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?"

Comments

Reputation

[Stargoat]

You have the gun, and you have the dog. All you really need now is a reputation.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Assuming you live in Florida, start by chasing down passers-by with your car and shooting them with your gun. Given TV interviews afterwards in which you claim that you were simply defending yourself.

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[idontgno]

Well, they have the gun and the dog. That way, when the crims steal the gun, they can shoot the dog on the way out.

Seriously. For simple unattended-property burglary, a gun is just an attractive target. And most dogs will just wag their tails all friendly-like at the burglar as they come and go.

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[Stargoat]

IANAL, but I have been told by multiple sources that a shotgun, being primarily a fowling piece and not a weapon, is more likely to get you off in court.

Also, you need to learn how to use it. I'm not talking a little bit of range time, but rather practice to the point of where when your nerves are supertense, your fingers will not function, and your brain has shut down, you can still, through muscle memory, put the gun up to your shoulder and destroy that which you are aiming for. Otherwise, the gun is just as likely to hurt you as someone else. Think 5000 rounds a year of practice as a minimum. A trip to the range every two weeks, at the very least. You don't want to be like those pathetic police officers who shoot 80 rounds at a person (or cougar) at 15 yards and hit him twice.

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[lytithwyn]

You have the gun, and you have the dog. All you really need now is a reputation.

I totally agree with this.

The computer shop I work at has been grab-and-run shop lifted once. Just once. Between the fact that my boss chased the guy in his truck until the police managed to catch up and the fact that we go around wearing "fishing vests" all the time has kept things pretty smooth here even though we are not in the best neighborhood.

I think the poor running shop thief told his buddies.

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[sco08y]

Assuming you live in Florida, start by chasing down passers-by with your car and shooting them with your gun. Given TV interviews afterwards in which you claim that you were simply defending yourself.

It might take some kind of vast racial conspiracy in order to make sure the police release you without charges. You'll have to get together with all the other Hispanic Democrats to pull this off.

If you do it right, though, you should be able to get enraged mobs of idiots to attack some random elderly couple whose son happens to have the same middle name as you!

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[ArhcAngel]

Just get your neighbors to put J. Horn on their mailbox.

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[ubrgeek]

Middle of the night:
"knock, knock."
"Who is it?" as you rack a round in your pistol grip Mossberg 500, the process of which makes a very distinctive noise.
"Sorry, wrong address."
The comment about the blaring alarm scaring people off is true. As is the sound of the shotgun being racked.

Never mind 5,000 rounds a year, etc. On the off chance you have to fire after answering the door (a) you're firing from less than four feet away and (b) you're opening fire with pellets. So long as you don't try and play Terminator and use one hand to fire, you're going to hit something ... them, the walls, whatever (NEVER move to fire a weapon unless you can put your hands on every member of your family first. Do that and then advance to the intruder. Secure the family and then secure the house.) The sound of the blast will do a lot to persuade the bad guy to take off. Oh, and the pistol grip makes it much more likely you'll be able to get the first shot off first; you can "fire from the hip" instead of taking the time to raise the weapon to your shoulder (not to mention that you don't have to step back from the door to raise the weapon).

Take the weapon out to the woods and put a dozen rounds through it. Take your family. You'll get to feel the kick you're going to experience and almost more to the point, the sound. Should you need/feel the need to fire another shot during an intrusion, if you've never heard a shotgun go off while you're holding it, in my experience you are more likely to pause as you recover from the shock of the sound.

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[Intropy]

For in-home defense a shotgun is a really good choice. It's easy to use, which is important under pressure. And assuming you load shot rather than slugs, there's far less concern about a projectile penetrating a wall and doing unintended damage to something unseen than with something like a rifle or a handgun.

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[SpockLogic]

You have the gun, and you have the dog. All you really need now is a reputation.

No, no, no ... get rid of the gun and get another dog.

You need a big scary dog to frighten off the burglars and a small yappy dog to bark and wake up the big dog.

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[ColdWetDog]

Seriously. For simple unattended-property burglary, a gun is just an attractive target. And most dogs will just wag their tails all friendly-like at the burglar as they come and go.

Hopefully, one doesn't leave the gun in plain sight.

And even the friendliest, dumbest Labrador Retriever really is a deterrent for the garden variety low end thief. You don't know if the waggy critter wants you to pet him or if he's sizing you up because the owner is afraid of men and that vibe has been transmitted to the dog.

I've lived in rural environments for much of my adult life and people with dogs get burglarized much less than those with an empty house. Hardly the sole reason to have a dog, but it's what I tell my wife after "my dog" has jumped on the sofa after running home from his daily romp in the tidal flats.

If you wanted to strip my house, all you would have to do is drive up in a UPS truck and give the dog a treat. He thinks the the big brown truck is a giant, mobile snack machine. He'd help you drag stuff out in a second.

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[ColdWetDog]

IANAL, but I have been told by multiple sources that a shotgun, being primarily a fowling piece and not a weapon, is more likely to get you off in court.

I don't know where you live, but in my neck of the woods, we don't have 'fowls' - only targets. The advantages of a shotgun for home defense are essentially three fold - they're much more permissive of poor aim than a pistol, they're much less likely to go through a window / door / wall and injure an innocent bystander and finally, if used at appropriate self defense distances are very often fatal. That means the perp can't go and sue you for not killing him outright.

I don't think you need to run 5000 rounds a year through a shotgun to be able to blow somebody away from six feet, but you do need to be able to use the weapon quickly and safely. Basically, if you don't shoot for business or recreation you shouldn't use a gun for self defense. You're much more liable to injure yourself or some other innocent person than actually prevent some malfeasance.

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[Cajun Hell]

Alas, he probably also has a job, something else he needs to do, instead of staying home all day guarding the house. I see where you're going with the idea, though. Instead of using tech to guard his home, you're saying he should use tech to go out and perform his jobs for pay, or go out and enjoy his vacations? That way, he'll be freed from those burdens, so he can walk around his home all day, practicing his quickdraw, muttering about invaders, slowly losing interest in the world outside his walls, his mind fading into madness. And then he'll have the reputation.

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[DarwinSurvivor]

It make a big difference as to WHO is robbing you. If it's some homeless person or regular thief, a dog is more than enough to convince them to find another target. If it's the guy/teenager/etc from down the block, they probably know your dog and it won't be a deterent at all.

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[Anonymous Coward]

So now I have to ask. Where do you live? And what kind of treats does your dog like?

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[TubeSteak]

if you've never heard a shotgun go off while you're holding it, in my experience you are more likely to pause as you recover from the shock of the sound.

If you're not comfortable with guns, you're most likely to close your eyes and flinch. It's pure reflex.
Your accuracy goes way up if you can keep your eyes open and your weapon on the target.

The only way to get that level of comfort is to go out and shoot stuff.
It's best if you have someone critique you, because you may not even realize you're tensing up and closing your eyes.

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[demonlapin]

One Chihuahua, one Doberman. Proof against anything.

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[CAIMLAS]

The reputation you want is "do not fuck with us or you will reap the whirlwind."

Physical security takes many forms; the dog, gun, and security cameras all serve various parts of the whole picture.

As for your current situation: you were scouted out and target over a period of days, weeks, or months. You were probably hit by fairly brazen professionals. You will probably not be hit again for a number of reasons:

* you are now more alert due to having been victimized
* you are now more likely to be better prepared
* they were thorough and you have nothing of value in the house which they wanted. Presumably, it was not a quick snatch and grab due to the safe being gone, too.
* you are more likely to alert your neighbors to be alert

Alert your neighbors, if you have any. Having a strong community is the best defense against these things. Our neighborhood has a nosey codger who is quite vigilant about things like this: if someone doesn't look like they're supposed to be there, he confronts them. People home with no vehicles in the drive is usually a pretty good indication if there's no garage.

I would also suggest not leaving unsecured arms in the house if you are not normally home. If they know you're not home and have firearms, you are more likely to be robbed by serious criminals (and then have to deal with all the paperwork, headache, and guilt of stolen firearms). On the other hand, stolen firearms are fairly easy to track unless they're intended for use in other crimes.

The most likely thing is that you won't be violated again in this fashion for some time, though it pays to be vigilant in security of mind. As for the topic at hand: newegg has occasional deals in the under-$500 range (saw an 8 camera unit for about $350 recently) for decent home security systems which do what you request. They use mini-BNC and the like, I believe.

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[OliWarner]

I'm sure you were aiming for funny... But you missed.

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[tsotha]

Yep. And it's relatively cheap. A decent pump 12 ga. is less than half the cost of a .45 auto.

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[burningcpu]

The point of the gun and the dog is to protect you while you are in the house, and so you aren't caught unaware and unarmed if an intrusion occurs.

Also, if the intruder is going to kill your dog, he doesn't need to borrow your gun to do it.

You're right about the gun being an attractive target. That's why you don't tell neighbors or whatever that you have one. Once the burglar has broken into your house and found the gun, yes, it's a larger loss, but at that point he's already raiding all of your stuff. It wasn't like he came there for the gun, because if you're doing it right, he doesn't know you have one.

I'm sure you're also right about the dog being complacent about the whole thing. I think the best you can expect from a typical housedog (one you don't mind having around your kids unattended) is a little forewarning and the possibility of turning off a very undetermined burglar.

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[tsotha]

The contractor who just remodeled my bathroom has two big dogs to protect job sites at night. One night a bunch of guys showed up and cleaned him out while he was hiding in his trailer frantically calling 9/11. The dogs had been drugged. The cops actually showed up in time to make arrests, and they told him the dogs are almost always drugged or killed without anyone the wiser.

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[element-o.p.]

You don't want to be like those pathetic police officers who shoot 80 rounds at a person (or cougar) at 15 yards and hit him twice.

That's the beauty of a shotgun -- it's like playing horseshoes. You don't have to be a marksman, you only have to be close enough.

I enjoy target shooting. I may not be a crack shot, but I am decent enough at close combat ranges with either my FS92 or my Super Blackhawk. However, the gun I keep in my bedroom is a Mossberg Mariner, for all the reasons you mention above (except for "getting off in court" since my shotgun will never be confused with a bird gun -- it looks evil). When the feces has collided with the impeller, I am much more confident of being able to stop an intruder with double-ought buckshot than with anything else.

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[element-o.p.]

My Mossberg has a pistol grip with a full stock (like an M-16) and a pistol grip on the pump. It's incredibly intuitive to aim and shoot. If I had to pick just one gun in my house to keep, it would definitely be the Mossberg.

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[uncqual]

if you've never heard a shotgun go off while you're holding it, in my experience you are more likely to pause as you recover from the shock of the sound.

And remember, the sound will impact you a lot more when its echoing off of the walls of an enclosed room and you're not wearing hearing protection. You might consider test firing in a (partially) enclosed area w/o hearing protection to familiarize yourself with this -- but your ears may not appreciate this.

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[countach74]

There's a gross misunderstanding these days how much spread a Shotgun really has. If you're using anything that's reasonable for self defense, such as 04 to 00 buck, it's not much spread. You absolutely have to aim. Also, why would you shoot from the hip in a situation where your nerves already make "what would normally be taking candy from a baby" a hard shot.

I'm much more apt to agree with Stargoat's 5,000 rounds per year (or at least 1,000). The body tends to seize up under pressure and do either 1) absolutely nothing or 2) absolutely the wrong thing... Unless you intentionally spend time and money training yourself to do the "right" thing.

I do not have a shotgun for home defense, but if I did, I would certainly practice with it regularly and take the time to look down the damn sights!

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[uncqual]

they're much less likely to go through a window / door / wall and injure an innocent bystander

Some interesting empirical testing at the The Box O' Truth - or for shotguns specifically (page through to "next page").

And take heed of the advice at Box O' Truth that "Unless you expect to be attacked by little birds, do not use birdshot". Basically, if it's good enough to do quick and debilitating damage to the perp, it's also going to penetrate quite few sheets of drywall (unless it hits a family member sooner of course).

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[Larryish]

...pathetic police officers who shoot 80 rounds at a ...cougar)...

What is wrong with older women who like younger men?

Doesn't seem like a capital crime, now, does it?

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[reasterling]

along with a box of 00 for it

Wouldn't bird shot be better. You probably want the rounds to not go through every wall in your house and then into your neighbors house. For that same reason you might want too consider a 20 gauge or even a 410 with bird shot. At the distances you'll need it inside a house the perp. will not know the differance , but your neighbor will probably appreciate you more./P

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[Jjeff1]

I'm hardly a weapons instructor or member of law enforcement, but this advice goes against just about everything I know.

- You won't open the door at all if there is a bad guy outside.
- You do need practice, a dozen rounds a year against clay pigeons is a waste. If you actually intend to defend yourself, take a shooting defense course, take several.
- Firing a weapon outdoors is far different than indoors; exposing the family to proper gun safety is a good idea, but outdoor != enclosed space at night.
- Pistol grip... Eh, you can aim and handle recoil far better with a shoulder fired weapon. Again, practice matters here.
- Most bad guys will take off as soon as they realize they have a chance of being caught. Racking a shotgun may scare away someone intent on doing you harm, but the guy there to take your stereo will scram if you flip a light switch.

The main point here is that if you ever have to defend yourself, you're going to be scared, probably in the dark, and probably having not handled your firearm in quite some time. Think quickly, where is the trunk release on your wife's car? Ok, it's dark; which is the SAFE position on your shotgun's safety? If you actually want to effectively defend yourself, you have to understand the most likely scenario under which that will occur. No amount of advice on any web site or book will take the place of regular training and practice.

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[jafiwam]

The reasons a shotgun is good for home defense: 1) Inexpensive gun in general, a pistol is probably twice as much, a good pistol, four times. 2) Easy to obtain ammo, with many versatile loads available. (Which makes #1 even better) 3) Buckshot, is the #1 fastest, most efficient way to drop a perp with one shot. Shotguns don't just puncture flesh, they remove chunks of flesh and bone. They ARE NOT PERMISSIVE TO AIM. Unless you are using a 10 inch barrel and shot with no shot cup, you are going to have to get it on target. Get yours, get out and shoot some targets and find out how your particular gun, and your particular ammo choice works. If you are serious about home defense, put a light on it too.

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[Will.Woodhull]

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.

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[Will.Woodhull]

Agree fully with this. In an earlier post, I talked of needing to put 500 rounds through a hand gun to become proficient with it, and implied another 50 rounds every month to keep your skills up. But I was not clear, perhaps, that I was talking about pistols.

A shotgunner does not need to spend as much time on training. Gather up half a dozen empty milk jugs, fill them with water, and take them, your new gun, and a box or two of pheasant shot out to some place where your noise will not disturb anyone. Set the jugs out, back up a few paces, and blast away a few times. When you are hitting the target consistently, back up until you are at the distance of the longest room in your house, and keep practicing. Shooting from the hip more often than shooting from the shoulder. Get someone who knows what they are doing to show you how: there are a couple of tricks to locking the gun to your body so it will point where you are looking.

After that session, take the gun out a couple of times each year to get re-acquainted, and that will be sufficient.

This assumes that you will be using pheasant or duck loads at short distances in a gun with a pretty open bore. Many 12 gauge guns are choked so the shot leaves as a string; the intent is to put the string in front of the goose or duck so it flies into it. You don't want that kind of gun for a house gun; you want a varmint gun that sprays a wide pattern. Pheasant loads are a good compromise between pellets heavy enough to have stopping power yet numerous enough in each shell to give a wide pattern.

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[Inthewire]

Didn't realize I wasn't logged in. So, I'm the asshole asking just how stupid you are.

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[Cwix]

Made me think of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nirZWJ36GdM

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[SydShamino]

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.

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[SydShamino]

And crime rates have fallen across the board for years. That correlates to basically everything that's happened over that time period: the rise of computers and the internet, the proliferation of television and reality TV, the deregulation of the airline industry, proliferation of birth control, the rise and fall of AIDS.

I think implying causation between the crime rate and any given one of them is unwise without further proof.

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[subreality]

no need to aim the thing-- easy to shoot from the hip

I've sent a lot of buckshot downrange and this just isn't true. It's not an all-obliterating wide-angle cone of death. At 15 feet - about what you'd expect for blasting badguys indoors - the spread is only about a 4 to 6 inch diameter circle, and you most certainly DO have to aim it.

That said it's much easier to aim a long arm (shotguns, rifles) than a handgun - a novice shooter with a compact rifle can easily outshoot almost anyone with a handgun. It comes at the disadvantage that they're more cumbersome indoors and it makes it much harder to carry a flashlight or otherwise use your other hand.

I agree with most of the rest of what you said, but I want to underline this: 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.

I'd like to also add: Take a handgun defense course. You need practice not just shooting straight, but doing so under time pressure where you're discriminating between good guys and bad guys, under poor lighting, and where you have to draw from a holster and flip off the safety first. (Yes, under pressure YOU WILL forget to flip off the safety if you haven't practiced doing it a few hundred times. Cops get killed because of this all the time.) These courses are probably the best thing you can do to take a gun from being a powerful but impartial tool to one that's more likely to work in your favor.

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[b4dc0d3r]

I learned this playing Burnout on PS2. If I look at the cars I'm aiming for, I inevitably crash into them. If I look between the cars, in other words where I want to go, I magically navigate between them.

Look where you're shooting, you'll hit it most of the time. Even if you don't want to. So look at what you want to hit.

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[Hognoxious]

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)

Perhaps they're planning to send the dog?

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[Will.Woodhull]

A 4 to 6 inch pattern sounds about right for buckshot from a gun fully choked for duck or goose hunting. Which would be a 12 or 10 gauge shoulder bruising mother: relatively heavy and awkwardly long for indoor use. But you know all about full chokes and semi chokes and open bores, since you have been throwing so much buckshot down range. You know, for instance, that a goose gun is intended to reach way out there and put a string of shot a few yards long in front of that bird, so it will fly into it. You know that the ideal goose gun would deliver a pattern an inch in diameter and 10 yards long.

However you talk about aiming the shotgun, which bird hunters do not do; they point the gun where the bird is going to be when the shot gets out to that distance. The only shotguns I am aware of that have sights for aiming are those designed for east coast deer hunting. Which fits with your use of buckshot rather than birdshot. Though I would have thought that rifled slugs would be better for deer, but then I have never hunted deer with a smooth-bore gun.

A .410 or 20 gauge with an open choke and using pheasant loads will give a pattern of 8 to 12 inches at 21 feet. Most persons can point at things with much greater accuracy than that; the pattern is wide enough that pointing is sufficient and aiming the way one aims a rifle or handgun is not necessary, and often impossible. This kind of farm and field gun typically only has a bead for a front sight and no rear sight: you cannot aim it; but with much less practice than a handgun requires, you can get very good at pointing it when firing from the shoulder.

I kind of regret having said anything about firing from the hip. That cannot be safely learned just with practice or from reading up on it; like a martial art, a trainer who can assess and correct your form is needed. A light shotgun is the appropriate equipment, but no good without the trainer.

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[Splab]

Actually, since the house was emptied of everything, they are more likely to get a repeat visit since the thiefes know the house is going to be filled with brand spanking new everything. (apparently even some nice recording gizmos to boot)

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[ixnaay]

If you aren't in Texas, I would be a bit worried about this being looked at as a 'booby trap' as opposed to a honey pot. If the barrel is solder filled, and it's not obvious to the thief, the first time they try to fire that gun - bye bye hand / arm / face. This assumes that you hid the solder 'work' sufficiently that the thief would even bother to take it.

Not saying I disagree with you though - good thinking!

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[Stargoat]

Hey, that's not true. If you got a spreader choke, you might be able to increase the size of the pattern to like, I dunno, 3.25" inches? Yeah, parent is right. There's a bunch of chuckleheads who posted above. Shotgun does not equal skill. If you do not practice, you will not hit.

