Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: A Cheap, DIY Home Security and Surveillance System?
scubamage writes "Six weeks ago, my home was broken into while my fiance and I were at work. Two laptops were stolen, an iPad, a power brick, a safe (complete with several years worth of taxes, my birth certificate, and old copies of my driver's license), a digital SLR, and several other costly items. We are now dealing with an attorney because the homeowner's insurance is fighting us on a number of items and we're not backing down. It has been a nightmare. However, we've now noticed that someone has been visiting our house during the day. There has been garbage left sitting on our back porch table, so its unlikely to have blown there. We've also seen footprints in our garden that are not there in the morning. Our neighborhood is essentially empty during the day, and we want to know who is on our property while we're not. If we're really lucky, reporting it to the police could recover some of our property. My fiance has asked me to assemble a home security system that is motion activated, and both notifies us of an entry, as well as records video or rapid HD stillframes when sensing motion. The goal is to do this cheaply and more effectively than going with a private security company like ADT (who, consequently, our police department told us to ignore due to the incredibly high rate of false alarms). We've already gotten the dog and the gun, so we have those bases covered. What suggestions do you have on setting up home security systems, and what have you done to build one in the past?"
I've got mine set to email pictures where motion was detected to an account I have dedicated for that. By the time they uplug the server, their picture is already sitting on a remote server, waiting for me to forward to the police.
Logitech delivevers a surprisingly good turnkey solution! I use it in my company, we have 20 stores and lately there has been a surge in robberies of our stores. After we got these cameras set up, with no extra hacking, it delivers perfect video with sound and can of course be motion activated. We have sendt the video captures to the national TV station (Norwegian TV2) and it got aired nationwide. The quality was that good that they chose to use our videos. I would not bother create a hacked-together just because these things Just Work. Normally I wouldn't trust a Logitech product to do something this important, but they are very good and reliable. No problems, we've use them daily at 20 locations with no problems and no hazzles. I am not affiliated with Logitech, I just really like a solution that works perfectly and want to share it with others.
Get a concealed carry license and keep the gun on you (obviously, learn to use it well, that part can be fun). It won't get stolen. I live in a place where just about everyone has guns - it's a tool for almost daily use out here in farm country. There are some criminals that live here, but there's no crime here. It's too damn dangerous as they might not get the expected "due process" if caught, and they know it. I was once burgled on several days successively when I lived in the DC area. Kids even made a camp-fire on my kitchen floor. Stole onyx and marble chess pieces to skip on the pond, and coin collections to buy cokes. The cops said, well, it's just kids - not much we can do, we don't have time to stake out your home even though it's been burgled 3 times in three days at roughly known times of day. Sigh. I told them - I hope it's YOUR kid, because tomorrow, I'm going to park my car 5 blocks away, sneak back here, and sit behind the front door with my .44 magnum and blow away the first thing through the door.
Next day - the cops showed up. It WAS one of their kids, along with others, and the cop, realising where all that cool stuff his kid was dragging home, figured it all out and busted them.
Sometimes they need a reminder to do their job. It worked that time anyway.
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
First, DOCUMENT YOUR POSSESSIONS!!!
Take pictures that show model numbers and serial numbers. Keep a list of serial numbers. Keep receipts. Register the devices with the manufacturer as additional proof of ownership. I'm sure your insurance agent told you this when you set up the policy.
A surveillance system would have done nothing to prove the value of what you lost. On video, a $6000 laptop looks exactly the same as a $350 laptop.
As to the surveillance system, there are a number of consumer systems available at a reasonable price. Anywhere from a single camera up to 16-camera systems. $400-500 will buy you a ready-to-roll 8 camera system with DVR and remote monitoring, including iphone/android phone video feed. Not pro-quality stuff but decent. Just make sure you post "This area is under video surveillance" signs at the entrances.
I don't think I'd bother with a monitored alarm system, though I'd certainly consider one that makes a lot of noise and flashes a lot of strobes. The fact that a system is monitored isn't what deters theft. It's the noise and attention that is drawn to the scene that chases them off.
Apparently reading comprehension is not your strong suit. The cops told them that they ignore ADT alarms (which is absolutely true). The reason is because their installations are so bad that false alarms outnumber actual alarms >100 to 1. I work in the physical security industry (commercial installations, not residential).
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
Blue Iris is a video monitoring system. Fairly close to professional grade, and free. Large selection of IP cameras available. I was going to recommend this if no one else had (I work in the physical security industry).
If you want to see who's wandering around your yard get a decent quality IP camera and go to the trouble of configuring it. I very highly recommend Axis cameras (and very highly recommend AGAINST Sony cameras), probably the 216FD, or the M3304 or 216MFD if you need megapixel resolution. Expect to pay >$500 if you go that route, but they're worth it and when you're done you can sell them again for a decent price. Log into the camera, set your IP address, and set up motion detection. You'll see how to do it, it's pretty straight-forward. Try to make sure that your motion detection area doesn't include any bushes or anything else that moves in the wind. If you get an Axis camera you can download the Axis Camera Station recorder for free, which is a nice, basic video recording system that is pretty easy to configure (easier than Blue Iris, even). Set it to record continually to a hard drive you don't use for anything else (a cheap external USB drive works fine), since megapixel video sucks up drive space at a pretty phenomenal rate. Three or four images per second should be sufficient, and the camera will raise motion alarms that make it easier to review the recordings. Put it inside a window or under an eave, you don't want to deal with the cost for weatherizing something that's just temporary, and since any of the cameras I mentioned are POE you just need a CAT-5 cable and your system is set.
