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Ask Slashdot: Inexpensive SOHO Crime Deterrence and Monitoring?
First time accepted submitter trellz writes "My sister and brother-in-law are self employed, and run a small business with a storefront. It was broken into about a year ago, and since then they have reinforced physical security; bars on the doors and windows, better locks, etc. Unfortunately, their store was broken into and vandalized again last week, in spite of the added security measures. Being technically savvy, I'm trying to come up with inexpensive ways to add deterrence, monitoring, and alerting to their business. They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin, so the solution needs to be almost free. They do have an internet connection at the store, so motion detection, web cameras, Arduino devices, and the like are certainly an option. Ideally I would like a rock-solid alerting method. Something like an email or text to a laptop at home, or a dedicated prepaid phone, but without the pitfalls of such a solution (i.e. random wrong numbers, solicitors, email spam, etc). I'd also prefer not to poke holes in their firewall at the shop if at all possible. I was considering an email with some sort of long code or hash in the body, and then could white list that on the receiving end to key off of. The goal is to never have a false alarm based on the transmission/reception method." What advice, beyond ZoneMinder?
Dogs work well. But, housing and caring for dogs in a downtown business district can create a lot of headaches, too. Not to mention, that well trained security dogs are expensive, and poorly trained dogs are a liability. Be prepared to spend not less than twelve hours per week with a pair of dogs - time that many businessmen don't have.
In short, I wouldn't recommend dogs to anyone who didn't
A: think of it themselves
B: actually likes dogs (preferably loves dogs)
C: have a close by exercise yard
D: have plenty of time to work with the dogs
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
My friend, you just suggested a shotgun trap, which is illegal. Like premeditated-homicide illegal. Sure, the criminals were breaking into the store, but the difference between a trap pulling the trigger and a human is all it takes for the store owner to go to jail.