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[hairyfeet]

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.

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[hairyfeet]

What is wrong with a 9mm Hi-Point? Low recoil and frankly anybody who has spent just 30 minutes shooting one can write their name with the thing as its low recoil and lack of a very loud report takes a lot of what makes people lousy shots away which is of course the way they flinch. While a shotgun works fine too, in fact most of the LOL in my area usually have one filled with rock salt, an easy to use 9mm is IMHO just as good a self defense weapon. hell if the US military says it is good enough for them it ought to be good enough for you although personally i always liked the 1911 45 ACP but of course i wouldn't want say my GF trying to shoot that.

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[sco08y]

Oh, and the pistol grip makes it much more likely you'll be able to get the first shot off first; you can "fire from the hip" instead of taking the time to raise the weapon to your shoulder (not to mention that you don't have to step back from the door to raise the weapon).

I've successfully spun around and fired from the hip using MILES, so it can be done and you can hit a small target, the laser emitter on my rifle had to line up to the sensor within a few cm, but this was when I was in an OPFOR unit and I had been doing it as my full time job for some years. But generally, firing from the hip is useless; our doctrine was to always assume a good stance, line up both sights, and take only well aimed shots. A carefully aimed semi-automatic rifle is by far the most effective way to put rounds on target; that's why the bulk of soldiers carry a rifle or carbine and that's why the first stage on the selector is semi.

We're talking about being indoors, and a defensive situation, so the distances are much smaller, and we're expecting to fire reflexively. Still, in reflexive fire drills, you bring the weapon up and put the front sight post on center mass, make positive determination, and fire. What reflexive fire omits is the time consuming step of lining up the rear sight post. The only difference with regular shooting at the range is that you keep your weapon down and wait for your buddy to announce the target; you might also do the "turn and fire" drills. You should be able to practice it at most pistol ranges.

As is the sound of the shotgun being racked.

If you get a shotgun, most people recommend pump-action. I have never seen any study let alone hard evidence showing that home invaders are scared off by that sound more than a vocal announcement by the homeowner, and I suspect people recommend it because it sounds cool in movies and video games. In contrast, there is a practical, easily verifiable benefit to a semi-automatic shotgun: if you miss, your sights are still on target and you can keep firing.

Re:Reputation

[hairyfeet]

Gotta love how the Black Panthers came out for getting YT for shooting those poor helpless Colombian drug dealers that was robbing the place. How come nobody calls them what they are, which is a bunch of militant racists? I don't know about anyone else but I'm REALLY getting tired of this "minorities can't be racist" horseshit and the liberal "if you cower and beg maybe they'll let you live, just don't fight back" cowardice.

Re:Reputation

[drinkypoo]

Maybe I just missed it but I didn't see a comparison of frangible ammo vs buck shot. they barely do anything with frangibles at all :(

Re:Reputation

[JMandingo]

And most dogs will just wag their tails all friendly-like at the burglar as they come and go.

I've never owned a dog that didn't go absolutely ape-shit whenever anyone sets foot on my property. This is a small sampling, but I am 4 for 4 dogs on that count. I like a medium-large size dog with a good deep bark. Most solicitors who ring the doorbell are gone by the time I open the door because of that mean face poking through the curtains growling at them. Delivery men don't wait for a signature, they are back in the truck by the time I answer the door. I've never suffered a break-in. My father with his alarm system has - over time he got lazy and stopped turning it on when he left the house. Now he has a dog too.

Re:Reputation

[sco08y]

That's one of the worst attempts at humor on /. What's more sad is the 'Insightful' uprating.

Usually if a joke is lame someone can manage a comeback. You've only had all night to think about it.

Granted, you're stuck with trying to defend lynching a guy who hasn't been charged, let alone proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and deliberately deepening racial divisions in America for purely political reasons.

I won't hold my breath waiting for your witty riposte.

Re:Reputation

[ubrgeek]

Excellent points. And I agree, a "hip shot" is unreliable at best. But most house front doors open clockwise (at least the ones I've seen). When looking at opening a door and waiting for it to swing past its 135 degree point (i.e. halfway between closed and open to the "normal" open position) you're talking about a 3' distance from an intruder in the doorway and yourself. Assuming an advancing intruder, less. A reflexive shot at that range is (IMO) a decent chance to take. Moving backward gives the intruder more time to take their own selective action.

And I agree about never having seen a study proving my comment. I always recommend people use both a vocal announcement _before_ opening the door, informing the person that you've already called the police. Of course, my recommendation before that is to not open the door at all :)

Re:Reputation

[ColdWetDog]

I use a slug gun. Mostly the shotgun is for bear defense (although I'm using it less and less for that these days, firearms are not very good against bear attacks). For home defense, I'm going to use 00 buck at about 6 feet. A non choked shotgun should dissolve the perp and spray just a few pellets around. Actually, the first round in the shotgun is a seal bomb - basically a loud blank. That's likely to have the perp shit his pants and run. The next round gets serious.

Not to imply that you can shoot a shotgun in a residence without some forethought about what's behind the target (as uncqual points out). That's always an enormous problem using a firearm for self defense.

Re:Reputation

[Reziac]

And firing into a box of sheetrock is not the same as firing into flesh. I'd suggest going to the stockyard or slaughterhouse and get a calf or sheep carcass to test (as being about man-sized).

I use a 20ga. and #4 goose loads. I can attest from firsthand experience that at point-blank range, this will blow a hole in the ribcage big enough to put both fists into, and at 30 feet it still penetrates enough to kill a 90 pound animal instantly.

Your perps may vary.

Re:Reputation

[uncqual]

Elsewhere on the site are tests with a similar setup but using jugs of water instead of drywall where I think he's trying to test "good penetration" (perp's body) instead of "bad penetration" (neighbors' walls). These results are comforting as I'm now much less concerned about the outcome should I be attacked by a gang of water jugs.

Re:Reputation

[supercrisp]

I like guns, and I used to shoot a lot when I had more time. I don't think a firearm is a good idea for property defense. There are a lot of reasons. It's not trivial to be competent with a gun. The danger of a gun around the house in a ready state is not inconsequential. And the legal repercussions are, at the least, a much greater nuisance than filing an insurance claim and replacing lost items. I'd recommend just making your home less attractive to thieves with maybe a dog but certainly closed curtains, lights and a radio on a timer, and trying to be less predictable in your schedule. There are exceptions for some neighborhoods, and those exceptions, for me, would be if there's a lot of crime involving harm to people. For example, I lived in a neighborhood with lots of young people doing armed robberies that involved rape and murder. That's when you need a gun. But even more, you need to move. I mean, if you can avoid, why live in fear?

Re:Reputation

[SuperBanana]

Assuming you live in Florida, start by chasing down passers-by with your car and shooting them with your gun.

You forgot the part where you lose sight of the passer-by, the passer-by (who is a foot taller than you) then chases *you* down, starts screaming, punches you in the face knocking you to the ground, and then proceeds to beat the stuffing out of you. In front of witnesses. Just for following him.

Treyvor Martin was a wannabe thug with a chip on his shoulder who was angry at the world for being suspended from school where he was dealing drugs. Funny how nobody is talking about black hatred for non-blacks here, or his drug problems?

Re:Reputation

[Eunuchswear]

Crime has obviously fallen due to the increasing number of illegal mexican immigrants.

Hah!

Re:Reputation

[RogerWilco]

I agree. Although two big scary dogs might work as well.

Re:Reputation

[gmhowell]

Flip off the safety? What kind of antiques are you firing there, grandpa?

j/k, but thanks for pointing out to OP that shotguns are not magical wands of death.

Re:Reputation

[gmhowell]

Sidearm isn't used until shit gets really ugly and you didn't have time to fix your bayonet. It's a damned near useless trinket these days except for a few specialized outfits. Military keeps considering whether or not to ditch them entirely. I think they keep them just because 'that's how we've always done it'. Kinda like how they chose the powder for the rounds originally sent out with the M-16.

Rock salt in a shotgun? Cute. Why not just fart in their general direction?

Re:Reputation

[gmhowell]

I think he did some tests of frangibles somewhere on that site. The navigation is a bit... Subpar.

Re:Reputation

[Onuma]

I agree that it takes more than just an idea to shoot from the hip. That being said, it is pretty darn easy to do -- I find that with bird- or buckshot I can reliably hit targets out 10-15 yards, which is far longer than any possible interior line of sight in my home.

I'm not your average person; I've got tens of thousands of rounds from all sorts of firearms over a number of years. I consider it not only enjoyable to shoot, but a responsibility to be proficient and ready to defend myself or others should situations arise.

IMO a 12-gauge pump-action with an 18" or 20" barrel and somewhere between OO- and 4-gauge shot would be prime for home defense. Easy as hell to use, cheap for practice and purchase, extremely reliable, non-overpenetrating, and any home intruders are guaranteed to know the sound of a shotgun racking (and subsequently won't want to engage in a gunfight if they know they are on the business-end of a shotgun). I'm unconcerned about how hard the kick is to your shoulder -- even my 5'3 wife can handle 12ga recoil.

I don't consider firearms deterrents, because I don't display them for everyone in the world to see. They are for defense of life and limb; I'd rather have things stolen while I'm not home than risk a direct confrontation with a thief or thieves...but even better if they never want to steal from my home in the first place, because there are better, softer targets elsewhere.

Re:Reputation

[Will.Woodhull]

Back in the day when I used to hunt, the 30-06 was my best choice as I was hunting blacktail deer (light animals in dense brush at short range using 125 - 135 grain bullets and fast burning powders), and elk (very heavy animals at various ranges, 200 grain bullets and slow powders), and I had hopes of getting some mule deer hunting in (long range with 150 - 170 grain bullets) but the logistics never worked out. Better deer guns like the .270 are limited in the cartridge loads and bullet weights while a 30-06 can manage the entire gamut from bear killers down to long distance varmint loads (110 grain with sabots, IIRC-- I never used them). Also, 30-06 brass is very massive compared to the charges that are used in hunting, so you can reload your fire-formed brass and get excellent patterns. I was consistently shooting tight, 4 inch patterns at 100 yards with carefully prepared reloads; could not get close to that with factory loads. And I was not a particularly good shot.

Anyone who worries about damaging too much meat from hunting with too much of a round should be worrying instead about taking wasteful shots instead of waiting for a clean shot at vital areas and passing up those opportunities that would waste meat and cause a slow, painful death rather than a humane quick kill. Whether the animal is wasted depends on what is in the hunter's mind, not what he has chambered in his gun.

I do not know anyone who would recommend using 22 or 223 caliber when hunting in wooded or brushy country, we agree on that point. You need a bullet with enough mass that it won't be deflected by a twig or leaf. OTOH, the 22 rimfire remains the tool of choice for subsistence hunters. But they either have learned how to arrange their hunts so they get excellent target presentations, or they soon get hungry and move to the city.

Re:Reputation

[AmiMoJo]

The reputation you want is "do not fuck with us or you will reap the whirlwind."

Unfortunately many thieves fail to adequately research the reputation of their victims. A reputation really isn't going to protect you as much as, say, securing your property.

Re:Reputation

[blitziod]

Ok I mean this is slashdot. Why not use a shotgun with a flashlight mounted on it or even better a shotgun or handgun with a laser site? Yes technology has changed the way we shoot also. I agree a shotgun is best for home defense. The sound of a pump shotgun being chambered is enough to make most intruders look for the nearest exit. As fat as using lethal force to protect your property , mortally I am all for it. Legally it depends. Here in Texas you have a right to use lethal force to protect your person and/ or your property from theft or harm. And you can shoot a fleeing thief( fleeing means he dropped your property and is running away) but ONLY after dark( it's an old law). Protecting your property means if a guy says "I am going to key your car " you can draw your gun and say stop. If he does not you can shoot him. In Texas we respect property and awl defense. This respect works btw. Interviews of burglars shows that they are MUCH more worried about gun owners than cops. And they should be. In our state the odds of conviction are about 1 in 100 for home burglaries. The odds of being shot are about 2 in 100 for home burglaries. About the Martin kid. It's a sad thing. He was just a kid. And kids do stupi things. I know I did at 17. Some kids shoot heroin or drive drunk. This kid attacked a man. That man happened to be armed. That man did what anybody else would and shoul do. He shot his attacker. Sadly he died. I would have rather he lived with a nice wound to show hi friends what you get for attacking people. Yes in a perfect world he would have gotten an attitude adjustment not a deadly shot. But in a perfect world drunk driving teens would never die and junkies would all kick. In the real world we should stop acting like Zimmerman was a bad guy. Wether he followe that kid or not he was within his rights and harming nobody. It was marring who initiates violence. It was Martin who chose to live "by the sword" and that I how he died.

Re:Reputation

[sco08y]

No conspiracy necessary if you're in the American south. Police there will already be preconditioned to believe the darkie had it coming.

Except that most of the south is like most of the north: blacks tend to be overrepresented in large cities. Atlanta, New Orleans, Jackson, Memphis, Montgomery, Savannah, are all examples from the deep South; you can decide for yourself if you want to include Baltimore or DC. Except for Landrieu in New Orleans (who succeeded a black mayor), and Todd Strange in Montgomery, the mayors of all the cities I mentioned are all black, and the chiefs of police are mostly black as well.

And blacks tend to be quite successful, by and large, in law enforcement (and military, incidentally) so they tend to be overrepresented as police and corrections officers. And smaller towns get their training and resources from bigger cities, so often times even hick white cops will work with urban black cops.

Yet when blacks are pulled over, they will still accuse even the black cops of being racist to them. And they'd entirely agree with your assessment that cops are racist, even when blacks are well represented in LE from the top to the bottom and every stage in between.

Why? Because they are told from all sources that racism is a huge ongoing problem: myths like the claim that blacks are pulled over more than whites are kept alive, and stories like Trayvon Martin are exploited for political gain. And all this damage is done by incredibly short-sighted people, like you, to score points, for a cheap headline or just to cling to office for another term.

Now if you're Hispanic, I wouldn't recommend trying this in Arizona if you forgot to carry your drivers license that day.

Perfect example: complete bullshit, but you just perpetuate a myth that is racially divisive because you're too lazy to look it up, and to score points.

Re:Reputation

[DriveDog]

Not necessarily size/breed difference... I had a pair of boys from the same (purebred) litter. One was fluffy and tan, scared of his tail, and never closed his eyes. The other slept a lot but was black, very territorial and protective of his family, and had a special look and bark for anyone he didn't know. It worked as you say... the lookout woke up the enforcer, and he let 'em have it. Maybe because he was mad at having been awaken and knew better than to take it out on his brother.

Re:Reputation

[Coren22]

Perhaps you should consider the effective spread of bird shot at 4 feet before you are talking about accuracy? We aren't talking a 9mm here, but something that makes a melon sized hole through a door.

Re:Reputation

[Whorhay]

We had a mutt that was half Norwegian Elk Hound growing up. She was ferociously territorial. She would spaz out when the neighbor across the street had the audacity to check their mail or pick up the paper. She had a run next to our front door and she would defend the front door against anyone that wasn't family, even family friends whom she knew couldn't get to that door without her raising the neighborhood. If I ever lived in the country again and decided to have a dog or two they'd likely be Norwegian Elk Hound, pretty dogs too.

Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[brokenin2]

We had our cars getting broken into and did basically the same thing (minus gun).

We have a linux file server at home, so what I ended up doing was getting a V4L
compatible video capture card off ebay (I got a 16 input card for $80). 4 port
capture cards are common and cheap. Just make sure it's compatible with linux.

Then go to dealextreme.com, or I think they're also at dx.com now. There you can
get cameras, and the video balun's to make it simple to use cat 5 to run your
cameras. A camera is about $20 for a decent night vision one, and the balun set
(8 baluns to run 4 cameras) were about $25.

Once you've got your hardware all set up, you can use either "motion" or "zoneminder"
for the actual surveilence. Both will do what you want. I use motion, but
zoneminder is a little more polished in the UI department.

Finally, set up an rsync script or other mirror software to get those files off site
in case they actually try to steal your server.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[brokenin2]

Oh yeah. If you don't have a linux server, there are similar packages for windows. All the same hardware will work just fine (and a lot of other hardware too).

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[brokenin2]

You can also go even cheaper and use a simple USB webcam when you're only looking
at fairly short distances.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[brokenin2]

I repeat:
Finally, set up an rsync script or other mirror software to get those files off site
in case they actually try to steal your server.

If you have triggers set up right, you'll have the video of the person walking right
up to your server to steal it.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[schitso]

There's also the option of IP cameras with memory card slots built in. Just make sure to screw it down tight.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[idontgno]

Most crims are not criminals because they're too smart for a regular job, so that would work. But there's always the rare possibility that the bad guys are smart enough to find a way to drop the network leading out of the house (cut phone wires, cut cable, maybe cut power) to disable an alarm system. If that happens, even if the security system is still powered and operating, it's not getting anything out, and the only real hope is that the hard drive the server is writing to is hidden someplace secure.

But that's really unlikely, in the final analysis. Since most burglaries are grab-n-go, just hiding stuff a little out of sight and making sure the surveillance is off-sited as close to real-time as possible should be enough.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[Tmack]

....>

Then go to dealextreme.com, or I think they're also at dx.com now. There you can get cameras, and the video balun's to make it simple to use cat 5 to run your cameras. A camera is about $20 for a decent night vision one, and the balun set (8 baluns to run 4 cameras) were about $25.

....

You forgot the step where you wait a month or four for the dx cameras to ship from HongKong....

-tm

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[ArhcAngel]

So for the security system you have the server connected to a service like Clear

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[Bucky24]

Honestly if you're being targeted by someone that sophisticated you probably have something incredibly valuable that they want, in which case you should already have some third-party security specialists at LEAST.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[no_such_user]

You're talking about using NTSC/PAL analog video here -- which is completely inadequate if you'd need to actually identify someone. Even if you're lucky enough to get the perps face(s) looking straight into the camera (which you won't -- the angle you're going to have the cameras at will make it more than likely their faces will be covered by a baseball cap or something), there just isn't enough going to be the resolution necessary to be able to ID them, especially with cheap cameras from DX over long runs of cat5. Maybe IP cameras at higher resolution would be better? Just don't cheap out with low end toys (e.g. the Dlink DCS-903L I have has disappointed me).

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[dotHectate]

USB webcam is a great and inexpensive way to go. My dad did this very thing one time - leave it on and set to record when it senses motion. A windy day left him with a bit of extra footage when the bushes would shake, but he also got every single car and person that drove/walked by on the sidewalk.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[darkonc]

or get a teeny network-capable external drive, and run a wire to it somewhere in your ceiling/walls. Unless they take the time to trace the wires, they won't know that it's there. If they're smart enough to (know to) trace your wire, they should really have another job.

Once you run power and 'net to the beastie, you can nail the wall shut behind it, so it'll be pretty difficult for someone to figure out where it is. ... or you can use an old laptop for the whole kaboodle (which will provide a few minutes of backup, even if the batteries are mostly dead 5 years later). That way you can even get pictures of the thieves walking out with your valuables.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[brokenin2]

Very true.. They talk a lot about having a US warehouse now, but I don't think it's really sped things up very much.

Sometimes I've forgotten I'd ordered something by the time I get it.. It makes for a nice surprise though (I wish I were kidding).

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[keeboo]

I live in medium sized building (16 floors) and we had a similar dilemma.