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin
That figures for a city. When I lived in San Francisco I had neighbors which would trip my alarm for fun and quickly made the cops tired of showing up. This is a troublesome catch-22 because when your system actually catches a wolf, nobody cares because they are sick of hearing it. I think in these modern times, an internet-attached system is the way to go because it can notify the owner and give them real-time video and data they need to make an informed decision about whether to actually set off a visible/audble alarm and/or notify the police. Everyone hates false positives!
I too have concerns about the gun. Unless you and your fiancee are going to put in the time at the shooting range to get good with it (about 500 rounds each), and the monthly practice necessary to keep your skill levels up, the gun only increases your risks without providing any particular benefit. Unless, of course, you are talking about a light, short barrel shotgun (20 gauge or less), which is the only good point and shoot self defense tool for the home (no need to aim the thing-- easy to shoot from the hip. Effective range when loaded appropriately with pheasant shot is more than a room length, few worries about over penetration, will stop any aggressor who is not wearing body armor, maybe without even killing him-- saves you on lawyer costs. Mossberg has made a plastic stock 410 gauge 3 round pump action, which would be more than sufficient.)
Another point: you are talking about using lethal force in the face of property crimes. That kind of escalation suggests that any decisions you make now about defensive strategies should be reviewed in about three months when you are not reacting to the heat of the moment.
My pertinent background: living for nearly 30 years in a rural area beyond effective law enforcement patrols, but with a nearby freeway and intermittent periods of high transient crimes. German shepherds with loud barks were an excellent deterrent and a good friends and companions. However they do need several hours of attention daily, including walks in the country for exercise and in the town for socialization skills.
My background with firearms: a 30-06 as a very good deer rifle, a 22 pistol to deal with the occasional varmint-- skunks moving in under the barn; a raccoon who learned how to get into the garbage can, that kind of thing. A double barrel 20 gauge bird gun: I never had the opportunity to really learn how to bird hunt, but it was the gun that I kept in reach near the bed.
Now I don't live in a situation where I can keep a dog properly, and now I rely on a cell phone as a deterrent to crime: dialing a cell phone is much more effective than firearms ever were. Just look at the way crime rates have tumbled as cell phones have become more common. The correlation is too strong for there not to be a connection.
Will
No no, you have it all wrong. Our neighbors, who were burgled last year, had one of their guns stolen. That uplifted it to a much more serious crime (at least here in Texas), and they got police attention until the guilty party (a Mexican gang from the other side of town, who just picked their house at random) was busted.
Here's how you do it:
1. Get a gun. Register said gun.
2. Pour molten solder into the barrel of said gun.
3. Leave said gun in plain sight in your home.
4. If your house is burgled, report your gun stolen immediately. The police will pay attention.
5. Have no fear that your gun will be used to hurt yourself or anyone else, except whoever tries to use it.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
That is why you need a MOM...Mean Old Mutt. Don't go for that overbred crap, go to the local shelter and you'll find plenty of 'em that will be damned good security. my ma's place was constantly getting gas stolen as well as any easy to carry items and she was at her wits end and starting to get scared. As luck would have it what would be scavenging in the ditch as i was visiting but an obviously part wolf MOM. I said "Hell there is you answer ma...hey there buddy, want a burger?" and the kids quickly gave him the name of Jackie.
Old Jackie didn't take long at all to decide that was HIS property and to learn which humans was allowed and which humans weren't and sure enough not 2 weeks later I get called out by ma, when I get there she is feeding Jackie a big plate of eggs with bacon bits. When i asked what was going on one of the kids held up a piece of bloody jeans and said "Whoever that gas thief was they screamed REAL good when old Jackie tore into them!" and when ma got out there she saw old Jackie chasing down some punk who jumped in an old hoopty and tore out of there and she found a gas can that wasn't hers.
Sadly old Jackie passed away a couple of years back, one day he just got up and wandered off into the woods, never to return. I'd seen that behavior before with part wolves, its like they know its time and they just go find a tree somewhere and lay down under it and die, but lucky for us old Jackie had given us a couple of pups with a stray female so now we have Chubs, which looks like his wolf daddy mixed with a rottweiler.
So get ya a mean old mutt, pups are too willing to please to be good against strangers, a mature mutt can be VERY territorial and will learn its place DAMNED quick and if you get a stray or one from the shelters they are damned grateful to have a home. Give 'em a little TLC, along with some scraps and rewards when they do well and watch how quickly that dog learns its job. If you need advice on breeds anything with wolf, collie, or sheppard is a good place to start. I've talked to cop buddies and been told how many times they've dealt with idiots that were too fucking stupid to back down from a gun but they STFU and obeyed when faced with a dog, staring at a mess of fur and fangs is primal whereas they act like they are Chuck Norris when they see a gun, so if you want a gun that's fine but a mean old mutt makes for a better first line of defense IMHO.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.