For those of you who don't have a burglar alarm...

stats in notts show that of the 1900 or so burglarys last year, only 16 of them were on houses that had an alarm fitted.

makes you think,,,

andy c!

but do you not think a burgular alarm advertises the fact that you have something worth protecting?

Regards


NB

Two identical cars in the street - one alarmed, one unalarmed. Which one gets broken into?

Houses are exactly the same.

Unless you have contents which are known by others to be of significant value you're unlikely to be the target of a 'professional' burglar, and if he does decide to have a pop at your place there is little you can do to stop him getting what he's after.

The opportunist thief will almost always go for your neighbour's house if you have an alarm and he doesn't.

The above only applies to everywhere else - around Manchester now they'll ring your doorbell and when you answer it smash yer face in and come in and take what they want anyway. Bastards.

Maybe a dobermann with PMT is the answer.

Oh I forgot, I'm married to one - that's me safe.

cheers

Ross

Ross, is Manchester really that bad?

wait.

Wait a moment.

Before you rush out and buy your burglar alarm do think about that poor thief who has just broken into your house. What happens if the alarm is triggered? He may get a fright. Or worse than that he may have his hearing damaged.

Evening all

Mike

BLT - sorry to hear about your recent break-in and theft - not a subject to be laughed at!!

Would share my story but haven't got time, have an end of shift handover to write just now but may tell it tonight....

Hope you and your family have come to terms with the loss/invasion of personal space....

Regards,
Ali

Best alarm of all: nosey neighbours...

We don't have an alarm but the previous owner was a widow in her sixties who was a bit paranoid so had very expensive security doors with steel frames put in at the front, and when we recently had the back done we had a similar (but perhaps not as expensive) option fitted.

Plus, we have a fierce rabbit with pointy teeth! Beware!

John

Andy I think is right - he certainly confirms my findings. I have asked the cops about this and I did have a work collegue who had a brother who was a tealeaf in a previous life, and it is true: They see an alarm and go next door instead. They would only try if they had specifically sniffed you out for something they knew you had, and then they wouldn't be too keen. Not many houses in my street have alarms - say less than 10% so I hope I'm safe. Actually it isn't whether you have an alarm - it's if they can see an alarm box outside.

quote:

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Originally posted by Top Cat:

Plus, we have a fierce rabbit with pointy teeth! Beware!

John

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The jabberwocky lives!

We have had two "successful" burglaries before we got an alarm, and three failed attempts since having one fitted. So, I can't say the alarm box itself is a deterent (in fact we have three visible), but when it goes off, the villains scarper.
My problem is that my teenage daughters won't set the bloody thing when they roll home at three in the morning.

I reckon that having an alarm should significantly reduce my chances of being burgled again. We brought in the Crime Prevention team and have basically followed all of their advice; dawn-to-dusk floodlights outside, proper alarm, extra window locks, small safe for spare keys & valuables, keep cameras, wallets, handbags & car keys upstairs at night etc. We believe that the burglars had a key for the back door as it was definitely locked when we went to bed, and open in the morning. We had two cleaning companies who have had keys to our house before. It looked like a professional job - they unplugged the phone as soon as they got in, perhaps the car was the main target
Surprisingly, neither of us seem to that upset about somebody having been in the house - perhaps its because they didn't make much mess.
(Or I may just be an insensitive bastard )
Finally, I intend to fit a Tracker to my replacement car, car alarms and immobilisers aren't that much use now, the thieves either break into houses to steal the keys or hijack/mug the car owners for the keys. At least with a tracker the Poilice stand a good chance of catching the buggers.

Don't have lights on dusk to dawn. Use a sensor or sensors. Movement will trigger the lights. Light staying on just shows the burglar where to tread so he doesn't trip. It also lights the interior. He/it won't even need a torch.

But lights coming on is a danger sign. For you and your nosey neighbours to notice. I even had a socket for a table lamp wired to come on in the bedroom when the sensors switched on the outside lights. But the lights can be set off by cats and stray dogs. Unless you can exclude them from the sensor's range.

My story.....or actually the story of my parents....