We bought one of those cheap chinese OEM CCTV DVRs (sold under several brands worldwide, the real source is a chinese company called Dahua), plus 8 cameras.
Notes:
Considering its price, the DVR works quite well, and has decent quality/framerate (30 fps / camera, 352x240). The bad thing is that the remote client software (optional usage) is Windows-only and buggy as hell.
We considered a desktop PC with a multi-channel vide capture card (it's far more flexible), but it's messier to install/maintain (bigger, with fans sucking dirt 24/7, someone may be tempted to occasionaly use as a desktop PC etc).

We installed the DVR in the entrance room, so the doorman/watcher (however it's called in English) can see what is going on AND we have all the activity recorded in case of need.
Problem: What if, for example, someone steps in with a gun and blows up the DVR? The videos are gone, and a periodic backup will not prevent this, since the most relevant video happened mere instants before, thus DVR-copy only. -- So, for the worst-case scenario (and right the most valuable one to have recorded video), the DVR seemed useless (the DVR has a built-in sync mechanism which is very unreliable, so it's worthless).

The dillema was solved with a free software called Tanidvr (Unixoid_OS-specific, command-line, and specific to that DVR family). Basically, we bought a computer to be used as a realtime backup server, installed in a locked room in a different floor. We also have a (intranet-only) HTTP server in order to easily download the videos, if necessary.
So, no matter what happens to the DVR, we have the video data up to the exact time (delay <1 second) the machine was destroyed.
A backup script was created for video fragmentation, and to recompress the H.264 stream to fit more days into the HD (with a quality/size the DVR is unable to provide).

Well, it works for us.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[cusco]

Record to an external USB hard drive (1 terabyte drive at Fry's is $99 this week), and zip tie or otherwise mount the thing on the wall or under the desk. If they're going to take the server they'll yank out whatever's plugged into it and run with the box, they're not interested in taking the time to analyze what all the connections are.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[cusco]

Horsepuckey. I **AM** a pro, and the only time we use cell phone connections is for remote sites where there's no reasonable wiring alternatives and there's no line-of-sight for microwave links.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[dean.collins]

are the video images any good? i thought you had to spend $400 a camera to have decent images apart from "a person moving"

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[russotto]

Horsepuckey. I **AM** a pro, and the only time we use cell phone connections is for remote sites where there's no reasonable wiring alternatives and there's no line-of-sight for microwave links.

Maybe commercial. For residential, cellular backup is certainly used; I wrote the software for a cellular backup device in a home security system.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[cusco]

Yes, commercial installations. Our company won't do residential or retail installations because the margin is so low that you're pretty much required to do crap work just to break even. Have to admit that it's flattering to know that customers willingly pay extra (sometimes a LOT extra) because they know the quality of work that we'll deliver.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[ThatsMyNick]

What if they were wearing a mask, or a pantyhose or what ever is fashionable for thieves nowadays?

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[nschubach]

That;s kind of what I was thinking, but mine involved a bit more trouble... as in placing a remote box in your basement (buried under a bunch of crap) with a WiFi link to the server.

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[AlienIntelligence]

A camera is about $20 for a decent night vision one, and the balun set
(8 baluns to run 4 cameras) were about $25.

Once you've got your hardware all set up, you can use either "motion" or "zoneminder"
for the actual surveilence. Both will do what you want. I use motion, but
zoneminder is a little more polished in the UI department.

If you are reading the posts for info, all of his prices are about 1/4 the cost
of actual prices. I'm not sure where the fuck you're getting a $20 camera,
new, worthwhile enough to protect anything of value. 360 lines in black and
white don't cut it son.

My cheapest cam, was $60... and it's JUST BARELY ABLE TO RENDER
A FACE FOR PROSECUTION. And I use it solely for the door. It's close
to their face, they see it... it sees them.

My most expensive was $170 and it has auto-iris... for when the thieves
try to flood the sensor. Wireless so they can't unplug it. Super low lux so
all the ambient light is enough to get a face to resolve. A microphone and
a gimbal so I can track with it.

Someone who spends $20 on a camera... is NOT interested in the job
that camera is supposed to do.

-AI

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[AlienIntelligence]

You're talking about using NTSC/PAL analog video here -- which is completely inadequate if you'd need to actually identify someone. Even if you're lucky enough to get the perps face(s) looking straight into the camera (which you won't -- the angle you're going to have the cameras at will make it more than likely their faces will be covered by a baseball cap or something), there just isn't enough going to be the resolution necessary to be able to ID them, especially with cheap cameras from DX over long runs of cat5. Maybe IP cameras at higher resolution would be better? Just don't cheap out with low end toys (e.g. the Dlink DCS-903L I have has disappointed me).

I know, right? Lol... someone suggested a $20 camera on here... LOL!

For all these people to be nerds and geeks... you'd think they'd know
that scan lines on a camera is just as damn important as when you
are watching TV.

480 and less lines, DO NOT CUT IT FOR PROSECUTION!

Hell, 480 is barely enough to recognize your neighbors... and you know
them! Try to recognize someone you've never seen before.

Best camera to get, is the kind that take actual jpg (or other) images,
not line-scan cameras. If you can't afford that... Get at least 520 lines,
min. 600's obv better... and 720 is pretty nice. Want to be serious?
Full 1080p jpg recording.
http://www.worldeyecam.com/store/vcc-hd4000-high-definition-zoom-day-night.html
$1,124.99

Dual Codec High Definition
At the heart of this camera is a 4 megapixel CMOS imager cranking out a resolution of 1920 x 1080p in H.264 mode and 2288 x 1712 pixels in JPEG mode. What all these numbers mean to you, is that you can set the camera further back in your establishment and cover the same area normally requiring the installation of multiple analog cameras. And by starting off with such a high resolution, you can magnify the picture many times over and still get the image clarity needed to correctly identify people and objects.

FOR PROSECUTION!

$20 camera, lol.

-AI

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[AlienIntelligence]

Considering its price, the DVR works quite well, and has decent quality/framerate (30 fps / camera, 352x240). The bad thing is that the remote client software (optional usage) is Windows-only and buggy as hell.

Well, it works for us.

Uh huh... til you need it really work, ie... try to show a cop a 240 line video of someone
stealing your stuff. See if they look at it. See if they care. See if they stop writing the
report they are going to file and forget.

-AI

Re:Been there, done that.. Here's your plan.

[scdeimos]

Most USB webcams do not have infrared filters so are completely useless for daytime outdoor scenes. They also perform badly at night. You are much better off getting dedicated security cameras and associated hardware as brokenin2 suggested.

Steal someones

[Dyinobal]

Steal someones 'secured by' signs from their front yard and put it in your yard. Seriously if someone is going to break into your house they are going to do it security system or not.

If you're only goal is deterring any thefts that is about the best thing you can do really. Now if you want to have evidence to hand over to the police then that is another story all together.

Re:Steal someones

[idontgno]

Steal someones 'secured by' signs from their front yard

Maybe you can tack the sign up on your wrought-irony porch railing.

Re:Steal someones

[jon3k]

Seriously if someone is going to break into your house they are going to do it security system or not.

Got any stats to back up that statement? My assumption would be that criminals will just walk next door where there isn't a sign.

Re:Steal someones

[Dyinobal]

That is what I mean by the statement. A sign is almost as good as a security system, because it will either convince the thief to go some place else or it won't, and if it doesn't then what ever you could of done wouldn't keep them from breaking into your home and stealing yourself.

Re:Steal someones

[Aelyew]

As the victim of several home burglaries. The sign doesn't matter. The glass break detector that sounds an ear piercing alarm doesn't matter. Thieves smash and grab, they know that security and/or police response time gives them enough time to grab something they can sell at the flea market or a pawn shop.

Outside of sitting at home with a shot gun, your best defense is what the original poster is trying to do. Set up an automated and secure way way of video/photographing a potential intruder and getting those files out in the cloud somewhere.

Re:Steal someones

[jon3k]

I appreciate your anecdotal evidence, but I'd like some actual analysis. I had an experience that was the exact opposite, thieves spent probably close to an hour, by police estimate, trying to break in.

Re:Steal someones

[rtb61]

The real issue here is lack of police action. If the police wanted too and put the required resources into it. they could get all the evidence, conduct a full investigation and track down and apprehend the criminal involved.

They of course don't do it. because it is too much effort for too petty a crime and basically screw you. So adjustment needs to made with where police focus their efforts. Which is more important speeding fines or house break ins or, which is more important non-violent drug users or house break ins.

So why are you getting a dog and a gun when instead you should be harassing your local city to force the police to shift focus. Basically the police are meant to be your dog and gun, they are trained, they are paid, get the doughnut sucking, getting more obese by the year, off their fat asses and pursuing crimes that result in victims.

Re:Steal someones

[nanoflower]

I think the answer is that both types of thieves exist. The organized groups are more likely to do the smash and grab because they can hit multiple homes in a day and they know that they are unlikely to get caught due to the time it takes for police to respond. I know there were news reports of a group doing just that in my area a few years ago.

What you describe sounds more like a lone criminal and probably someone without much experience. I can't imagine an experienced criminal spending an hour trying to break into the average home but someone looking for his next hit might do it just to get enough goods to sell to get his drug of choice.

A dog (if it looks and acts threatening) might be enough to keep both types out since there are always less risky houses to break into. A somewhat smarter thief (or one that isn't high) might see an alarm sign and go to a different house but one that is high probably wouldn't even notice the sign, and an organized group would care. I guess that explains why the alarm companies are pushing the video systems so hard now in their commercials as it gives you a better chance of catching the thieves (even if it doesn't stop them from breaking in.)

Re:Steal someones

[AlienIntelligence]

I appreciate your anecdotal evidence, but I'd like some actual analysis. I had an experience that was the exact opposite, thieves spent probably close to an hour, by police estimate, trying to break in.

Bullshit... either you don't have glass on your house?

or you have a ton of gold they wanted to get to.

No thief is going to spend more than 5-10min to get
into an "unknown" house. Now, if the thieves knew you,
or had cased your house and knew of something that
was particularly valuable. MAYBE.

-AI

Re:Steal someones

[AlienIntelligence]

The real issue here is lack of police action. If the police wanted too and put the required resources into it. they could get all the evidence, conduct a full investigation and track down and apprehend the criminal involved.

Exactly... and I'm going to mention it AGAIN on your post as well.

480line resolution cameras, DO NOT PROVIDE ADEQUATE RESOLUTION
TO SEEK A CONVICTION. Unless the thief was completely stupid and walked
up to it, full frame face.

A cop will NOT look a grainy/lined image of a person and try to figure out who it is.

And cops DO NOT HAVE that far-fetched software you see in the CSI's.

And if you haven't noticed... they only break out the CSI's for capital crimes.
Not someone stealing your 1st world problems.

-AI

Re:Steal someones

[jon3k]

had 3 doors with prymarks, every screen taken off every window on 3 sides of the house (everything but the side facing the street) as he looked for unlocked windows, pry marks on garage door. finally they broke the upper part of a window in a sunroom, opened that, then slid a glass door to the house open half way and fished open the lock. i have some shocking news for you, criminals aren't very smart. it was also in the middle of the day and 95% of this was hidden from view by my very large privacy fence. i'm not sure exactly what I would come on slashdot and make that up? but feel free believe whatever you want.

Re:Steal someones

[rtb61]

Talk about straight over your head, It's all about shifting focus from victimless crimes to crimes that create a victim and can dangerously escalate. Break ins become home invasions just by the owner being home, non-violent rapidly escalates into extreme violence.

Next up it was never penalties that deterred criminal activity it has always been fear of getting caught. The more certain a criminal is that they will be caught the less likely they are to commit the crime. Police announcing "WE WILL NEVER EVER PURSUE HOUSE BREAK INS" loudly clearly and repeatedly, guarantees repeated house break ins, now as it appears you have a undeclared vested interest in law enforcement, thanks for nothing and "FUCK YOU" (if you don't will, I will redirect that at any law enforcement types reading this). That's why there are so many house break-ins because the police do fucking nothing about them and they do nothing about them because there are so many (now guess who has to pull their thumb out of the bumb, stop munching doughnuts to break that cycle).

Zoneminder

[stox]

http://www.zoneminder.com/

It integrates well with MythTV, too.

Get another gun

[redmid17]

Why you ask? They are useful and fun.

Re:Get a dog

[hey!]

Get a dog

Unless the thing you're guarding is a tinderbox.

Gun -- ?

[evil_aaronm]

Guns aren't any use if they're a) not handy, and b) not understood. Could also backfire if the bad guy takes it away from you. Or steals it from you while you're gone during the day.

Don't get me wrong: I have a number of guns in my house. But that alone doesn't make me feel safe in the event of a break-in. I hope you catch the cock-sucker, but be careful that you don't become another "statistic" in the process.

Re:Gun -- ?

[wisty]

It's a prisoner's dilemma. Guns are good for you, because they make you feel a little safer. They are terrible for society, because they are stolen by thieves, who sell them to gangster wannabes who wouldn't normally be able to get them.

Re:Gun -- ?

[Intropy]

That's nothing at all like the prisoner's dilemma.

Re:Gun -- ?

[tftp]

Few criminals have use of a long gun. They want handguns. But those can be effectively hidden in the house, or simply you can carry one all day long (unless you are in CA.)

Re:Gun -- ?

[geekoid]

Since it's my day to help the slow witted, here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner's_dilemma

Re:Gun -- ?

[DarwinSurvivor]

Not to mention they're also useless when nobody is home to use it...

Re:Gun -- ?

[wisty]

Why not?

If no-one (except the police, and professional criminals who'll mostly use them in gang wars), everyone will be safer.

But if you have a gun, you'll feel safer, but make everyone else less safe (as a criminal may sell it). This is especially true if street criminals (who probably wouldn't have guns if they weren't so cheap on the blackmarket) don't have them.

Re:Gun -- ?

[element-o.p.]

Why not?

If no-one (except the police, and professional criminals who'll mostly use them in gang wars), everyone will be safer.

But if you have a gun, you'll feel safer, but make everyone else less safe (as a criminal may sell it). This is especially true if street criminals (who probably wouldn't have guns if they weren't so cheap on the blackmarket) don't have them.

I beg to disagree. It's trivial to lie with statistics, and I won't pretend that most (if not all) of the sites returned by Google aren't biased, but...:stats on gun ownership vs. violent crime.

Re:Gun -- ?

[j-beda]

It's a prisoner's dilemma. Guns are good for you, because they make you feel a little safer. They are terrible for society, because they are stolen by thieves, who sell them to gangster wannabes who wouldn't normally be able to get them.

There is also a significant non-zero chance that a firearm will be used in a suicide or accidental gun death. If there is no history of violent home invasions in your area, I would find it difficult to justify gun ownership in order to address a perceived burglary problem. While the accidental gun death rate does not seem to be huge (under a thousand per year in the US), the number of burglaries when the tenant is present and the theif doesn't run when they realize they are not alone, is also low - thus the need for such a weapon seems fairly low.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

Re:Gun -- ?

[DaleSwanson]

It's a prisoner's dilemma. Guns are good for you, because they make you feel a little safer. They are terrible for society, because they are stolen by thieves, who sell them to gangster wannabes who wouldn't normally be able to get them.

That's nothing at all like the prisoner's dilemma.

The argument here is that guns benefit the individual but hurt society as a whole. As an individual you have two choices: own a gun or not. Society plays the part of the other prisoner here, and has the same choices. The optimal outcome for all parties is for no one to have guns. However, it is better for an individual to own a gun, in either case. It will either give them an advantage over everyone else, or it brings them on par with everyone else.

This is true of many aspects of living in a civilization. There are many things that make things worse for everyone if they are done, however are in the best interest of the individual to do. As an individual, polluting is the 'best' choice as I save more money/time/effort not complying with regulations than I lose by the tiny addition of pollution that I add. This leads to the worst possible outcome of everyone polluting.

Re:Gun -- ?

[uvajed_ekil]

Guns aren't any use if they're a) not handy, and b) not understood. Could also backfire if the bad guy takes it away from you. Or steals it from you while you're gone during the day.

c) if you are not there to use them

Guns can't protect your property while you are away, so a visible security system of some sort may be a deterrent, and a dog is as good or better. If you rely on firearms to protect your family when you are home, you must be ready to use them, which is something a lot of gun owners do not fully appreciate. If somebody breaks in, you have to shoot them, or you risk them taking your gun and shooting you. Then you'll have to at least justify your actions to a court, unless you live in Florida, apparently. If you are in fact in Florida, you can not only defend your home, but run around the neighborhood and shoot people for wearing hoodies, it appears, so none of this applies to you.

If you break into my house, you are either going to die or bleed a lot, and likely the former, as my neighbors might not be too quick to call the police (and I certainly won't). But not everyone is willing or able to pull the trigger, which is something you must consider if you are thinking of arming yourself to confront any burglars.

Ways to protect your home, in order of easiest and most effective to least reliable and most troublesome:
1. Get a dog. Burglars HATE them.
2. Get a conspicuous security system, with signs and cameras, to act as a deterrent.
3. Get a gun, get professional training so you know how and when to use it, and live with the fact that you might kill someone.
4. Put lovely wrought iron security bars on all your windows and get extra-heavy steel security doors with expensive locks, hinges, and frames.
5. Move out to the middle of Wyoming, where your nearest neighbor and the nearest road are a couple of miles away.
6. Never leave home, and never sleep.
7. Do nothing and hope for the best.

Re:Gun -- ?

[blitziod]

Wrong if everyone had a gun we would be safer than if nobody had one. In an unarmed society gangs and big tough thugs have an advantage over the average guy. Guns equalize. That is why the government is always trying to take them away. Remember God made men but Samuel Colt made all men equal.

Re:Gun -- ?

[blitziod]

8 shoot a robber while he is robbing your house. When word gets out nobody will rob you.

Re:Gun -- ?

[blitziod]

Ok you guys are using very bad logic. You are assuming that the suicidal gun owner would not just hang himself I he had no gun handy. You are also assuming that criminals would not use brute force, edged weapons , clubs etc I they had no guns. I would rather be Armed with a gun and have two criminals armed with Guns out to get me than be unarmed trying to fight two unarmed men or men armed with melee weapons

Re:Gun -- ?

[j-beda]

Ok you guys are using very bad logic. You are assuming that the suicidal gun owner would not just hang himself I he had no gun handy. You are also assuming that criminals would not use brute force, edged weapons , clubs etc I they had no guns. I would rather be Armed with a gun and have two criminals armed with Guns out to get me than be unarmed trying to fight two unarmed men or men armed with melee weapons

As would I.

The questions you are not answering though are: What are the chances of being in a situation as described where the gun could be very useful to you, and what are the chances of being in a situation where the gun would be a very bad thing to have available?

What are the relative chances of being confronted with an armed assailant compared to being confronted with a drunk neighbor who is trying to get into your front door thinking it is his? Or your teenager climbing through the window because they lost their key? Or any number of other highly unlikely situations that could lead to terrible consequences.

We are both probably basing our decisions more on emotional responses rather than pure risk/cost/benefit analysis. Such analysis is not very straightforward, as they are all sorts of possible situations that could be imagined that are fairly rare event.

I personally know nobody who has been killed in a domestic burglary, or even anyone who has been present while their home was burgled. Thus in my world-view, protecting against dangers accompanying a home burglary is not a very high priority. Increasing my family's risk (and the wider community's risk for that matter) of other non-burglary accidents by the presence of a handgun seems like a poor use of our resources. Of course my personal experience is not much better than anecdotal, but it is such that I don't feel the need to research the issue in greater depth.

What?

[GmExtremacy]

How does your home get broken into?

Too many windows. Windows are a vulnerability. Have them all filled in. Second of all, get solid steel doors with plenty of locks. There, done.

Now use Gamemaker.

Re:What?

[AlienIntelligence]

How does your home get broken into?

Too many windows. Windows are a vulnerability. Have them all filled in. Second of all, get solid steel doors with plenty of locks. There, done.

