, whereas a rottweiler will moreso disable and stop a person rather than try and actually kill them.

If you have children you need to go for a breed of dogs that lives well with children like a golden retriever or a sheep dog. Both of these breeds will do their best to care for the entire family and are especially good at caring for and keeping an eye out for the kids. They are also good at being playful with your kids without ever going into attack mode should a child accidentally step on their paw or get a bit rougher than they should. They will generally always maintain control of the play situation so it doesn’t ever get to that point.

And most importantly, don’t buy a dog – rescue one. There are countless beautiful dogs sitting waiting for their saviour in shelters across America – give one of them a good home and reason to hope in this world and in the goodness of their caretakers, we human kind who are supposed to look out for them. For information on how to adopt a dog in your area, visit the ASPCA’s website.
A good dog will not only keep your yard and home secure, but they can also become a friend and big part of your family. Take one home today.

Never Answer the Door (if you aren’t expecting someone)

This concept may sound weird to you if you grew up in a small town as I did. My family used to go on vacation for a month and leave the front door on our house unlocked the whole time. Granted, those front doors were in two very small country towns, so I guess things are a bit different there than in the “real” world of living in an actual city in America, which I learned over time. I remember hearing in college of sketchy people that would walk around knocking on doors and if/when someone answered they would come in and rob, rape and basically pillage the place they had just gained access to. And this isn’t some urban legend, there are countless stories that start and end this way.

It may sound extreme, and in some cases even rude to leave a door unanswered. But if you aren’t expecting someone at your door, think of all you have to gain and all you could potentially suffer from just blindly answering when someone randomly knocks on your door. You are the first line of defense in your home’s security, and you don’t want you or you family to be the subject of a neighborhood  horror story, do you?

Install a Peep Hole

If you don’t already have one, install a peep hole on your front door. Ideally go for the bigger one with the large lens so you don’t have to stick your face right up against the door to see who is there. The larger models almost look like a circular LCD screen (in the day and at night as long as you have the porch light on) and enable you to see your whole front stoop and whomever may be there, from head to toe.  With smaller traditional peep holes you have to stick you face right up against the door and outsiders can see the blockage of light as your face sidles up to the peep hole, so they will know you are there, which really doesn’t benefit you at all, especially in the case of a would-be rapist, right?

Camera

Add a camera to your front and back of house areas to deter would-be ruffians and, in worst case scenarios, to record any damages/violence for evidence for your insurance company or police after the fact. The simple fact of having a camera(s) at your house may be deterrent enough for most thieves and we need all the support we can get to fend of these wanderers of ill repute, yes?

So though it may feel weird or silly, talk to your local police officer in your neighborhood and they will tell you the stats if you don’t believe me. It’s better to risk coming off as a little rude or strange than to risk you or your family’s well-being, right? And this will be a great lesson for your children as they start venturing away, and eventually move away from the nest. College towns are common targets for home invasions and rapes, so it is absolutely essential that your sons, and especially your daughters, take this lesson with them whenever they are away from home.

Neighborhood/Block Watch in your Neighborhood

When I was a kid my city had a Block Parent program which was great. If you ever felt at risk or scared as a child, all you had to do was look for the Block Parent sign wherever you were in town and go to that home for safety/advice. I took advantage of this more than a few times, as did kids near our home, as my mother herself was a block parent.

Things don’t seem as simple for kids today, especially those growing up in more urban areas with high rises and the like populating their neighborhood rather than white picket fences. But in 2010 neighborhood watch and block watch programs are alive and well in many places around the country.  Having a watch program in your area is not only great for kids, families and bringing the community closer together, it will make your area safer can also lead to lower home insurance, life insurance and car insurance rates.

Neighborhood and block watch programs are basically about people looking out for each other  - not being nosy, but looking out for each other’s well-being and safety. It also means you and your kids getting to know your neighbors, so your kids can feel comfortable approaching a neighbor for help when you are not around your home. Throwing annual or bi-annual block parties can help greatly in this regard. I recently went to one in my neighborhood that was a pot-luck.  I got to taste some amazing foods, meet some nice folks and listen to some music from one of my neighbor’s bands who did a live set at the block party. It was a great informal, low pressure way to meet the neighbors and bring us all a bit closer together. This would be my most preferred and effective method at getting everyone out. If you try holding lengthy formal meetings, most people will skip that option when given a choice, but everyone loves a good pot luck Saturday afternoon party right?  And you can maybe even tie in a local talent show where kids and adults alike can show their skills in front of the community – this is not only entertaining but also will help everyone put names with faces going forward, which can be of great comfort and use in a hairy situation that may or may not arise in the future.

Pre-Vacation Security Planning

When planning this summer’s family vacation, there is much to think about, decide and take care of to facilitate a relaxing escape, including  making plans to insure the security of your home and belongings while you are away.

Getting a home security system is never a bad idea, and with the savings you can get from your insurance company on your billing rates usually makes it a cost zero or cost positive decision. ADT and Broadview(formerly Brinks) are two of the biggest national chains in home security and of course there are many local options to choose from as well in each city and town across America. Most companies will offer a free installation deal and first 2-3 months free as well, then your billing will kick in around $20-100 per month depending on the level of security protection you select and the size and location of your home.

Cameras are excellent deterrents when away from your home and in worst case scenarios where someone is still bold enough to break into your home, they give you some hope of recourse on the burglar themselves by giving the police some video evidence to work with to find the creep.

Try and get one of the neighbors to pick up your mail or put a hold on it with the post office. But even then a backlog of fliers and other junk mail can build up which are all a thief needs to see that you are clearly not in town at the moment. And you either need to pay a neighborhood kid or hire a service to keep the lawn and shrubs trimmed and watered. An overgrown lawn is another obvious invitation to a would-be home invader. Don’t make it easy for them – and set up some motion sensitive and timed exterior lights just to keep criminals unsure and also have some timed lights that go on and off at different times of night as well if you really want to cover all of your bases. You can even do the same with radios and televisions in different parts of your house if you want to really get serious about it.

If there is a regular beat cop ore any kind of security patrol, neighborhood watch or Guardian Angels in your neighborhood at night, let them know you are going on vacation so they will know to check on any suspicious activity in or around your house should they notice any whilst you are away.

Getting a home sitter is also a great idea to take care of pets, water plants and keep the house appearing occupied for real. You can get a professional house sitting service or just work within your network of friends and family. Whatever you do, before you go on vacation, you need to do something and be sure while you are booking hotels and massages and dinners out, add to your to-do list to make plans for your home’s security and you can eliminate that as a possible worry while you are away.

Securing Windows & Doors

Securing the windows and doors in your home seems an obvious move to protect you and yours, but leaving a window unlocked is a very common mistake for vacationing Americans, and combined with lack of attention to other areas of security can lead to a rude homecoming after a pleasant vacation, as you arrive back home to find your palace of serenity in a shambles with your valuables missing.

Having cameras pointed on the outside of your windows and doors is never a bad idea to deter intrusion and also to record it if you are away so you can have a shot at catching the criminal after the fact.

For doors, deadbolt, chain lock and knob locks all are good together and be sure to get the most solid door you can find, ideally with metal in it’s make-up for security. If you have a door with a window on it, replace it as soon as you can, as it makes an easy target for a would-be intruder. You can also get door alarm sensors at most Dollar Tree stores for $1 that can be set to let out a painful high pitched beep when activated and the door is opened.