Am curious to know whether people on here have had break-ins even when their burglar alarm has been set.....

I always assume if you have an alarm and set it, then this reduces the chances of being broken in to. But maybe I am wrong

Hi Katya
I think the alarm system is sure to deter all except the most determined of burglars, who will not be put off by anything less than the Tony Martin approach.

You need to think like a burglar, if he sees your house with an alarm (one that is working not one of those daft imitation boxes) and the one next door without any alarm, then he is sure to choose the other, less difficult option.

I know a few years ago, we moved house and were without our alarm for a few days and both my wife and myself slept less well when we were without it.

Katya,
about 12 years ago I spend lots of time installing an alarm system in my house. Everything was fine for about 5 years, but I occasionally got the alarm going off. My neighbours would call me at work. So I stopped setting the alarm.

So I still have an alarm, but I don't set it any more. Never had a break in so far.

If you have passive infra red sensors on your alarm system, then you can only expect them to last (totally reliably) between 5 and 10 years. I know this from the engineers who look after our system at work, and hundreds of other places on a 24h call out basis, connected to police. So if you are intending to have a house alarm, factor in the price for replacing your PIRs every 5 years. Hope this helps.

Whre I live is usually the old ladies who have the break ins. Their houses stand out a mile.

A few years ago we had an attempted break-in.

I only found out the next day when the ground floor rear window wouldn't close properly, and saw someone had tried to lever it open with a screwdriver.

We had an alarm but at that time didn't set it of a night. We do now.

OK it might not deter someone from trying to break in - ours didn't, but it certainly will scare the willies out of a burglar if they do, and of course it gives you warning so you know something's amiss.

Though having a spider set it off once in a blue moon does make you jump!

Get a dog - much better :D

You often here alarms sounding and nobody bats an eyelid.

It's like this: if I were (note the use of the subjunctive in a hypothetical situation) a burglar and there were two houses of equal temptationosity, one had alarm system and the other one didn't, I'd opt for the one wiithout.

Wouldn't you?

Originally posted by fnkysknky
Get a dog - much better :D

burglars love dogs! if they knock on the door and the dog keeps barking, they know that no one is in. They then have a way of killing the dog (which I am not going to put on here) and bingo they have an emptry house to rob. Sad but true.

A member of my family is a police officer and he told me that he has never, in 15 years, attended a burglary at a house with an alarm. Perhaps attempted but not never an actual burglary.
After being broken into 3 times in the last 6 years (non very successfully I'll add) I bought an alarm and it hasn't happened again since.
Even if the alarm isn't connected it is a deterrent, same as everyone says, if you had a choice - you would go for the easy option.
Best of luck with whatever you do.

Roll on 3.30 so I begin my Christmas when partner is home .

Originally posted by owdlad
burglars love dogs! if they knock on the door and the dog keeps barking, they know that no one is in. They then have a way of killing the dog (which I am not going to put on here) and bingo they have an emptry house to rob. Sad but true.

I would agree about this. I know of one occasion where a house was burgled and the dog was dosed with something. And of course we all know people with annoying dogs that bark all the time. Who's going to bat an eyelid if a dog that barks all the time, starts barking. Especially when you consider that most house burglaries are done in broad daylight.

Thanks for all your helpful replies - I do in fact have an alarm and was musing on its effectiveness in an idle moment. It sounds like you are all confirming what I believe to be the case and luckily for me (but not for him) my neighbour doesn't have one.

I fit alarms amongst other things for a living and haven't had a break in reported once an alarm has been fitted. The only break ins I've seen when an alarm is fitted is on commercial properties.

The house with alarm and neighbour without thing is quite true, most burglars will pick a target unless the risk outweighs the potential gain. So if you have a tv\stereo etc... worth thousands staring a burglar in the face alarm or no alarm they may take the risk.

An alarm is an *extra* deterrent, you should also be security concious in other ways by not leaving valuables in plain view and having your home "burglar friendly" in general. I would never sell a system to anyone as being a way to stop anyone ever breaking in, just as an extra line of defence.

If you do have an alarm as someone says they quite often get ignored. You can either have a monitored system installed with links to the Police and\or a dialler fitted so you will get a call, and also people who are nearby, to act on the alarm activation. The reason so many people ignore the alarm is that they think it is just another false alarm, if you have your system maintained and serviced regularly then when it is set off if you get the call you know it is a genuine activation.

It won't deter the determined or stupid burglar, but once set off it makes them think twice about how long they want to hang around.

Our prooved very useful tonight.

At home we have a dog.

Moon

We've got the home monitor system from BT installed and I gotta say its brilliant... it actually dials/emails/texts you when anything happens inside your house- then you make the decision what to do next.

Anyone else got this brilliant system?

check your settings on infra red outside lights, most people set them wrong, turn it on,approach it slowly then take a step towards it,if it comes on fine,...now go back to your starting point,take a step,count ten,take another step,countten again, ill wager you can walk up and knock on the door without the light coming on,try it.just take your time and count ten before each step.....and no im not a burgular pleaase post the outcome as a lot of people believe they are protected when in fact they are not.....

I think you might find that unless you have some other way to deter the burglar, he will just say thanks very much, I can now work with the light on. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by depoix
check your settings on infra red outside lights, most people set them wrong, turn it on,approach it slowly then take a step towards it,if it comes on fine,...now go back to your starting point,take a step,count ten,take another step,countten again, ill wager you can walk up and knock on the door without the light coming on,try it.just take your time and count ten before each step.....and no im not a burgular pleaase post the outcome as a lot of people believe they are protected when in fact they are not.....

the only settings on most lights are the duration and light level (to stop it coming on during the day).
I can't see many burglars slow stepping up towards houses though, most of the time they wouldn't know the light was there until it comes on.