Now use Gamemaker.

Dammit... going along great and someone brings Microsoft into it.

-AI

Bear trap with a raspberry pi in the catch

[damm0]

Should catch geeks better than unobtainium!

Frontpoint

[BaverBud]

We were broken into about 5 weeks ago. I originally considered Frontpoint about 5 months ago, but we kept putting it off. It's the only security company that had mediocre to good reviews consistently.

They have a few options - what you're looking for is their "ultimate" version, which includes cameras. It streams online I believe, and you can turn on/off the security system from your phone or their web page.

They do not send out a rep to do installation, instead they ship the system to you (they'll probably upgrade you to next day shipping for free if you mention you just had a burglary) and you set it up yourself. It took me about 15 minutes to set up, although I had to re-glue some of the door sensors.

When you call, or email, their sales agents don't try to upsel you. They work with what you want, and try to assess your needs based on how you describe your house. If you want an extra sensor for something, they are happy to give it to you - but they will want to know why, and if they don't think it's needed, they'll try to talk you out of it. I had the feeling they actually cared about my interests, and not selling me more equipment.

They also follow up on any feedback you provide, and actively try to resolve issues. I'm really happy with them. They use alarm.com for monitoring.They also have additional styles of sensors that the average joe doesn't care about (ones that you install in the door, rather than putting on the outside of the door - i.e. invisible), but you need to ask. They try to keep it simple.

surveillance cameras

[Anonymous Coward]

You can get a cheap surveillance system with 4 or 8 cameras and a DVR from somebody that sells the Zmodo brand. They aren't the highest quality, but will certainly show you what you're looking for. I have personal experience with the systems and they seem to work well. They usually have motion activated recording, infared for night, and a built in web server so you can pull up the feed from away from the house. If you do a search for packages, you can find stuff from like 250$-600$ and it's relatively easy to install if you can run wires and handle a drill.

Re:surveillance cameras

[AlienIntelligence]

You can get a cheap surveillance system with 4 or 8 cameras and a DVR from somebody that sells the Zmodo brand. They aren't the highest quality, but will certainly show you what you're looking for. I have personal experience with the systems and they seem to work well. They usually have motion activated recording, infared for night, and a built in web server so you can pull up the feed from away from the house. If you do a search for packages, you can find stuff from like 250$-600$ and it's relatively easy to install if you can run wires and handle a drill.

Yes! Everyone! Waste your money after being robbed! Get the cheapest
system you can get, to fill that void of loss... that void of helplessness.

Or, get a professional to install it... or RESEARCH ON YOUR OWN...
which means, don't ask this question on Slashdot, where most of the
people have no fucking idea what they are talking about.

If you are REALLY concerned about the future... DO NOT DO IT CHEAPLY.

-AI

Costco Setups Looks Cheap and Easy

[Unreal One]

http://www.costco.com/Common/Category.aspx?cat=4802&eCat=BC|90607|4802&lang=en-US&whse=BC&topnav=

4 IR cams expandable to 8 with a 500 Gb DVR for $280. Not a bad deal short of putting your camcorder on a tripod and pointing it out the back door.

Re:Costco Setups Looks Cheap and Easy

[cusco]

Junk. Really.

I suggest

[NEDHead]

Since you have the gun already, landmines for the garden are the obvious next step

Re:I suggest

[ColdWetDog]

Nah, Lasers.

Sharks for the koi pond. Lasers for the roof.

Re:I suggest

[sco08y]

Since you have the gun already, landmines for the garden are the obvious next step

Wait, what kind of landmines? Unless you really have a problem with people driving through your garden, anti-vehicular landmines should go in your driveway, to deter those assholes that think they can just park wherever the hell they please. (Aw, man, I got lost and I was just trying to turn around. Well, now you're turned right the fuck around, and you rolled seven times, too!)

And anti-personnel landmines work, kinda sorta. Claymores hooked to a trip wire, are best, as irritating people tend to move in groups. Set the tripwire to catch the lead person and aim it back a few meters. Just remember that when it says, "this side towards enemy," it means it!

Re:I suggest

[rdk571]

+1 But what of the bunnies that scamper about?

Cheapest ...

[PPH]

... is a motion activated 'critter cam' covering the areas where you suspect your visitor to loiter. No monitoring, no alarm, but you can get pics of the suspect (as long as they don't notice and steal the camera).

You could also leave a few scraps of yellow crime scene tape and a chalk outline of a body in front of your house. Give them something to think about.

Re:Cheapest ...

[nschubach]

For extra fun: Put a laser pointer on it so when the intruder sees the laser pointing right at them, they start dodging and weaving.

Re:Cheapest ...

[AlienIntelligence]

... is a motion activated 'critter cam' covering the areas where you suspect your visitor to loiter. No monitoring, no alarm, but you can get pics of the suspect (as long as they don't notice and steal the camera).

You could also leave a few scraps of yellow crime scene tape and a chalk outline of a body in front of your house. Give them something to think about.

I frequently leave my garage door open... it gets hot in AZ.

I have my most recent paper target, a human silhouette taped
to the garage door, leading in the house.

At the top corner, in large red marker, is where the range officer
signed off on my 2" group @ 25 yards. Centered right on the
heart triangle.

If that doesn't slow up a crook... not too much will.

-AI

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[schitso]

Right, because some in-and-out trained chimps are who you should trust with your home security.

Get something like a Honeywell Lynx Plus. It's wireless, easy to install, and easy to set up. You don't even need it monitored--the sound of the panel blaring would send any burglar packing. As for CCTV, you can get some dead cheap camera/DVR deals on Newegg, but don't expect awesome quality or lifespan.

Hunting Camera

[dagoalieman]

Get a hunting trail camera. Takes pics on an SD card. Not networked, but is designed to be outside and it should get you the information you seek relatively cheaply.

Re:Hunting Camera

[drGreg]

I agree. This is a good option and the current cameras can take hundreds of photos and some can even shoot video. They work day/night and are weather proof.

Re:Hunting Camera

[CAIMLAS]

You know that trail cameras are pretty easy to detach and steal, right? Happens all the time.

Re:Hunting Camera

[transporter_ii]

I did this and it isn't that great. I didn't get dirt cheap cameras, either. They must be made for winter -- hunting season -- and to be used at night. In the heat of the day in Texas, the sensors are not very sensitive and sometimes just flat do not work. Other problems:

* To cut down on the number of bad pictures, they have a delay before and after a picture is taken.
* Fast moving people may get totally missed. You have to place them carefully.
* You have to mount them where they aren't easy to get to == put off changing batteries
* The Infra-red flashes are very visible at night...if you happen to be looking toward it.

All of that said, night pictures with infra-red are extremely clear. You may get a much better picture from one of these than a cheap DVR. The key word there is *may*. It depends on a lot of factors.

Re:Hunting Camera

[Kozz]

Get a hunting trail camera. Takes pics on an SD card. Not networked, but is designed to be outside and it should get you the information you seek relatively cheaply.

My church has had some problems with some really bored teenagers (presumably) knocking down some pedestal lighting beside walkways during the evenings. It's happened a couple of times now, and though it's easily repaired, it pisses me off. I thought, too, of a trailcam, but... if you're a hunter, you know these things are easily spotted (they're perhaps 8"x10"x3") and easily stolen. If they get snatched in the woods by trespassers, it'll be doubly easy to walk right up to one and either remove it or smash it to bits with an aluminum softball bat.

Unless there's something I'm overlooking, in which case I'd be happy to hear of it.

Re:Hunting Camera

[AlienIntelligence]

Get a hunting trail camera. Takes pics on an SD card. Not networked, but is designed to be outside and it should get you the information you seek relatively cheaply.

Showing pics to cop after crime...

Cop: Yep, that's a person, definitely not a deer.
Owner: Can you get them?
Cop: What am I going to do, put out a bolo for a smudgy blob?

-AI

Re:Hunting Camera

[AlienIntelligence]

All of that said, night pictures with infra-red are extremely clear. You may get a much better picture from one of these than a cheap DVR. The key word there is *may*. It depends on a lot of factors.

Night pictures with infrared will leave out A TON OF CLUES!
Race of thief. What they were wearing. If they had a car, what
color was the car.

If you do not want to get robbed at night... first thing you do,
is throw about 1000W equiv light on your property... then you
have the highest resolution, lowest lux camera you can afford,
with an auto-iris. Then you multiply that by 6.

-AI

several options

[putch]

I use a combination of Yawcam and Vitamin D. Neither are particularly great, but they serve my needs. And they're (mostly) free. I get images emailed to me when it detects motion in my apt and I can view live video remotely from my phone or a browser (via ssh or vpn). I use the Star Trek Enterprise (NCC-1701) webcam that I got from thinkgeek.

I've been thinking about adding something to monitor and record audio too. Also, been thinking about switching to use a kinect as the camera.

I'm glad this story was posted because sometimes I think I'm too paranoid for doing all of this. This is somewhat re-assuring.

Re:several options

[ColdWetDog]

Vitamin D?

I know it's been hyped as a sort of a miracle drug, good for bones, heart, head, skin and sex drive, but I've never heard of it recommended to keep burglars away.

Does it make you smell really bad or something?

YawCam?

[SlashAdotter]

One idea is to run a usb-extension cord (6-10 foot) from your desk/lapt-top and connect a reasonably good webcam to it. Then run YawCam (free) software with motion detection.

Kamodo dragon in the front yard on chain.

[HornWumpus]

Grizzly bear mother and cubs in the back.

Cobras in the house.

That will fix the prowler right up.

Re:Kamodo dragon in the front yard on chain.

[Saija]

yeah, and a couple of shark(with frickin'lasers-tm) in the bathtub just in case

Get a girlfriend.

[Anonymous Coward]

All the surveillance you can take.... Oh wait, you said "cheap".... never mind...

Re:Get a girlfriend.

[evil_aaronm]

Also not compatible with $existing_girlfriend, as mentioned in TFA.

Unless $existing_girlfriend is $open_minded...

Re:Get a girlfriend.

[HornWumpus]

Ref: Hot bunking. New girlfriend has to work nights.

Re:Gun?

[Grizzley9]

And for your laptops, install something like LoJack or Prey so you can theoretically track them.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[kidgenius]

Not true. Plenty of options for self-monitored systems. If you want a hard-wired system and have a land-line, you can get setup for about $400. Video would of course cost more, but I've seen systems through costco than can be setup for a few hundred. For under a grand you could be setup.

FOSCAM

[strangeattraction]

I have a foscam wireless camera that will upload to an ftp server of your choice. It was inexpensive (~$60 on amazon). Can be set to take an image on some time interval. You can then collect the images into a movie for that day ( use 'convert' from Imagemagick).

Re:FOSCAM

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, we had some issues too. We ended up getting 3 Foscam's from Amazon and a piece of software called Blue Iris. The software was installed on an old laptop and has a ton of great settings that will turn a computer into a DVR for your IP cameras. Anyway, I have been very happy with the setup. I spent just under $300 and have 3 great cameras and a device that captures the video from them as well as alerts me. Their are also several (free) Android/iOS apps to view the cameras.
The Foscam's do not need the Blue Iris software, they can upload to FTP, Email images, even use MSN messenger to alert you of motion. I am sure other camera's can do this but $80 for a pan-tilt camera with the features is a pretty good deal. I've had good luck with them.

Re:FOSCAM

[AlienIntelligence]

I have a foscam wireless camera that will upload to an ftp server of your choice. It was inexpensive (~$60 on amazon). Can be set to take an image on some time interval. You can then collect the images into a movie for that day ( use 'convert' from Imagemagick).

Let's see some pics from that bad boy... of a face at about 15 ft.

I'll give you a $1 for every facial point you can extract beyond 5.

-AI

Re:FOSCAM

[strangeattraction]

I see from your other post we have a little hostility thing going toward DIY in the security camera area. Maybe it is enough that he will recognize his neighbor stealing his stuff. Not everything has to be geared for the apocalypse. For me I'm just trying to identify the person who is letting their dog dump on my driveway and not cleaning it up.

Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey solu

[unixhero]

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.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[SomePgmr]

If they're looking to catch the daytime lurker (and likely robber), I'd imagine you'd want it to be silent. At least for this job. A real alarm can come later if necessary.

So, for this, maybe a trailcam would do the job on the cheap. Otherwise I'm sure there are webcams that do it.

I have been looking at this or a similar model

[boley1]

skylink sc-1000

I only have the Googling experience so far, though I once designed and installed security systems for businesses. For my business I use ADT, but for home, I really don't like adding another monthly service bill in addition to phone, cable, internet... so yes I'm a tight wad.

BTW. Video record the burglars if you want and maybe with lots of work you might cause them a little grief. But a really loud alarm, and maybe some strobe lights might actually make them stop and move on to a less noisy place.

I'm told the number one thing you can do to deter break-ins (this according to an ADT guy) is to add more outside lighting. Don't see how that would help in the day time though. Maybe very obvious, large real or fake outdoor cameras would be equivalent?

Re:I have been looking at this or a similar model

[geekoid]

outside lighting only helps to a point. 'Adding more' after that point is a waste.

Re:I have been looking at this or a similar model

[cusco]

I walk our dogs at night, and too much light is worse than too little. The houses with two or three 150 watt lights in the yard are so glaringly bright that no one can stand to look that direction. Anywhere not directly illuminated is now deep, dark shadow as well. All you've done is give a burglar enough light to pick the lock more quickly and made sure no one is going to look his way.

In fact, you want them to steal your server

[jerryasher]

My server is a very nice case mod with transparent panels and blue glowing lights that sits on a shelf next to my flat screen TV. It's so cool. It screams steal me! On top of it I leave several DVDs of porn each in their own DVD jewel box wrapper with all the porn photos on them.

Of course, there are three other IP cameras pointed at this wonderfully blue glowing empty box too, each camera with motion detection and set to email pictures to my gmail account and ftp video to an external host.

Re:In fact, you want them to steal your server

[Anonymous Coward]

So you have a gmail account full of pictures of you whackin it?
That's gross dude!

Re:In fact, you want them to steal your server

[RogerWilco]

I think you have two problems with your setup:
1) They're already inside, and you're now dependent on your "evidence" and ability of the police to get your stuff back.
2) If it's really screaming "steal me", especially if it's visible from outside, then you're inviting them in.

I think the dog and having visible cameras outside, which both will work as a deterrent, is a better idea.

IP Cameras

[Above]

IP cameras have become quite cheap, depending on your needs. If you get PoE models they are also far easier to run than traditional cameras, as a single CatE cable can get the job done. I've set up small systems a number of places including my house, and it all works quite well and easily. While you can go the open source route, I found the easiest way is with some Mac software. You can even do it without network DVR software and use cameras that capture to onboard SD cards. I find that inconvenient, but it can be a good backup if your cameras are mounted out of reach but your server isn't.

Checkout, in no particular order:

• Vivotek
• Axis
• Panasonic
• Y-Cam

There's a product for every need. Cheap, $50 indoor lit-room only solutions to $2000 pan/tilt/zoom IR illuminated outdoor vandal proof units.

TrendNet makes affordable PoE switches. 10/100 is fine, an individual camera stream is maybe 2Mbps for a high res stream.

I use SecuritySpy on a Mac. Even watching 8 cameras it uses

Place cameras where you can get good shots of faces as they come through doors. Maybe one of your driveway or street in front to get a car. They won't stop the break in, although visible cameras outside may be a deterrent, but they will give you a fighting chance of catching the person who did it.

Oh, and get a dog with a loud bark. Most robbers don't want to find out if it is a small dog or big dog!

Re:IP Cameras

[Darth_brooks]

Trendnet has a good supply of cameras as well. They're cheap, but I can say from experience the 110w, 121w, and 312w all do a perfectly decent job. They're not the best thing in the world, but they just work. Trendnet's "monitoring software" is crap however.

640 x 480 cameras don't get good faces. Even megapixel shots from any more than a couple feet away aren't that great. A better bet is to cover vehicle approaches. No one is going to steal your TV on foot, no one is going to loot ten minutes worth of your stuff on foot, and cops have a much better chance of spotting "Two white males 1998 red ford ranger with a dent on the left side of the bed" than they have of spotting "black male with a mustache and an earring in his left ear wearing a blue shirt." The guy in the shirt will have a chance to change shirts before the cops even show up at your door. The guys in the truck are going to use that truck in another break in.

In my experience, the two guys doing home invasions (one guy goes in, one guy keeps the car running and sits on lookout.) will hit a neighborhood a few times before things get hot. If you can ID the car, cops will have a *MUCH* better chance at nabbing the perps. I passed a couple frames I managed to get of a car that was involved at a break in near my home to the county sheriff. The cops were thrilled to have that more than a description, as it gave them a much narrower focus.

Re:IP Cameras

[rahvin112]

Big dogs are the most intimidating especially if they jump up and down in the windows. But you wanna scare them good without a lot of noise you want a German Shepard or a mix breed with Shepard in them. The Shepard have really loud aggressive barks even if they are a pile of marshmallow. They also look very intimidating. And the best feature is that they are one of the smartest dog breeds (number 3 on the list) the closer they are to pure breed they better they train and you can't beat the bark for intimidation factor, even when they are happy and wagging the tail they still look aggressive. Our mix breed wouldn't hurt a fly but her bark sounds just like a police dog about to attack.

Re:IP Cameras

[AlienIntelligence]

Oh, and get a dog with a loud bark. Most robbers don't want to find out if it is a small dog or big dog!

That's about as ignorant as claiming all Asians look alike.

A dog's voice unlike the "voice" of a person, is very directly
related to breed and volume of lungs/throat/mouth.

If you can't tell the size of a dog from their bark alone... you
need a different job besides house thief.

-AI

They ARE coming back

[WindBourne]

That is pretty normal for burglers to come back. They like backdoors as well. If you do not want a commercial system, pick up some IP cams and add zoneminder. We use the LTS infrared camera. We got it from Newegg for about 100. You can pick up the y-cam, but it is the SAME PHYSICAL CAMERA for 200 (and nothing extra; just a private label). We use one of ours for watching the front yard and another in the baby room. It is awesome in the dark.

Re:Gun?

[CanHasDIY]

Better plan: Place a honeypot "screamer" device that sends its GPS location every 30 seconds to a server that you control. Let the thief lead you to *his* lair.

Great idea, but don't forget to check into your local laws and regulations (specifically wiretapping and surveillance laws) prior to deploying such a device.

How much would it suck to get arrested for illegally bugging the guy who just robbed you?

Android + Prepaid Mobile + WiFi

[MDMurphy]

You can buy an Android phone for a prepaid cell account for under $100. (used phones are doable too ) Various camera apps will do scene detection and emailing of stills or video or can do periodic image capture. Powered by a microUSB is easy enough, with it's internal battery as a backup for short power outages.

WiFi works fine, and with a home UPS will be up and running for most local power outages. Having a $X a day plan from the carrier will allow the mobile network to be used as a backup to the the WiFi without providing a continuous additional monthly bill.

Images / Video can be sent to an online email account, so while immediate notification can be on your own mobile, there's a ready built server for storing the images.

Arduino or similar hardware could be used as additional sensor inputs,or possibly an alarm output, but using built in cameras alone gives you a useful device out of the box.

Re:Android + Prepaid Mobile + WiFi

[russ1337]

came here to say the same thing. A cheap android phone is certainly a good way to go.

Bolt it down!

[bbands]

the safe, that is. Those things are getting stolen all the time.

Re:Gun?

[kidgenius]

All that gun will do is get stolen. And then when it's used in commission of a crime, you'll be the one hauled in for questioning.