My mother's from Malaysia and earlier this year in Jan while at her father's house both my mum and dad were 'robbed'.....
Basically three men came running into the house from through the back (which is normally locked, but they hadn't gotten round to it) wielding 'parangs' - traditional Malaysian swords - fucking big machete's to you and me!
They bound them both, gagged my dad, and spent the next hour turning the house upside down. Travel money both Malaysian and Singapore dollars, digital camera's, all mum's jewellery (a lot of it from her mother in law, my gran, now passed) was taken, and they would have taken passports too if it hadn't been for my grandpa....he was sleeping upstairs at the time but came down when he heard mum scream....he was telling them the pasports were no use to them, or the bank cards because they couldn't be used in Malaysia. The thieves didn't bother tying him up due to his age....and they obviously weren't the brightest......and possibly on drugs.
One of them was close to cutting off mum's finger to get her engagement ring which was actually my gran's (she lost her own years ago at North Berwick beach) but she pleaded with them in Malay telling them it was her mother in law's who was now dead.....they're quite superstitious over there and they left it....

Thankfully in the end no one was hurt, and apart from the jewellery everything else could be replaced.....but my folks, especially my dad who doesn't speak any Malay and didn't have a clue what was going to happen are/were a bit shaken by the whole event.....

If that wasn't bad enough.......
A few months later, while my folk's were in Dundee for my brother's birthday and I was out here at work, their house in West Linton (outside Edinburgh) was robbed.....
Thieving bastards entered by popping the back patio door out of the frame and made off with - money, pretty much all the rest of mum's jewellery or what was left of it after Malaysia, and the grand father clock.....?? The bose wave radio was left.....insert funny comment here.....

But they also took something very precious to me......

Last year when the whole family were over in Malaysia my bro and myself met up with the rest of our 'blood' family.... Mum and dad had met them the year before that, and she had always known she was adopted but was never told. At a funeral of a relative, a few years ago now, she met one of her brothers, by chance. This kicked off the whole thing and she met the whole family she hadn't seen for years (about 50) and was lucky enough to actually see her 'real' father, but not her mother as she had passed a few years before.

Unfortunately he passed away the year before last and we (my bro and myself) never got to meet him...which would have been special.
What did happen last year though was that mum was offered her father's wedding ring as a gift to the family....it was 24ct pure Chinese gold and was his father's ring before him....

The ring was offered to me as my wedding band for our wedding next year by mum, we got it re-sized up in Aberdeen, and yup, you guessed it.....we gave it back to mum for safe keeping and it was stolen earlier this year along with everything else.

I was gutted when they told me, still am, and even writing about it is quite hard as it's got me thinking about it again.....


My folks have since had an alarm fitted.

Chaps

I was out socialising with some policemen last night who confirmed that it is very rare for a house with secure double glasing / burglar alarm to be targetted by theives.

I still think the best deterrant is a mandatory 20 year jail sentence for any convicted burglar. They can't break in once they are decomposing in a cell.

Regards

Mick

"Don't have lights on dusk to dawn. Use a sensor or sensors."

Nime, the Crime Prevention guys from the local police advised us specifically to use Dawn To Dusk floodlights. The PIR sensor lights tend to go off after a minute or so.

Arf005 - you have been spectacularly unlucky with theft, it is always the loss of personal possessions that hits the hardest.

Mick, 20 years compulsory for burglary sounds like a good incentive for a thief to get rid of any potential witnesses he comes across.....

Then you hang them

quote:

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Originally posted by Rockingdoc:
My problem is that my teenage daughters won't set the bloody thing when they roll home at three in the morning.

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Doc

Lock the doors and feign deafness.

Doing this once should make your point.

Regards

Mike

Spending money I don't have on things I don't need.

Mick

quote:

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They can't break in once they are decomposing in a cell.

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but it costs the taxpayer at least £20k per year

laurie S

Laurie

So your point is 20 yrs @ £20,000 = £400,000 which is worth more than some miserable little burglars personage.

Now compare that with the cost of a quick hanging and it all makes sense.

No, I do not have an ounce of compassion for burglars, they deserve to die for the distress they cause.

Regards

Mick

quote:

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Originally posted by Mick Parry:

No, I do not have an ounce of compassion for burglars, they deserve to die for the distress they cause.

Mick

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Dying is too good for them. The victims have to go on living.

I'm for dipping convicted burglars completely in permanent, bright blue ink. And then letting them go.

Nime

Cheers BLT - you are right.

I like the blue ink idea.....

All the best,
Ali

Martin

Most Police Officers share this view, because they see the trauma these scumbags cause on a daily basis, most of them would willing lock them up and throw away the key.

The problem lies with the out of touch pinkos whose liberalism of yesterday has breed the thugs we have today.

The forgiveness policies do not work, so incarceration is the only solution. The cost can be offset by forced labour.

Regards

Mick

RIGHT WITH YOU MICK, well me and all my friends’ neighbours, relatives, colleagues, and forum members fed up with these low life.
I’m in the middle of writing up a bloody typical “good citizen against the criminal gone wrong” which I will post later, yes its totally true BTW.