How do you figure? Also, firearms (both long guns and handguns) aren't required to be registered in MOST states (and no laws at the federal level). So how will they come looking for you if your gun is used to commit a crime and it's not registered to you?

here ya go

[Charliemopps]

My home security consists of:
2 of these
http://www.offroaders.com/directory/animals/images/Labrador_Retriever_chocolate_named_Hershey-s.jpg
+
1 of these
http://www.leadslingerarmory.com/assets/images/Springfield/xd-tactical-bitone.jpg

Re:here ya go

[HornWumpus]

I've got a lab too. But I also have a guard dog. The lab would jump on the burglar and lick him. The only way she would harm him is if she farted.

Consider sound as well

[Forever Wondering]

Breaking glass has a very distinctive sound signature. It is what professional services use to detect intrusions (My last company had this and it did detect breakins). Also, thieves are quite noisy when doing a breakin (e.g. they talk/yell, make a lot of noise while searching through drawers, etc). This is also used as the basis of some pro systems (e.g. Sonitrol)

---

Sending sound information to your phone would be a lot less bandwidth than video. It would be easier for you to respond in real time. That is, system detects a [possible] breakin sound signature, sends a text alert to your phone. You then connect to real time monitoring of the microphones. You would be able to confirm what is happening. Then, you can call police and say that a human has verified the breakin. They would be more likely to respond (vs. false alarm)

Re:Gun?

[DCFusor]

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.

Zoneminder

[billcopc]

If you're Linux-savvy, try Zoneminder. All you need is a PC and a camera, for which there are extensive compatibility lists online. Once you have motion detection working, you can set up a shell script to copy to a remote host - in case the Zoneminder box itself gets stolen. For bonus points, use a small-form-factor PC and hide it somewhere clever, like behind a ceiling tile or under the staircase.

If you're not so comfortable doing it yourself, there are many vendors online who sell pre-configured kits including a recorder unit, cabling and a few cameras. I think the price range starts around $500 to $700 if memory serves... some of them come with mobile apps and "cloud" storage so you can monitor your home on the go. If you're in Canada, I can refer you to a good friend of mine who runs such a surveillance store and knows this field better than I ever could.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[Intropy]

But she's specifically asking for a DIY solution, and is apparently pretty serious about it since she's already gotten a dog and a gun for security purposes.

You have to separate issues

[jtownatpunk.net]

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.

Re:You have to separate issues

[Above]

I've known two people who had house fires, and the documentation factor was huge for them as well. What we try to do is about once per year take a video camera into every room of the house, do a 360 spin, open every closet and drawer and shoot the contents. High value items, laptops, tv's, and so on get a close up. Generally takes about 20-30 minutes. Hold up a news paper to prove it wasn't before the paper came out.

Then, and here's the key, the tape goes to another location. We give ours to a relative who keeps it in a fire safe in their house. Now if anything happens you have a visual record to go through to help you remember everything, and you have something to give the insurance company showing everything in its spot.

Re:You have to separate issues

[kangsterizer]

can you link such a system you're describing?

Re:You have to separate issues

[subreality]

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.

It depends on your goals. If you want to prevent theft, use sirens and strobes. If you want to catch the guy, use a silent alarm that calls in the troops.

Re:You have to separate issues

[toddestan]

Another benefit is that at least around here, pawn shops have to check serial numbers of items brought in against a list of stolen items provided by the police. Thus, if you've documented the serial numbers of your stuff there is a chance that it might lead to the thief being busted and you getting at least some of your stuff back.

Gun safe

[NormalVisual]

Whether you own any firearms or not, a good gun safe is likely to be useful as an addition to your security system. It's too heavy to just make off with unless the thief is coming with a truck and heavy-duty appliance dolly (for the lighter safes, anyway), and they're bulky enough where they're not particularly quick to manuever out of your house. On top of that, you can always still bolt it to the floor or wall. Most offer pretty decent fire protection as well, offering protection against 1200-1500 degree temps for anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on what you get. They're roomy enough where you can put all kinds of stuff in them too.

Re:Gun safe

[MyFirstNameIsPaul]

If you are getting a safe for fire protection, also make sure it's waterproof. It turns out that they use water to put out fires. A LOT of water.

Re:Gun safe

[NormalVisual]

I did qualify my statement with "a truck and heavy-duty appliance dolly", and I did say that bolting it to the floor was an option. Just like any other kind of security, there's no such thing as being totally foolproof, but a half-ton or heavier safe (preferably not located in the garage) will likely deter thieves that are there for quick and easy pickings, which describes those who commit most home burglaries.

Dogs Guns Zoneminder and Liberty

[Mr.Ziggy]

Zoneminder: I use Zoneminder on Ubuntu desktop with Axis IP cameras in a couple of installs (retail location too). New version is good. It's FSF. Downside is very good cameras are expensive, and Zoneminder is a CPU/memory hog with megapixel IP cameras. (Not a project you could Rasberry Pi) So while the software is free, some of the good Axis cameras are over $600 each. IMHO, if you are not interested in spending that much on cameras, just get a Costco system bundle for the time/cost savings. FYI: You MUST have motion capture/detection. There is simply too much data to go through otherwise.

Camera location: It's tempting to put cameras high to 'see more', but you need to have at least one closer to eye level to get a natural looking face picture. Too many people only have high cameras, and you can never clearly see the whole face. I choose a choke point like a doorway or hallway.

Dogs: Effective. But expensive over the long term and time consuming.

Guns: I'm a proponent, but it takes time to be able to shoot effectively. Chance you'll shoot a robber is low.

Safes: Get a better safe. If they ran off with your safe, it was certainly too cheap and small. Floor safes are fantastic when surrounded by concrete. And cheap.

Neighbors: Get to know your neighbors. Coffee and donuts are cheap.

Re:Dogs Guns Zoneminder and Liberty

[roc97007]

All of the above.

I use Blue Iris with cheap direct connected (not wifi) cameras. It's been an affordable win. If I'm alerted, I can check all the cameras without getting out of bed. If I get an email alert, I can also check the cameras via smartphone anywhere I have coverage.

Dogs: I'd have dogs anyway, (I like dogs) and I tend towards big, naturally suspicious dogs. They have better senses than you, and they're remarkably reliable in protecting a territory. The dogs sleep in the master bedroom or by the front door.

Guns don't help much when you're out of state, but they're not there to protect my belongings, they're there as a last ditch defense of my family. Stuff is just stuff, but family members are not replaceable. The self-defense firearm is in a quick-open safe that also includes a flashlight that gets checked periodically. I practice at the same range as the local police, and I'm demonstrably a better shot than some of them. As always, your mileage may vary depending on location, local laws, and personal preference. But I second that you need to know what you're doing if you're going to own a gun for self defense. (First step should be to read "In the Gravest Extreme" by Massad F. Ayoob.)

Safes: I have four. One fire safe for valuables and important paperwork, and three of varying sizes and purposes, for weapons.

Neighbors: I had to assure the neighbors across the street that my cameras won't see into their windows. (I purposely set coverage to end at the edge of the sidewalk and could demonstrate that.) But I agree, there is no substitute for knowing your neighbors.

Re:Dogs Guns Zoneminder and Liberty

[Darth_brooks]

My beef with ZM was that it didn't support my cameras. Kinda my fault (and trendnet's for messing with mjpeg headers. I'm itching to upgrade to some AXIS cams soon), but I wasn't that impressed.

Motion capture is nice, but that seems to be a sticking point between cameras. Some of them do a great job, some of them really suck. They either trigger too late, too early, or the buffering gets the right thing at the wrong time. My trendnet cams support multiple profiles, so I do both on some cameras. 24/7 motion + scheduled during daylight hours. The motion trigger combined with a motion triggered flood light does a great job of snapping pictures of the neighbors cat.

Re:Dogs Guns Zoneminder and Liberty

[Stephenmg]

That's because people have these hooked to a backend server that does the motion processing or takes some pre and post roll. I love Axis cameras, I get to play with 200+ of them all day long.

Doing it wrong.

[OverlordQ]

Six weeks ago, my home was broken into while my fiance and I were at work. [...] a safe (complete with several years worth of taxes, my birth certificate, and old copies of my driver's license)

Locking things up in a safe is completely pointless if they can pick it up and take it with them. All you've done is give them an easy way to quickly steal all of your important things.

Re:Doing it wrong.

[geekoid]

Get a bigger safe.
Get yourself a 500 pound safe, and they aren't carrying it anywhere.

Honeypot

[evil_aaronm]

If you're going with a system with obvious cameras, you may want to install a few "honeypot" decoys to throw the thief a little change-up, in case he starts ripping them down to avoid surveillance.

Maybe a boobie-trapped safe, too. Might not be exactly legal, depending on how lethal the boobie-trap is, but it's not like the thief will call the cops and report your trap in a stolen safe. Especially if the boobie-trap is 100% lethal...

Re:Honeypot

[the eric conspiracy]

Better research that one first.

Re:Honeypot

[geekoid]

Just put the camera inside pointing out a window.

Re:Honeypot

[Whorhay]

Make your booby trap out of those bank robbery dye packs that explode. Not much danger of actual injury but it should make them much easier for law enforcement to find.

Actually, what you need is a neighbourhood

[Colin Smith]

or community.

1. You got a gun.. At home so the next burglar can get it as well as the rest of your stuff when you're both out at work again?
2. Dog, what do you do, leave it tied up at home all day alone? Dogs are pack animals it'll end up insane.
3. You will get burgled again, just after the insurance pays out. You're now on a list which'll get passed around.
4. Upgrade your doors & windows. Those are the holes they'll be trying to get through.

Your cheapest security system are neighbours who also have an interest in not being burgled.

Re:Actually, what you need is a neighbourhood

[yodleboy]

"Your cheapest security system are neighbours who also have an interest in not being burgled."

yeah obviously the cheapest solution is to purchase another house or build houses near you for a bunch of people you trust ; ) over-priced security system is starting to look cheap.

get rid of the gun

[Anonymous Coward]

seriously get rid of the gun. you don't want to kill someone do you? maybe a relative? what about when the intruder gets your gun?? very very unwise.

Re:get rid of the gun

[Anonymous Coward]

Research the statistics, AC.

Re:get rid of the gun

[DCFusor]

I did do the research and I'm not the AC above. I just didn't go to a rabid gun control site to get made-up statistics that tickle my confirmation bias, like you did.

"We've already gotten the dog and the gun,

[circletimessquare]

so we have those bases covered."

Did you train the dog to shoot the gun?

Then you really don't have all of your bases covered, do you now?

Sharx

[Radtastic]

http://www.sharxsecurity.com/ has a variety of security cameras. They have wired and wireless, motion-activated notification (by email and ftp), built in storage on camera cards, and more.

They're a bit pricey, (I think I bought a fully loaded wireless and weatherproof model for about $280) but setup was simple and it performed as advertised.

Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[blackcoot]

You'll discover very quickly that using motion cues to trigger anything other than a light outside is either going to generate a bazillion false alarms or basically be so insensitive as to miss everything. In my opinion, your best bet is to setup two zones: the exterior zone and the interior zone. For the exterior zone, several fake cameras (really just camera-shaped pieces of plastic with a blinking light) plus a few otherwise indistinguishable real ones plus DVR can be had for pretty cheap (Costco, for instance, has kits as low as $250ish). You can use either the built-in motion detection or cue from an external unit (haven't done this myself but I expect it to be pretty straightforward based on how I've triggered similar systems in the past). Key piece: make sure that the storage ends up being put somewhere reasonably secure, away from the DVR and things that look like they're worth stealing.

For the interior zone, I'd use same trick(s) except this time you want to trigger off window opening / door opening sensors as well as motion sensors. The hard part will be to make sure you match up to consistently. I'd want a hysteresis threshold (after x seconds of consistent motion, send a snapshot, after an additional y seconds turn on the sirens).

All in all, it's pretty straight-forward but it's likely to be time consuming, which leads me to: are you sure that what you need is a security system to re-establish your sense of security?

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[Stephenmg]

I wouldn't bother with the cheap camera kits, image quality makes them a waste of money. Cameras that are worth buying are going to start at $400.

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[blackcoot]

Depends on lighting conditions but generally, yes. Which is least partially why I ended with the question that I did.

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[cusco]

If your motion detection is setting off "a bazillion false alarms" then you're not doing it right. If you do it correctly, choosing areas of interest that don't have moving bushes and the like in them and masking things that do move, you shouldn't get many at all. Most of our customers can review three or four hours of external video in five minutes because the thresholds and zones are set up correctly. I doubt the cheap Costco POS DVR is capable of that though, you're better off buying an actual security camera.

For the interior you're not going to be able to use motion detection. They bought a dog, remember?

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[blackcoot]

"... then you're not doing it right" pretty much summarizes (to the best of my knowledge) state-of-the-art when handling exterior conditions with purely visual sensors, particularly when you're relying on crappy source video with no algorithm-in-the-loop auto-iris control (or worse: analog auto-iris) and god only knows how many layers of crappy A2D, D2A, quantization, etc. steps in between. You need other motion sensors that give you more reliable cues, but even with clever placement, you are always going to face a fundamental trade-off between probability of detect and probability of false alarm.

As for motion sensors + dogs, what is stopping them from aiming the detectors to have a deadzone that ends ~3-4ft off the ground?

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[cusco]

Video motion detection has actually gotten pretty good. For example, an Axis IP camera (the brand that I work with most often) can set up multiple windows, each with its own thresholds for moving object size, duration of movement, and percentage of the window that needs to change to generate an alarm, and multiple windows to mask extraneous movement (bushes, whatever). A decent VMS (video management system) can do the same thing, normally we do it in the camera just to offload that processing from the server CPU. If you spend the time to configure it correctly it can be quite good. More than once I've had to log into a system and change masking because a flower bed has grown higher or someone has moved a potted plant, and their false alarms go from multiple per minute to a few per hour.

I was thinking of video motion rather than PIRs. If you're going to combine the two then sure, but it is an extra cost for the equipment and wiring. If you're going to connect extra equipment I'd just hook in a door position switch, which can be landed on one of the camera inputs (assuming Axis cameras again) to raise an alarm. For our dogs you'd have to aim your detectors a good 5 feet off the ground, they tend to get excited and jump pretty high when someone comes to the door.

Re:Don't bother with motion cues for exterior

[blackcoot]

I do a lot of work with the Axis cameras, although almost always running my own algorithms on their video. They're nice hardware to work with, but I don't think their algorithms perform all that well (and if I'm not mistaken, they're another example of "ObjectVideo Inside", so it's not really their algorithms). Of course, designing better algorithms for the motion detection and what not is part of how I pay my bills, so YMMV.

Never sign a long term monitoring contract!

[ilovegroupthink]

Good choice on avoiding ADT..etc. I foolishly signed a 3 year contract in the past.

• Call local security companies (not ones representing dealers like ADT, Brinks)
• Tell them you have your own hardware, and you are wondering if they provide monitoring service
• If they do investigate their month-to-month monitoring agreement
• If they don't they will probably tell you who they subcontract the monitoring to, you can then contact them directly for service

Over the term of a 36 month contract you get killed financially, it is way cheaper to avoid monitoring contracts, and go month-to-month.

You dont need a security system

[Arker]

Well, maybe you do, but the point is that isnt the way to solve the problem you are immediately about. What you want to do is catch these people - whether with a camera or otherwise. A security system wont be something desinged with that in mind, but more general goals. It might, for instance, have decoy cameras so as to make it appear better defended, to scare off would-be burglars. You do NOT want to scare these people off, you want to catch them, right?

So focus on that and rethink the problem. One classic and effective technique is to stay in the house while making it appear that you went with everyone else. Then just keep a low profile and very quiet and wait with that baseball bat, and 911 on speed dial...

Re:You dont need a security system

[Reziac]

Pit trap just inside the door. Works great!

No kidding... I lived in a place where the basement access was this trapdoor just inside the back door. Every so often we'd come home after dark ... and fall into the basement, the meter reader having left the trap door open.

(Yes, I'm so old I remember when average folks didn't lock their doors...)

Solutions

[davegravy]

I'm currently putting together a DIY security system based on opensource LinuxMCE.

My house when purchased already had a mid-90s wired alarm system from DSC. I've taken all the sensors wires off the DSC panel and fed them into a GlobalCache GC-100 (which can be had for a couple hundred $$) connected to my server. LinuxMCE has a bunch of code that takes care of the logic side of things, but if you can write your own code to communicate with the GC-100 you could do away with the LinuxMCE side of things.

LinuxMCE also integrates webcams, ip cams, z-wave security devices, and just about any ubiquitous device into your security network, and that's not mentioning all the other cool stuff it does (home media sharing, telecom, home automation, etc). And it's very customizable. I configured, for example, my doorbell to disarm my security system (in-case I lose my phone, or its battery dies) if its pressed in the correct morse-code sequence.

Why cheap?

[mapkinase]

Tiger Direct

New Egg

Re:Why cheap?

[Stephenmg]

You get what you pay for. Cheap camera means blurry picture that you can't see past 10 feet.

Um, pwn3d in 1968.

[Anonymous Coward]

So how will they come looking for you if your gun is used to commit a crime and it's not registered to you?

Unless you bought the firearm in a face-to-face transaction with a private party (only legal in some states), paid cash, and the person who sold you the firearm didn't record any of your information, then "yeah, they can track you down".

If a person buys a firearm from a FFL (ie. all legal firearm dealers in the US are FFL's) then the purchaser is required to fill out an ATFE Form 4473, which the FFL is required to keep on file forever. This will link the purchaser via government-issued photo ID to the firearm you just purchased. There are a list of ATFE-acceptable ID forms: ID's must have a photo & an address (ie. passports won't work). Most FFL's will photocopy the purchaser's ID and keep it with the 4473 in order to avoid any potential issues during an ATFE audit.

The GCA of 1968 setup this decentralized registration system almost 50 years ago. All that law enforcement has to do is call the manufacturer of the firearm with the model & serial number and the chain of ownership will be tracked down from the manufacturer to the distributor to the dealer and then to you. I believe FFL's have up to 48 hours to respond to an ATFE trace request, but it might be less. Also, moving from state to state after purchasing a firearm isn't likely to pose any difficulty in tracing anymore, thanks to Real ID (it might take a few more minutes, perhaps). Don't forget to check state laws about requiring the reporting of stolen firearms—failure to report a stolen firearm might be a felony in your state.

If your FFL goes out of business then they are required to send all their records (including 4473's) to the ATFE which will keep them forever. Or, more likely, the ATFE will just scan them into a database to make future lookups faster.

Protip: All it would take to create a federal centralized registry of firearm purchases is to pass a simple law to require all FFL's to immediately submit all their 4473 records to the ATFE.

Defense in depth, physical security first always

[Zurk]

You need to adopt a defense in depth approach similar to computer security.
First you need to block all breakins through windows. install aluminum shutters on all your windows from the inside with remote motors. These run about $200 including labor for a window, manufactured in germany and installed locally.
Then replace your doors with steel commercial fire rated doors. these are over an inch thick and put digital locks on the doors, preferably Kaba Mas which are DoD compliant. The doors run around $1000 including labor.
Thirdly put IP cameras with built in recording. DVRs are too easy to steal. Use Trendnet IP522Ps with built in SD cards. You can also use axis. Make sure you cover all approaches and remove any trees shrubs etc.
Make sure you have 6 ft high fences around your property or whatever the highest available fence height is from your local minicipal regs. behind the fence create a 4 ft buffer zone and plant cacti such as ocotillo. This will deter fence jumpers.
Finally put a vista 20P alarm system you can get cheaply off ebay for $250 or so with panel alarm and sensors. The motion detectors are $10 - $20, the glass break sensors are cheap and door sensors are like $5. Install a GSM board and find a cheap local security company to monitor it.

 

panasonic cameras

[bobsalt]

get a couple of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16881180042
panasonic makes a bunch of them, they all do motion capture and smtp email. setup a gmail account, set the camera to email motion captured pics to the email address.
only bad thing is the smtp server portion doesn't support gmail smtp protocol, so will have to have a smtp server through your isp
I have set a bunch of these up for several friends/family, they just work...

$100 at Costco

[sribe]

Seriously, for $100 at Costco you can buy a self-contained unit with camera and motion sensor, which records onto a card just like any digital camera. Now, granted, a genius IT burglar would look for it and take the card. But the pathetic meth-heads you're dealing with will never notice it ;-)

Obvious choice

[PPH]

A trunk monkey.

Blue Iris

[roc97007]

Blue Iris Software (blueirissoftware.com) is a cheap ($50) and very capable home security software package. It runs with a variety of cameras both wireless and wired, has software motion detection, a built-in webpage, alert capability, and is surprisingly easy to set up.

I used Swann Bulldog hard wired cameras (about $28 apiece) and a relatively cheap capture board. I ran the camera wires through the attic, punching through outside walls as necessary. (Careful to waterproof the parts where the cable emerges from the wall.) The cable includes video, audio (for the front door camera), and power for the camera.

The computer is an old 1 Ghz Intel box. 500 Gbytes is more than adequate.

Motion detection sensitivity is adjustable. The software supports creating "dead zones" in the picture so that trees blowing in the wind won't cause excessive triggers.

Mine is set up to email me a snapshot if motion is detected. This puts evidence on a server several miles away in the event the house is broken into and the hardware is located and compromised. (If I were truly paranoid I would put a webcam on the server itself so it couldn't be approached without triggering an alert.)

The software includes a website that is accessible from the outside world via dyndns. I can bring up the website on my smartphone and see the output from all cameras in real time. If I'm away from home, I'll typically get an alert that someone has approached the house (usually the front door) and can push a button to see what they're doing there in real time. (Most of the time it's a delivery person.)

At night, my cell phone sits on its charger by my bed. If I get an alert, I can check all the cameras without getting out of bed. (I can also access the website from my office at home or at work and see what's going on in real time.)

This has been useful twice, once when a woman opened the gate to let my dogs out, (long story involving a real estate rep's vendetta against dog owners in the neighborhood) and once when kids stole the hubcaps off my daughter's car.

It is routinely useful in that I get to see my daughter come home from school every day. I text her "welcome home" when I get the alert. She has been in turn gratified and irritated depending on her mood. You know teens. :-)

Since the computer was an old repurposed machine, total cost was $50 for the software, $28 X 4 for the cameras, about $30 for the cables, $150 for the capture card, and a few hours of my time. I intend to add more cameras when the cost of wifi enabled weatherproof pannable cameras become more affordable. The software supports remote control of a servo-controlled webcam.

In my opinion, I have a superior system to subscribing to a service. For one thing, my recurring cost is zero. It's true that I have to take care of the threat recognition part and contact the authorities myself, but I'm comfortable doing this, and there is a certain amount of peace in seeing my daughter safely home from school.

Disadvantages: The cameras have a ring of IR LEDs around the camera element. This creates a warm zone that spiders appear to like, and appears to trigger some homing instinct in hummingbirds. So I occasionally get photos of giant hummingbirds and huge spiders emailed to me. It was a little unnerving at first, but I have gotten used to it.

Re:Blue Iris

[Jamu]

So I occasionally get photos of giant hummingbirds and huge spiders emailed to me. It was a little unnerving at first, but I have gotten used to it.

Disadvantage? I was wondering if I should get a security camera and this has sold me on the idea.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[TWX]

Do you know how a monitored security system works?

I do, I work for an organization with about 100 sites which I have to go in and out of, including during hours when I have to disarm a site.

The security company, by and large, doesn't really care about the brand of system in the site, they can interface to many, so long as they're commercial products. In our case, only one door into a secured area won't immediately set the alarm off, that one door has a delay before the alarm goes off, in which one disarms the system. The attendant at the security company gets an alarm on their computer screen when a site goes off, and they call the police if they don't receive a call within a minute or so of the actual alarm going off, even if one disarms the security system post-alarm. One has to know who to call and has to have a code word to prevent the authorities from being called.

In some residential installations, the security company will call a phone number on the account and ask for the code word instead of waiting for a call.

As far as burglars go, without some kind of monitoring, a burglar will still have a few minutes to grab whatever they can, even while the thing is blaring, as it's unlikely that the neighbors will call the police until the alarm gets annoying and they figure that no one is around to shut it off.

There are also fairly inexpensive ($500-$1000) camera systems with eight cameras (expandable to sixteen) at Costco that use PoE cameras. One has to run Ethernet wiring to locations for the cameras, but the advantage of needing only one battery backup for the main DVR/switch outweighs the use of separate power at each camera, in my humble opinion. I'm considering a system like this, but I know that I'll probably spend another $500 wiring for it, with the horizontal cable, the patch cords at each end, the conduit pipe for the outdoor cameras, the patch panel, the snap-in connectors, and the like, and that's assuming that I can coax an old battery backup back to life with a new set of SLAs for it.

There's no good cheap solution, in my opinion. If one is in a house, signing up for monitoring for a certain amount of time may yield a free system for detection.

Becasue thre gun

[geekoid]

is so damn useful against people who in your home when you are not. I'm sure the thief will enjoy acquiring you gun next time they break in.

sigh. anyways.

A) The events in your backyard may have been happening prior to the break in, but you didn't notice or put any pattern together. You increased awareness is not making a pattern.
So, don't assume when you catch someone out there, there are the thief.

B) Camera with motion detectors.

C) Get vibration detectors on the windows. With them to your computers. if activated, have it send you a text. The you ca go online and check you're cameras.

D) Do you trust your neighbors? Communicate with them, see if they have had in issues.

E) Get a security company sign and put it in your front yard. Hell, but a fake key pad in plain sight with blinking LED.

Good luck with the insurance company.

The Secret to Pure Security

[R. M. Dasheff]

1) Purchase lots of stuff 2) Leave your doors unlocked 3) Use only the stuff that people don't steal

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[Anonymous Coward]

Blue Iris software
http://blueirissoftware.com/

Neighborhood Watch?

[MikeTheGreat]

I know that you're looking for a nerdy techno-solution, but have you looked into a neighborhood watch? If your house has been broken into then the thieves / backyard guests are probably stealing / visiting your neighbors, too. If there is someone who works from home (even occasionally) they can keep an eye out and call stuff in. I don't have the source handy, but I seem to remember the Seattle PD saying that something like 90% of their residential burglary- & trespassing- type arrests come from neighbors calling stuff in.

In Seattle we've actually got a Crimewatch coordinator position on the police force - an officer like that can answer your questions about how to secure your property & neighborhood, and will even drop by your neighborhood watch meeting once you've got 10+ people or so. They don't stop the guy directly but they know a ton about how to deter thieves & make it easier to catch them.

As an added bonus it'll get you talking to your neighbors. There's really no reason to talk to your neighbors in modern America (except for stuff like this), and a shared threat really makes people come together. Our neighborhood watch started out banding together against the 'troublesome houses', and expanded to neighborhood cleanup days.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[mea_culpa]

99% of the time a very loud siren will stop the theif from spending much time in your property. Even if you had the most expensive ADT setup it still takes minutes for police to do anything about it anyway.
You can pay ADT $45/mo for 5 years to install $200 worth of equipment and feel better. But you can get better results installing your own system and hooking up with something like NextAlarm for $17/mo no contract and get email/SMS notification when anything goes wrong, check event history such as who armed and disarmed and even get SMS when your housekeeper disarms/rearms, etc.
This combined with a cheap Lorex/Swann net connected DVR system from Costco that lets you instantly see 8/16 channels of video from your smartphone will be more than adequate.

There is a small learning curve when programming your own alarm panel, but since you are asking Slashdot, you probably know how to google already. Hopefully.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[cusco]

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).

Inexpensive is OK

[YrWrstNtmr]

I have a dedicated 4 camera+DVR system from Lorex. Similar to this system. $150 on sale. Many here will poo poo the video quality, but the deterrent factor has worked ever since we installed it. Kids in the neighborhood were throwing rocks at the house, and after the cameras went up, with sign in the window (Smile, you're on Candid Camera!), it has stopped completely. (Yes, we talked to parents, etc...didn't work. Telling the kids "I can see you, always" did work.)

Motion detection, so-so IR, FTP, email, web server remote access (ActiveX...grrr), screeching alarm if signal is lost from any of the cameras. Quality is good enough that, on vacation last year, I was able to call my daughter and ask her why she hadn't fed the cat yet.

The box is small enough that a burglar won't find it quickly. And it runs some Linux variant, so hack away! The motion detection is tough to get right. Clouds, bushes, damn...all trigger it. But you can +- the sensitivity, and mask off certain zones.

Re:Defense in depth, physical security first alway

[Anonymous Coward]

Also, dig a 20' wide moat around your house and fill it with salt water and crocodiles

Next, fill your house with carbon monoxide and install claymore anti-personel mines at all entrances to your house (remember: FRONT TOWARD ENEMY)

Then hire some members of the Zetas Mexican drug gang to patrol outside your house with AK-47s night and day. Avoid hiring Bloods or Crips; lazy.

Now, and this is the most important part, join the Marines and move on base with your wife. You should be safe now, surrounded by several hundred armed Marines at all times.

Debian + motion + wput

[Kangburra]

I know this is coming late but a standard Debian install with motion and wput installled uses any USB webcamera to record video on motion detection and the upload the best image (or images) to an FTP server. So you can get local video and also back up images offsite. It is so cheap you can have several of these working independently. I used this system to monitor landlord movement at my last place and got most of the place covered with a laptop and a netbook.

Dogs with lasers

[docilespelunker]

Whether the dog attacks or just wags it's tail, let the laser do the hard work.

Split solution

[Darth_brooks]

My experience is mostly with the cameras. I've got a home "peek in" setup using cheap trendnet cameras. They've got some nice upside. The mjpeg image stream is easy to break out and put into a quick HTML page, they're cheap, they're reasonably reliable. The downsides are they're activex heavy for things like motion capture, and they're only 640 x 480. The overall trend with netcams seems to be cheap = 640 x 480, if you want megapixel, you're going to have to overpay.

In my setups, i completely ignore the prepackaged multi-camera monitoring software. It's crap from trendnet, and it's crap from most anyone else. I've tried Zoneminder, but it didn't like my cameras or the low horsepower box i gave it to run on. YMMV. For me, I say break out the java / whatever applet with a little HTML copy and paste and roll your own look-in. For monitoring I do scheduled records and motion triggered FTP uploads. Any NAS you buy will have an FTP server, and you can put the NAS wherever you want. One nice thing with the netcams is that you can usually turn the status LED on or off manually. Some of my cameras are off, but the ones covering entry points I make sure to leave on and blinking. I figure your eyes are drawn to light and motion. Someone sees the light, then sees camera and decides "mmmmmaybe the house next door is a better option....."

For the "real" security system, just buy one. It's easier to explain to your homeowners insurance, and you really have to balance out the whole "your time and effort vs. paying for a service" metric. You can roll your own, but the over the counter solutions and monitoring with a name brand can trump the solution you put together. There's nothing that says you *have* to buy their camera system, or put *their* monitors on all of your doors.

For your stuff (computer related anyway), PREY is the bomb. Easy to install, configure, runs on any desktop or most any handheld OS, and it's FOSS.

But at the end of the day, your stuff's still gone. Sorry. Your security system, at best, might help catch the assholes before they hit someone else. The MO, In our neighborhood anyway, seems to be that a couple guys come in from out of town. They stay with friends for a month or so, and stake out neighborhoods. They hit a few houses in a couple different neighborhoods over a couple weeks then *poof*. Back from whence they came, ready to fence stuff a couple hundred miles away that's already fallen off the local cops radar.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[Relayman]

In Cincinnati, be sure to register your "monitored" alarm system with the False Alarm Reduction Unit. If you don't register, the first false alarm will cost you $100 and subsequent false alarms will be $800 each.

After you register, here are the fees for false alarms in a 365-day period:
1st and 2nd none
3rd $50.00 Fee may be waived if user attends an Alarm User Awareness School offered by the Cincinnati Law Department
4th $75.00
5th $100.00
6th $150.00
7th $200.00
8th $300.00
9th $400.00
10th $500.00
11th or more $800.00 each occurence. No, this is too complicated for me to make up: False Alarm Unit Registration

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[LifesABeach]

I've always perferred using a Resuce Panther.

Re:Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey s

[Anonymous Coward]

Because google is your friend

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=logitech+surveilance

Logitech Alert. Their only line of video security cameras.
The original post was sloppy, I agree.

Re:Gun?

[rahvin112]

It depends on the state but IIRC 32 states allow you to kill and intruder in your home. There are even a few like Texas that allow you to kill a trespasser. Threatening to kill someone in your house is not making death threats under the legal definition of such if your state has "Castle" laws that allow you to kill an intruder (doesn't matter if they are armed or their intent).

Re:Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey s

[Anonymous Coward]

As an added bonus:
Here's a frame of the video captured from two of the robberies that happened just recently:
* http://www.tv2.no/nyheter/innenriks/krim/her-knivranes-oslokiosken-3683472.html

* http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10079532

Camera recorded to it's own SD card, transmitted it to PC by itself as well as to an online repository.
All cameras are available, if we want to, through a nice Logitech created camera-portal.

One of the robbers were arrested as a result of this video.

This guy used a supersoaker

[bugs2squash]

but I bet you could adapt it...

Outrunning the bear

[linuxwrangler]

There is an old joke about campers hearing a bear outside a tent. One starts to put on his shoes and the other says, "don't be stupid, you can't outrun a bear." whereupon he replies, "I don't need to outrun the bear. I just need to outrun *you*."

Security is much the same. A friend bought a house. Upgraded the locks and alarm after a minor burglary. Next time, the burglars backed a pickup across the front lawn and smashed through the French doors, threw in the CD collection, stereo and other valuables and took off. They were probably long gone before any police dispatch would have gone out. You can't do a lot about that but you can make your house less inviting than those around you.

Trail cameras are relatively easy to set up but you do need to remember to change batteries, clear memory cards and such. Reconyx has some security models that will automatically overwrite the oldest photos but you still have to supply power. And no trail camera will be of use if it is stolen so get a security case as well. Reconyx is pretty pricey. I've left a cheaper Bushnell out front to at least see who is on my porch when away. Over the holidays there was a spate of thefts of packages left on the porch by UPSEx so I figured it couldn't hurt.

You can use a motion detecting camera like one of the many Axis models and set it up to automatically send pictures off-site.

Unless you spend $$$$, you are likely to be fairly unhappy with the quality of the photos - especially in low-light - but they are better than none at all.

Much better, however, to close the barn door rather than just having photos of the cows leaving. Your local PD is usually happy to offer a security assessment. Avoid some of the rookie-mistakes. I complained a few times to my wife about leaving purse-like things or keys in sight in the car. She wasn't worried since they weren't important keys and the purse didn't have valuables. She changed her practices when I pointed out that the thief will only discover that fact *after* smashing the window. Another rookie mistake is leaving garage-door openers in outside-parked cars. That's usually an easy way into the house. Once in the house, are your car-keys in plain sight or an obvious place? Then how nice of you to provide transport for your goods.

Make sure your doors close well, have decent deadbolts, your windows latch securely, your landscaping doesn't offer easy places to hide. Even fake security or video signs can be enough to send a burglar to another house.

Some people worry about getting the best pick-resistant locks. While you don't want one that is trivial to open with a bump-key, much more than that is overkill. Few burglars know anything about picking locks - they are looking for some quick cash to feed their addiction so they are more likely to go through the open window or unlocked door.

Finally, at the risk of making you more paranoid, some burglars like to return a couple months after the original crime. By then, your insurance has paid off and you have lots of shiny new stuff for them to steal.

dropcam

[saleenS281]

Hosted in the cloud to boot: https://www.dropcam.com/

Get a 24/7 security *and* cameras

[tftp]

The problem with cameras alone is that you can only document the theft. This is trivially defeated by thieves wearing face masks, bandannas or just hoodies (which they love to do anyway.) The police will not be able to use your images unless they are clear enough.

Other people already advised you to get a service from ADT or others. This will be better because this service is on duty 24/7. Once the thieves enter they will be greeted with a loud beep, and a siren within 30-45 seconds. Yes, they can say "whatever, we still have three minutes" - but that's not much and is fraught with danger. This can be also connected with your insurance; if known items are taken from a house that is protected with a security system the insurance company won't have too many options besides paying up.

If you don't want to pay ADT you still should buy a security kit and install it. You can use a wireless one for simpler installation. My house is wired for that and I'm using a DSC control panel (I am the installer and have all the codes.) The system can actually be programmed to dial your cell phone - there are many configuration options. This will specifically tell you what happened, what zones are triggered, and so on.

You still can have video cameras - I have a few - but they can't be your sole source of intrusion events. They are actually pretty bad at that. Cameras can be defeated, but more often than not they don't deliver all on their own. Outdoor motion detection is mechanistic; a slow motion will be missed, but a swaying branch will cause false alarms. Opening of a door, or an indoor motion detected with a PIR sensor, will be far more reliable.

To summarize, I recommend installing a proper security system at your home and augmenting it with cameras. This will both deter the intruders and capture their faces for possible complaints to the police. If your house allows, install a perimeter monitoring - there are many relatively inexpensive modules that will plug into your security system, into an early warning zone. Put an external PTZ camera (maybe a dummy one) on a scanning pattern so that the thieves can see it.

If you make the house look like it is well protected then most thieves will simply look elsewhere. This is the best you can do, short of hiring armed guards. Your own guns will only serve to protect you; and if you ever have to shoot an intruder you may find that not all DAs approve culling of the herd of criminals.

Training for the gun and dog.

[azenpunk]

Now that you have the gun and the dog you really should get some training for both. You and your wife need training with the firearm, even if said training is only practice at a firing range, so you can be familiar with it that you can use it in a tense situation. The shot groupings you get at the range will double in size when you are under pressure, that means if your shot pattern is as wide as the silhouette target at the range, a significant portion of your shots will miss. If you have a pistol look at glaser safety slugs, they will not penetrate your drywall and endanger your neighbors. If you have a shotgun, even better. If you have reason to feel that your life is threatened, you have at that point a moral and legal right to kill an intruder if that is the only apparent way to end the confrontation. Of course, if you do not believe you could ever pull the trigger (a opinion one really can't form until they have given it much thought and used the weapon several times, at a range of course) then sell the firearm, it will only be a liability and a danger to you, although many burglaries have been averted by the simple sound of a shotgun pump sliding back and forth.

Also remember that the gun is only useful if you are home to wield it. If someone breaks in while you are away, you may be held criminally liable for allowing it to be stolen, depending on where you live.

The dog also needs to be trained so that it cannot be distracted by any treats that an intruder might present, and instead attack when necessary.

I would also carry a folding knife with me in case I should come home early and meet an intruder, in such a scenario, don't brandish the weapon in an attempt to dissuade someone. An intruder may be a career criminal and much more used to violence than you are. If you have to use a knife, have it ready but as hidden in your hand as you can make it.

Now of course all of this only applies to an actual confrontation. If there are no children to protect it is best to avoid any such confrontation.

Good luck, I sincerely hope a camera and a call the the police are all it takes to stop whoever it is from trespassing in your home while you are away.

Sorry I don't have advice on the camera set up.

Logitech Alert

[Anonymous Coward]

Logitech has a system that I purchased for my home: Logitech Alert.

You didn't specify exactly what you meant by "cheap," but you can get a full six-camera system (the max # of cameras it will support) for around $1,000.

720p cameras, motion detection, video stored on SD cards in each camera and copied to your PC, remote access, email alerts... It's got pretty much everything.

The best part is how ridiculously easy it is to set up. The system uses your home's electrical wiring to communicate between the cameras and the base system, so you literally just plug everything in and you're up and running. I was shocked at how easy it was to set up.

Here's some sample video from the camera on my front porch (which, by the way, I exported from their software to YouTube in just one or two clicks).

Re:Gun?

[azenpunk]

Even if the gun is not registered to an owner, the serial number is tied to the sale from the licensed dealer. Also, if a state does not require purchased handguns to be registered, they may require registration if you move into the state and are then "importing" the handguns.

Agree.

[PeanutButterBreath]

Been there. I suspect that most burglaries are crimes of opportunity, so a few reasonable precautions will buy you most of the deterrence that you will achieve with even the most extreme measures. Buying a gun and wiring your house for surveillance is a double edge sword -- you feel more secure, but you are also constantly reminded to feel threatened.

Logitech Alert

[H0NGK0NGPH00EY]

Logitech has a system that I purchased for my home: Logitech Alert.

You didn't specify exactly what you meant by "cheap," but you can get a full six-camera system (the max # of cameras it will support) for around $1,000.

720p cameras, motion detection, video stored on SD cards in each camera and copied to your PC, remote access, email alerts... It's got pretty much everything.

The best part is how ridiculously easy it is to set up. The system uses your home's electrical wiring to communicate between the cameras and the base system, so you literally just plug everything in and you're up and running. I was shocked at how easy it was to set up.

Here's some sample video from the camera on my front porch (which, by the way, I exported from their software to YouTube in just one or two clicks).

This is what I have and it emails me too.

[horeton]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16881102057&
Buy extra licenses on Amazon, and use yawcam too.

-b

Re:This is what I have and it emails me too.

[horeton]

Synology, synology, synology and it will serve your files too.

Re:IP camera

[Stephenmg]

I love Axis cameras. You get what your paying for, but I really suggest using some sort of capture software because internal storage is very limited. We have 100+ Axis cameras that are over 12 years old (anyone want to buy us some new ones, you may get a tax break?) so they last.

Re:Don't be a sucker

[icebike]

Not true. Plenty of options for self-monitored systems. If you want a hard-wired system and have a land-line, you can get setup for about $400. Video would of course cost more, but I've seen systems through costco than can be setup for a few hundred. For under a grand you could be setup.

Exactly right.
Google will find many such systems, some with night vision, many of them with wireless cameras which go a long way toward reducing installation costs, and allowing you to hide the recorder without a lot of wires running to it, making it harder to find and steal.

Lots of these also have text messaging or email alert systems and some even have remote monitoring that you can access from any web browser (including your phone).

Monthly services have such a high false alarm rate that police are starting to charge big money. Nobody will watch your home like you yourself. And you will learn to adjust it so false alarms are minimized. If you have a 24/7 internet connection a live monitoring feature can save you from panicing every time a neighbor's kid kicks a ball over the fence.

Which insurance company do you have?

[Anne_Nonymous]

So I can avoid them.

Re:Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey s

[unixhero]

Interesting, are there any particular or specific setups, model numbers etc that we look into?

http://www.newegg.com/Store/BrandSubCategory.aspx?Brand=1080&SubCategory=521&name=Surveillance-Cameras

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[cusco]

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.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[schitso]

My career is in security, actually. My point was that most burglars will high tail it the hell out of a house when the alarm goes off, thinking the police are already on their way. Even those that actually know what they're doing have no way of knowing whether or not you're monitored. A sticker on your keypad with a number to call in case of false alarms will only increase their perceived risk of staying longer.

Additionally, while many companies do indeed offer "free" systems in exchange for long-term monitoring contracts, with how many of them do you actually own the equipment? You can spend <$1000 on a Lynx Plus and own it for the rest of your life, moving it with you from household to household.

Regarding CCTV, as others have pointed out, there are a million and a half analog CCTV camera manufacturers, many for <$100 per camera. Though the quality/lifetime of them will more than likely suck, they are still available. Throw that in with a ZoneMinder or a cheap DVR and you can most certainly have CCTV for

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[ozmanjusri]

If they're looking to catch the daytime lurker (and likely robber), I'd imagine you'd want it to be silent.

I use MythTV as a PVR, so adding MythZoneMinder and a few IPCams was pretty simple. It sends me a text message when one of the zones is breached, and I can look at the images or the live feed from my phone or work computer. One of the cameras is a PTZ, and the only time I got to use it in anger, turning it to face the kids who were about to tag my mailbox got them to change their minds. If something's happening that really concerns me, I can call the police direct or ask one or several of my neighbours to help out.

Big dogs

[Cute Fuzzy Bunny]

preferably landing on your face.

AutoCannons

[Phoenix666]

Motion sensors, a laser sight, and servos attached to the gun along with an intimidating voice requesting authorization to shoot ought to do the trick.

An alarm doesn't get your stuff back.

[couchslug]

There was once a company which sold tear gas projectors for home use.
I've not been able to locate them, but an alternative would be as good.

Orange smoke grenades are freely available (though not the sort with pull rings and spoons, because their initiator is now Federally regulated!) and if fitted with an electric match (Google the term) could fill your house with orange smoke and chase off burglars.

I suggest orange because no normal fire produces orange smoke.

Re:Linux box + decent USB Camera + motion

[element-o.p.]

Supposedly, motion also works with IP cameras, but I haven't tried it. If so, then you can get away with the whole "1 usb cables' length from the camera" requirement. Since you don't want your video record to be stolen while the thief is in your house, you might consider using a virtual server on some hosting provider's service, but considering how much data motion captures, that might not fit the "cheap" aspect of the submitter's specifications.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[djhertz]

Very nice. I got a good laugh.

Let me know when you get new stuff...

[Call Me Black Cloud]

...I'll be by to take it because you don't seem very bright.

You announce on Twitter when you leave your house ("Off to IKEA!"), you're too cheap to pay for ADT (or even ADT signs and stickers), yet you don't mind paying for equipment so you can sit around and monitor your home.

Let me know when you get the webcams up and running...I'm sure you'll fail to change the default password. I'd rather use the webcams to see when you leave rather than following you on Twitter.

List of Security Recommendations

[stealthyburrito]

Prioritize at will:

DOORS & LOCKS
Many a crowbar has popped open front doors that are protected by a thin piece of wood (door jamb). A cheap upgrade would be adding a high security box strike with long screws. Look for MAG 747 High Security Box Strike model 747-C and stagger your screw pattern.

Install a perforated metal screen security door (a good one, not the cheap/thin aluminum kind). Titan Security doors.
Install a Don-Jo classic wrap around door reinforcer which fits on the door under the deadbolt and door knob to stop the door from splitting.

Secure your patio door with a pin-type lock, a key lock, or a steel rod inserted into the door channel.
Get high security locks for your doors from mfgs such as Sargent, ASSA, Medeco, Schlage Everest Primus. Ignore the Schlage/Kwikset stuff you find at hardware stores. You find good locks at a locksmith shop.

WINDOWS
Make sure all windows have a lock and a dowel rod.
Install security window film such as 3M Scotchshield Safety and Security Films or ShatterGARD. You may also qualify for a tax credit if you do so. Films are pricey ($9.50-$13.25/sq ft) but protect you from the smash & grab methods. Also gives you more time to protect yourself should you be home.

ALARM
Installing a do-it-yourself alarm system can be a great (and taxing) experience for first timers. Ademco (Honeywell) Vista 20P is a popular starting point. You can also get fancy with smartphone control of your alarm system over the internet, although I wouldn't recommend it. Check out www.homesecuritystore.com

You want EVERY door and window alarmed, even upstairs. Glass break sensors and motion sensors are good adds, although glass break detection is less effective if you install security film. You can also find a 3rd party security monitoring central station for much cheaper than ADT/Brinks. Look up Alarm Relay and make sure you install and subscribe to cellular backup. They also let you use cellular as the primary (and only) outbound service. Expect to pay $21/month for that (paid annually).

Wireless alarm systems are susceptible to wireless jamming and keyfob frequency theft (savvy thieves). Run wires if you can.

VIDEO CAMERAS
Cameras are cool and also serve a purpose, but you do have to define what you are after. If you merely want situational awareness over a large area, a low res system works fine (NTSC resolution, 640x480, etc.). If you plan on zooming in and cleaning up like the moves, prepare to be disappointed. If you want to identify faces and the camera is far away from your subject, you will need a megapixel generally. The problem is with megapixel cameras from places like Axis that cost $500+. Who wants to stick that expensive of a camera on the outside of a house?

Ubiquiti Networks just released their AirCam series which is a 720p 30 FPS fixed lens camera. The great thing is they are $90-$100 each which allows you to add a lot more video coverage for the money. The monitor software is free also and so far I'm liking it better than more pro pages (LuxRiot). AirCams will send an RTSP stream in various resolutions of your choosing, so you can play it with VLC, or embed into a web server.

Beware of low light expectations. Most cheap IP cameras will disappoint in low light (including AirCam). External lighting (halogen motion flood lights) serve a dual purpose to giving the camera enough light to pick up an image. Otherwise, you're looking at an IR-sensitive camera with a larger sensor (1/2" vs 1/4" CCD on the cheaper ones) and a mechanical IR-cut filter ($500-800 again).

SAFE
Your safe was stolen. I'm guessing it a) wasn't bolted down, b) wasn't heavy, c) wasn't really a true safe, but a small metal box with some fireproofing (which you can take an axe to). Check out Sturdy Safe which does 7 gauge and thicker all around the box. Get a dial lock so it isn't subject to power outages. Lots of upgrades available (4 gauge on the sides, etc.) A big safe (700+ lbs) will be much m

Re-purpose existing security system if you can

[Brit_in_the_USA]

I gave up on Brinks and re-purposed their security system.

Hint: unplug the brinks box from the phone line before you cancel their service incase they brick it on the next auto dial home.

Even with no service the keypads, sensors and sirens still work. And the "protected by brinks" signs still deter.

I wired some TI Launch Pads (or any cheap microprocessors board will do) into the control box in parallel with the motion and window sensor signal wires and the siren terminals, using suitable resistor dividers to allow monitoring. The TI boards are then polled for status 24-7 from the server a few feet away and i get email alerts with recent event log files if siren goes off so I can work out if it is pet's or something worth worrying about.

Some cool additional features additional features are :
ping the (static router assigned) IP address of the dwellers cell phones ( wifi) to see who is home and/or scan for bluetooth MAC addresses in range.
Monitor basement temperature to warn if there is risk of freezing pipes if away on vacation.
Make a simple flood sensor and attach that the microprocessor board to get alerts if the boiler or pipes spring a leak.
Capture from network or USB webcams

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[drfreak]

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!

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[drfreak]

A dog and a gun is a good start, but they won't protect your property while you are out. Dogs can be disabled and guns only work when there is someone home to operate them. Even then, you basically need to shout out from your bedroom: "HANG ON, I'M GETTING MY GUN!" "ONE MORE MINUTE (damned the law which requires I keep my ammo separate!)... OK, FOUND THE CLIP. FULLY LOADED. I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE NOW."

DIY security apparati

[reybo]

http://tinyurl.com/cnvzt8h - read the reviews. Some of the products work.

S+W

[Alien Being]

Replace everything they stole and put the empty boxes out on the curb. Turn out the lights and duck down behind your new flatscreen. When the scumbags come in, blow their brains out with a big gun.

Then, take a picture of their blood and guts. Print the picture at 12x24 feet and put it on your roof.

Problem solved.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[reasterling]

and have a land-line

You do realize that the land lines connect outside the house. It is trivial to disconect the telephone service to a residence (and internet for people like me). Most thieves may be too uneducated to notice, but I would not invest in any security system that relied on something so easily disabled.

I work for a surveillance company.

[chr1st1anSoldier]

Motion activation is easy, just about any DVR does that, and it is crazy simple stupid how it is done. The DVR or the Camera(both can do motion detection) will keep a number of video frames in memory and compare a couple in a series and if too many pixels change between images the change will trigger a motion event. Super simple, and super effective to the point you can have anything like a cars lights driving by set it off. False positives will happen, but it is better to have a surveillance system than not have one at all.

I happen to work with Geovision and Avermedia. Of the two, Geovision has more features but Avermedia is the one that is simpler to use. Depending on how far away the cameras will be and what type of detail you are after will depend on the type of camera. If you suspect people coming on your property then you will want vandal resistant cameras. If you go analog then you will want to go 600 to 700 TV lines. The type of lens you need will depend on what you want to see. A lens that is 3.8mm will have around a 1:1 aspect ratio the higher the mm lens the closer the view and tighter the angle, the smaller the mm lens the smaller the aspect ration but the wider the angle. If you want some serious detail then you will want to look into IP cameras or into HD. While the IP camera will have only a slightly better image when looking at it in the DVR Software, the true beauty of the IP camera comes when you go to use digital zoom. The IP camera is a Megapixel camera, and the higher the Megapixel then higher the amount of information it will captuer, the higher the amount of information you capture then the closer you can zoom in on objects before the image will become pixilated. A 1.3Megapixel camera is comparable to a 700tvl camera, the 1.3 megapixel camera is a little better. However, when you go to IP cameras, because of the increase of recorded information per video still, your cost of storage space will dramatically increase. I believe a 1.3 or 2 mp camera will average 3+ gig/day. That number really is pulled out of a hat also, the amount of space really depends on how much motion the camera will see, the type of codec used for encoding, the FPS the camera records at, the MP of the camera. I have seen systems with IP cameras on them go through 6tb in a day or two.

If you go PC or standalone on the DVR will depend on how the alarm events are done (such as a door opening). For products such as Geovision you will need to get additional cards such as the GV-NET I/O and the GV I/O 12 IN card. If you go standalone, many have the RS-485 connections already there for the alarm events.

This is by far the most impotent piece of advice I am going to tell you:

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

If you buy cheap, you get cheap.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[reasterling]

HANG ON, I'M GETTING MY GUN!" "ONE MORE MINUTE (damned the law which requires I keep my ammo separate!)... OK, FOUND THE CLIP. FULLY LOADED. I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE NOW.

Simple answer: Move to Texas, or possibly Florida

Cloud Surveillance

[wangel]

You should check out: http://www.cloudsurveillance.com/ All the cameras do motion activation, email, whatever. They can configure it however.

Safe?

[Fnord666]

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),

I guess nobody mentioned that you're supposed to bolt the safe something solid like the floor.

Forget all the above.

[Zemran]

If they are going through your rubbish, they are not planning to enter your house again, they are going to use your identity to order a whole load of stuff on the internet and leave you with the bill. They can max out your credit cards in a day and all the goodies will be long gone before you even find out what they were. You have a real problem to deal with and cameras may look good in the occasional story where someone recognises the person but in the real world that will not happen. You will have a lovely photo of a guy that no one knows while you go bankrupt.

A trip wire and a shotgun

[Ralph Spoilsport]

works every time.

If you have a gun, you don't want a camera

[tlambert]

If you have a gun, you don't want a camera. I'm just saying.

-- Terry

Zoneminder

[trschober]

Zoneminder, some ip cameras (wired and/or wireless) and a bunch of infrared lamps for the night

Re:Avoid Dealextreme.com dx.com or whatever name n

[Xacid]

I've used them multiple times w/ no problem. The issue is that shipping takes quite a while so it might be just impatient folks filing reports (3-6 weeks).

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[houstonbofh]

Depends on who is doing the DIY and who is being paid.

A rottweiler works pretty well

[arglebargle_xiv]

Or a doberman. They're motion-activated, will notify you of entry, etc etc.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[AlienIntelligence]

HANG ON, I'M GETTING MY GUN!" "ONE MORE MINUTE (damned the law which requires I keep my ammo separate!)... OK, FOUND THE CLIP. FULLY LOADED. I SUGGEST YOU LEAVE NOW.

Simple answer: Move to Texas, or possibly Florida

And Arizona!

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[black6host]

Regarding CCTV, as others have pointed out, there are a million and a half analog CCTV camera manufacturers, many for

Hmmm, somebody must have stolen his computer mid sentence.....

Useful advice for all?

[uvajed_ekil]

One thing that immediately jumped out at me from this post: the safe. Do not rely on a home safe to protect your valuables or important documents. A fire-resistant box is not a bad idea, but the affordable ones are not able to stand up to a fire that burns your house to the ground. And if it doesn't weigh at least 300 pounds, count on it being stolen if thieves loot your home. I'm sure they absolutely love to find Walmart safes, since they know there is likely to be something good in them, and they can simply carry them away to destroy them at their leisure later on. Safe deposit boxes at banks are much, much safer for valuables you don't need to have readily accessible, and are highly under-utilized, IMHO. (No, I don't run a bank or own stock in one.)

To deter break-ins, the cheapest effective thing to do would be to steal a Brinks security sign from the guy around the corner, and perhaps place a couple of faux security cameras in conspicuous places. Nothing, whether video surveilance or a monitored security system, is a guarantee, unfortunately. I saw some professional burglars interviewed in some documentary, and they said they didn't care what you had, since they didn't drive right up with their license plates in full view. Plus they were always in and out in a matter of three to five minutes, or well before the local constabulary could even be dispatched. The one deterrent that works? Dogs. Some dogs are tolerant of strangers, some are too tiny to be a threat, but the thieves I saw all said they will move on to another target if they see any sign of a dog. To them, the presence of a dog means uncertainty, and that a house is not worth bothering with, since there are plenty without dogs.

Get A Dog

[PotatoHead]

Maybe two.

You will love them, they will love you, and the right breed with a little training won't love the people you don't love.

I prefer labs actually. Chocolate and Yellow are my favorites, but the breed over all is a great family / watch dog type breed. There are others, and they vary.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[cayenne8]

I'm surprised one of the first things not to be mentioned so far, is the old open source standby ZoneMinder .

I've long wanted to put one of those systems together....looks to be pretty well supported, and works with a pretty large amount of equipment...

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[cayenne8]

Oops....geez, I read your post, saw Mythtv...and completely missed your mention of zoneminder...

D'oh....!!!

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[kidgenius]

Well, I only left that off due to monetary reasons. A GSM add-on can be had, but that's an additional $300.

A dog? Seriously?

[n8r0n]

The predictability of human emotion overriding reason is frustrating in the masses, but it's tragic among people (Slashdotters) that should know better. I totally get why dogs are man's best friend. But, it's utterly ridiculous how that status has translated into people thinking that dogs are even vaguely intelligent creatures, or useful for things like home security.

Dogs are stupid. Really, they're stupid. If you rely on a dog as any significant part of your security system, you're not much better. The principal by which dogs are supposed to be good for security is largely the same as that which is supposed to make car alarms work (making noise). Because car alarms are not companions, and therefore people don't have emotional reasons to be irrational about them, people have now largely accepted the reality that car alarms don't do much to stop car thefts.

Dogs also shouldn't even be part of a discussion about cheap security systems. Dogs cost thousands of dollars over their lifetimes, and the bigger they are, the more they cost. And for those people who respond to my previous paragraph by asserting that dogs' purpose is also to attack the thieves, now you're talking about something (training attack dogs), that's not cheap, not easy, and not DIY for average Joes.

Guns aren't that much better. Criminals generally aren't going to know about your gun until they've already broken in (and found you home). Maybe guns would be a deterrent against the same criminals, or one of their friends, robbing you a second time, after robbing you once and finding you at home to show them your gun. But, mostly, the idea that guns prevent burglaries is more fantasy, just like the dog mythology.

Just having cameras is probably a good deterrent

[dn15]

I am not a security expert...
I've never been broken into, but for peace of mind and the geek factor, I wanted to have cameras at my house. I got a cheapo Zmodo kit from woot and set it up so the path to all the doors and windows can be seen by at least one camera. That, plus window stickers advertising video surveillance, make a pretty good deterrent. I don't have any items that would make my house a target compared to neighbors, so hopefully a would-be smash-and-grab thief would move along to a place that doesn't have a camera recording them smashing in the front door.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[smellsofbikes]

and have a land-line

You do realize that the land lines connect outside the house. It is trivial to disconect the telephone service to a residence (and internet for people like me). Most thieves may be too uneducated to notice, but I would not invest in any security system that relied on something so easily disabled.

FWIW the burglar alarm system I had installed on my previous house, ten years ago, had a cellphone integrated into it that checked for dialtone on the landline, and if it lost that, it sent out a call to that effect, meaning the people with whom I had the contract then tried to contact me on my cellphone to see what was happening. At that point, they claimed that every system worth installing had a wireless callout.

I'm sorry this happened to you

[inmembr]

A home break in can really shake really your feelings of safety. As surprising as it sounds, the best advice is to not over react. I added metal bars to my doors and windows and cinderblocked up a basement window. This was much to the detriment of the aesthetic value of my house. It sounds likely your doing the right thing by weighing your options.

An informal, non-scientific poll that I also cannot find the reference for said the #1 deterrent for petty thieves was a dog and the #2 deterrent was the idea that the owner had a gun. I agree with all of the above comments that state that you should learn how to shoot and keep your gun safe. The most likely person to be shot with your gun is you or your family, and it's important to mitigate that risk.

Check with your local police and fire in regards to home monitoring. In Philadelphia, the police won't respond to a monitoring service unless the alarm is "validated" by a third party. The big guys here, ADT and comcast both hire private security companies to validate a break in or fire. That means it takes > 25 minutes before the police are even contacted.

Depending on your comfort level you can install either a wired/wireless home voltage system with IP self-monitoring with Android/Iphone/PC connectivity. If the alarm is tripped a loud siren sounds and you immediately get a text, email, call, whatever. Here's the home IP self-monitoring system I use: http://eyez-on.com./ The device costs around 100 dollars, and there are no additional charges. The more sophisticated options can be a little pricey.

You can also set and disarm your alarm and program the alarm from a PC or smartphone, which is super useful. Most of the IP monitoring devices also support outputing a feed to a central monitoring company. Since you own the hardware, the monitoring is around 10 dollars a month instead of 50, and you're not locked into a contract and can easily change providers. Most IP options also integrate reasonably well with your web cams.

DSC, GE, Honeywell, and Elk all make easy DIY kits that include most of what you'll need. Prices range from 80 to > 700 dollars. I'd advise getting a normal wired main panel and then spending the extra 40 bucks for a wireless keypad so you can run as few wires as possible but still have a fairly reliable system. I spent around 350 for the kit and ip monitoring device for a 2300 sqr foot home. I purchased DSC equipment (it's the least expensive and most widely compatible), and used http://homesecuritystore.com/ and http://safemart.com/ both seem like decent vendors in my experience

As far as web cams, I have 2 D-Link DCS-932L cameras. One in a weatherproof box at my front door and one which sees my entire ground floor. I initially had 2 generations of Linksys cams, but their wireless connection was spotty. No issues thus far with the D-Links (3+ months)

If my alarm goes off, myself, my wife, my father, and a trustworthy friend all get monitoring alerts and the webcam feed. Any of us can call the police and report a true alarm based on the live camera feed.

Again, I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope your feeling of safety in your home hasn't been completely shaken. Take any reasonable step to make yourself and your sig other feel safe in your home, but do your best not to over-react.

Another vote for zoneminder

[jbov]

I've used both Zoneminder and Bluecherry DVR v2 with analog and network cameras.

Re:Zoneminder sucks

[lanner]

About two years ago I bought a new home and started looking for ways to set up an IP camera system. I had an old Axis IP camera and started to use that to test Zoneminder with.

Zoneminder appeared to be just about the only open-source linux-based solution out there. Unfortunately, Zoneminder is really not a great product. I wish it was.

Occasionally, the zm process would just start leaking memory until everything was consumed and the kernel killed it.

Configuration options are very complicated, and they make an effort to be generic with their camera support, but in turn, the support for ALL cameras is generic. Much customization and configuration was required for even basic operation.

Terminology and the user interface was very confusing, and the documentation was not a huge help.

Finally, the Debian package, which I tried to use at first, was something like six months out of date when I first started. Then, after they finally updated it, the update completely broke my system and I had to ditch it and start over with the raw project tarball.

I just gave up. I am in the process of moving again and I will probably look for some commercial solution next time, because Zoneminder just didn't work.

Re:Zoneminder sucks

[lanner]

Oh yea, one more thing.

I had a huge problem: false positives. How do you keep the system from sending out notifications when you are home and it's you on camera? Well, zoneminder has no way to easily turn that on/off. There is a switch on the main user interface that does it, but I'm not going to break out my web browser every night when I go to sleep or when I go to work. There is no concept of "operating hours" for when notification should and should not be sent.

Hydra Control Freak

[hcfreak]

We have just launched a brand new low cost product called Hydra Control Freak. After persistent troubles over a few years in and around my property my home evolved system was getting pretty good and I decided it would be great to commercialise it. It's not well known yet as the first production run was finished just before Christmas and we are not a large company. Our focus is on proactive early warning video alerting and then flexible real world responses initiated from your smart phone. The idea is that several sensors placed around your property alert you via SMS (Or E-mail if you refer) with links allowing you to see video of what triggered the sensor (It records before the trigger event to ensure this) and provides for very flexible real world response from smart phone buttons.

We aim to provide extremely fast alert verification (A few seconds of the breaching of a sensor you will already be viewing the video stream [MJPG or a Pseudo MJPG stream for Android and other phones]) and your real world response can be very flexible as we support a flexible range of third party output devices. Currently, we support Phidget 4, 8 and 16 port I/O devices for input and output events and responses as well as the cm15a X10 Controller. We aim to support the RFXCOM transceiver shortly as well which will add support to a wide range of home automation products. For sensor input it's best to use quality professional PIRs. For Europe we support a quality sensor from an Italian company called CST Europa that breaks out it's wireless sensors (Multi tech PIR, Microwave, PIR, curtain and door sensors) into a relay box which you can then wire into the Phidget inputs. These have a great range. If you have enough repeaters you can get some milage out of X10 PIRs such as MS13 as well, but their range is not great. Or you can wire in sensors, this gives you a lot of choice, such as PIRs, trip beams etc. By triggering both home automation devices as well as custom I/O you can do things such as trip flood lights and set off alarms before the intruder has entered your home.

Everything about our device is about flexibility and interoperability. You can create pages of custom buttons and then link up those buttons to any manner of events by the gui driven event processor. Some of the output events can be used to add "state" then affects whether other events can fire or not. This state can also have a time to live so you can create actions that must happen without periods of time. In this way for example by using two PIRs you can easily make an alert that triggers on incoming movement (Approximately) but not out going. You would make the one sensor add some state with a short time to live, that like a firewall allows you to walk past the second sensor without triggering the alert. The other way around would immediately send the alert. That sort of thing is easy to do with HCF

Clustering and video slices : Each device can record approx 3-4 video streams depending on the resolution but they can communicate with each other regarding events recording across multiple devices but registering to the same event to the millisecond. There is a view builder page that allows you to build up views or slices across your freaks that line up events that relate to the same trigger. This is automatic, you add the credentials and details of the other freaks in your cluster and when you build your view it queries the cluster partners to see what cameras it has available and alters the selection gui so you can choose between multiple freaks for your current view (Which can also restrict time of day range and event names).

Full HTTPS: The devices comes with a gui-driven trust manager that supports the generation of self signed certificates or the importing of CA signed certificate chains.

WebM: I think ours is the first security device that supports the open WebM format. Please contact me if you know of another, I've not seen one yet.

Scheduled events: You can setup flexible daily events with the same level of flexibility on what the

Re:Hydra Control Freak

[hcfreak]

I've added some screen shots now

http://www.hydracontrolfreak.com/shop/web/screenshots

Re:Gun?

[Pieroxy]

I need to live in that those states

You'll probably need to learn proper English first.

Re:Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey s

[Mana Mana]

> robberies of our stores

As, if you had witnesses you wouldn't need cameras methinks I'll say this:

You rob at gunpoint.
You burgle an empty shop.

A common mislabeling.

Look no further

[hackertourist]

Militarizing Your Backyard With Python and AI

Bonus points if you expand the system to include a giant boulder.

Another idiot

[__aancvu2993]

You have a gun and a dog. A gun I don't care about because you can't use it in Europe. About the dog, congratulations little bastard, now you have a son of a bitch barking dog that annoys the whole neighborhood because it misses you, or is bored, or scared. I'd love to live in your fucking neighborhood.

I'll tell you how easy it is to neutralize a dog. I like to take walks. With a pepper spray. Where I live there are lots of walled places with the corresponding loud, loose dog that loves barking at people. So macho. So safe, isn't it. The funny thing is they bark at me like mad from behind the fence; the fence works both ways, isn't it wonderful? An inch away is just as good as a mile away. Now the barking can be fixed: An application of the pepper spray one inch from their eyes and nose is so easy and painless (for me, anyway). The stupid beast then backs away instantly, stops barking and looks at me with a puzzled look, half fear, half shock and the last half disappointment. It looks like it's asking me 'why, why did you do this to me? I'm just doing my job. Why are you not running away scared and disgusted?'. It's priceless. They cannot decide what to do next: run away, timidly begin barking again, or tend to their itchy eyes and nose. I then humiliate them further. I put my hand through the bars, so they see the spray. They feel the urge to chase that adventurous hand away from their domain, the place they must protect, but somehow their will is rendered powerless and they cannot move. It's interesting to look at what goes through their little minds: they look away, hoping I'm not there when they look back at me again, they look back briefly as if asking for reassurance from the owner, but the owner is not there. Then back at me again, not daring to cover that two meters from the fence, not daring to chase the intruder away. Then they learn. Some of the bigger ones sit down and take their time sneezing away. They occasionally look at me imploring me to go away, to stop whatever it is that I'm doing to them. I walk away in wonderful silence. Very rarely they come again to bark at me some other day. So much for your dog, idiot. After some weeks the owner may think 'Hmm Sergeant might be getting a little old, when did he start to like his shack so much? He wanders around the wifey's part of the garden smelling the lillies and the roses, wtf, his aggresive, obnoxious, endless barking used to remind me of my long-lost potency and reassure me that I was safe in my home while watching games in my 797 inch TV. Hmm maybe it's time to dump this sissy of a dog and get a BadAss(TM) new one. I'll be humane and take it to my mother's house, she needs one anyway. Hell yeah'.

Re:Another idiot

[__aancvu2993]

Comments from the third world are interesting in the way it's interesting to watch an extinct animal in a museum.

two options..

[pakar]

Option 1 : Get a PC and install something like http://www.zoneminder.com/

Option 2 : Even cheaper, since no pc would be needed, would be to buy a number of openwrt-capable routers, plugin a USB camera of whatever brand you want. Run something like http://www.lavrsen.dk/foswiki/bin/view/Motion/WebHome on each of them and store images on USB sticks or have them upload the stuff to a remote server..

Problem with option 1 is that the pc itself would probably be stolen if someone broke in.
Option 2 would allow you to hide each router much easier and have images synced between them or uploaded to a remote server.... Also it would not require you to draw network cables for each station but you could just setup a mesh network directly from openwrt. It would also allow for using cheaper USB based cameras instead of expensive network-based cameras..

CHDK custom firmware for Canon digital cameras

[mariushm]

CHDK (link to their wikia page) is a custom firmware for a large number of Canon Powershot cameras that can be loaded from the card (and doesn't mess with the original camera firmware) and gives you a lot more features.

For example, after the firmware is loaded you can configure the camera to check for motion and snap pictures whenever there's a certain degree of motion in the frame.

It also gives you the ability to change the video quality to a much better level than the built in presets (selected by Canon to give users a good ratio between battery consumption and record time) so if you take a digital camera and power it from a DC adapter and stick a 16-32 GB card inside, you might just make a HD surveillance camera.

You can shove such modified camera in a teddybear or a larger book and have it conspicuously recording anything moving inside your room.

 

more fundamental approach

[Max_W]

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Mathew 6:20 - 6:34

Asante Smartbot

[synesis]

I know this is not DIY, but I recently had this problem and it cost me $130 to solve it. I use the Asante Smartbot camera connected via WiFi. I easily set it up to email any suspicious activity to my GMail account. This is a WIndows solution (Gasp!)

Re:Asante Smartbot

[synesis]

Sorry, and Apple also.

Here's what I did

[guruevi]

- I have a Visonic SecureLinc 2 Wireless device. It's basically a DIY alarm system and it runs Linux, you can buy as many sensors and type of sensors as you want. It can send e-mails, place phone calls, send SMS, has a web interface, you can telnet into it etc. it's very easy to set up. It's also compatible with companies like Alarm Relay that monitor the Visonic for about $10/month.
- I have a couple of IP camera's with ZoneMinder. ZoneMinder is buggy and flaky if you want high definition feeds but once you've got your magic configuration where it stops crapping out you're golden. I also learned that b/w pictures are just as good as color and that many camera's will ignore most of the options sent to it.
- I have X10 modules which the Visonic activates that will turn on/off outside lights.

Cheap easy solution

[Krisofdth]

Dlink wireless web cam's - $75-$100 each Argus free or paid software.

Re:Gun?

[AlienIntelligence]

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 agree intrinsically.. but if you want to have a "real job", working for somone else,
they usually don't let you carry on premises. That means, either leave gun at home
or in car. In car is terrible... very good way for guns to get to criminals. And I'm not
one of those that are like... omg... a crook can get a gun... but in a car, not the best
idea. And once it's not on your person... it's not doing its job anymore.

FWIW, I do have a CCL and had to carry daily when I was doing courthouse auctions.

-AI

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[schitso]

Does it cut off there or something? It doesn't for me.

Re:Logitech delivers a surprisingly good turnkey s

[AlienIntelligence]

Interesting, are there any particular or specific setups, model numbers etc that we look into?

http://www.newegg.com/Store/BrandSubCategory.aspx?Brand=1080&SubCategory=521&name=Surveillance-Cameras

First camera I click on... $280 and doesn't list the resolution anywhere.
Must be from their sucker collection.

Lol.

-AI

Re:Another Solution

[AlienIntelligence]

goto ebay, type zmodo in the search box, choose between 4 cameras w/o (sata) hard disk for $160 (4 cameras, recorder, wires, power supply) to around $300 for 8 cameras, recorder with hard disk, wire and power supply

$40 cameras FTW!

Yes! I'm gonna protect THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF STUFF...
with a $40 camera.

Sigh, this is why I got out of the security biz. Cheap ass people.

-AI

Re:Cheap & Fast

[AlienIntelligence]

It won't be great, and you will end up sorting through a pile of false positives, but if cheap and fast are priorities, and good can wait this is how I would do it.

So, your solution is the "won't be great" option.

Nice... what's your address again?

-AI

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[charlieo88]

And for your vehicle, The Trunk Monkey

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[NateTech]

Who pays attention to separate ammo laws? Keep the ammo separate. You are a funny guy.

Safemart FTW!

[Joe U]

Safemart.com has tons of DIY kits, just pick one you like.

I bought the Simon a few years back, got some motion sensors, door sensors and put in a cellular link and they monitor thru alarm.com.

Even works with x10 sirens, never use x10 to monitor things though and never set external motion sensors to trigger the house alarm.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[stompro]

What makes you say that Blue Iris is free, is their website incorrect in stating that the LE version costs $30 and the full version costs $50? Or do you mean it is free for the 15 day trial period, which might be all the poster needs?

Re:Gun?

[RogerWilco]

Better plan: Place a honeypot "screamer" device that sends its GPS location every 30 seconds to a server that you control. Let the thief lead you to *his* lair.

And then? I don't think the police will see it as enough evidence to go raid the place. There was a case a while back with a stolen iPad that was tracked to a certain location, but it wasn't enough for the police because the accuracy isn't there in GPS to make sure you've got the right house.

CCTV is not sufficient

[maestroX]

Connect your door handles with a timer to the nearest power outlet.

are you s shill or something?

[SuperBanana]

If you want an extra sensor for something, they are happy to give it to you - but they will want to know why, and if they don't think it's needed, they'll try to talk you out of it. I had the feeling they actually cared about my interests, and not selling me more equipment.

That's because the more sensors you have, the more likely you are to have false alarms, need warranty service, etc.

They also have additional styles of sensors that the average joe doesn't care about (ones that you install in the door, rather than putting on the outside of the door - i.e. invisible)

You're joking, right? Doorjam sensors have been in popular use for decades. They're not popular among DIY'ers because you have to drill the door and doorjam (and get the alignment of both right), and it's not trivial to get the wiring there (ie a trained installer or electrician is needed.)

Re:are you s shill or something?

[BaverBud]

You emphasized my point - they aren't popular among DIY'ers. Average Joe installing his/her own system isn't going to want to drill the door and doorjam. I wasn't speaking in general, but in regard to the customers Frontpoint has, and the install-it-yourself process.

Keep thinking

[dcxdan]

Dogs are no good for security. They are very easily taken care of. Plus who ever pays attention when a dog barks and barks and barks. That gun..... you better be ready to use it, or it will be taken away from you and BANG..... you are dead!

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[cusco]

Oh? It's changed then. It was free a year or so ago. Axis Camera Station is free for use with a single Axis camera. Additional cameras have a cost, but I don't remember how much per channel.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[lsatenstein]

Checkout Cameras with wireless transmission, and with ability to have standby battery in the event of power failure. These devices are in the low 100 dollar range.

Too much and/or inappropriate light

[boley1]

You make a good point. Probably not a true story, but one I was told as true as a child:
    A family friend has an assortment of expensive and junk rod and reels hanging on the wall is his carport (an open garage facing the street typical in many subdivisions). Normally his house is completely dark, and in an area where everyone has a gun or two, quite foreboding. One night he forgets and leaves his carport light on. In the morning he finds his best rod and reel stolen with a note: "Thanks for leaving the light on, I was able to pick out one I really wanted."

Have youi considered bear traps?

[boddhisatva]

Snake pits, punji stakes, tar traps....no need to go high tech after millennia of innovative approaches.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[drfreak]

That sounds great, but what happens if your intruder finds one of your stashed guns? I think that was the reason for the law, but it totally deters from a good old-fashioned shoot-out!

Truth be told, I know many people who keep a gun handy around here with a fully loaded clip. For me, it is more to ensure the safety of my family so my step-daugher doesn't show up with some asshole one day and show him my guns and then he decides to fire off a few rounds. Of course I'm the only one with the gun key, but kids tends to find ways around such things as safe combinations... It only takes one day where you use the safe and forget to lock it.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[drfreak]

I like Oklahoma where you are allowed to shoot even the mail carrier for coming on your property.

Re:Don't be a tightwad

[LifesABeach]

All hail the Trunk Monkey!

Related "DIY" project

[samazon]

I was looking at projects that I could get my brother (big into physics, not so much programming) involved with, and http://sheepdogguides.com/arduino/ahttoc.htm has a "home alarm" system project guide. I found the alarm guide the first time I read through his page, but somehow have lost the link to it specifically - I leave it to someone who's not at work and has more time to dig out the gold nuggets here, but I promise that it's there. It's cheap but not fast, so it's not a solution, but it's interesting nonetheless.