I'm thinking of installing security cameras for my home and wondering if they are worth it. Love to hear everyone's opinion. Thanks.
Are Security Cameras Worth Their Cost?
Comments
Is security camera footage/evidence essential to claim insurance if you have a breakin?
No, but it may help the police catch the person/s.
Also you'll know what happen, when, how and, more importantly, how to prevent happening again.
And you might get perhaps some very unusual wildlife or something happening in your CCTV covered area.
Not pleasant to see but we got a Currawong eating a pigeon …
Not at all, but the main point of a security camera for me is they act as a deterrent. If I was planning to break in somewhere and saw security cameras on a house, I'd more likely just pick somewhere else that did not have them.
I'd far rather never have to make a claim than use camera footage as evidence!
It is some kind of deterrent but remember they are quite easy to blind (laser) or defeat (tape, paint).
But yes, they do act as a deterrent and the usual crook, lazy, brainless and unmotivated will look for an easy target without CCTV, locks, lights, etc.
@LFO: Ever played payday 2? You shoot the cams down, ecm it or take out the guard controlling the cams….once they're down, gg cam setup…and your valuables…
@Zachary: LOL
Nope, I haven't played …But … a friendly neighbor was boasting (in an amicable manner) that her beloved car and bicycle were 100% safe in her carport because of 3 CCTV cameras.
I disagree and a friendly brake in was decided.
All I needed was to wear a winter silvery reflective hooded jacket and two LED torches. Walked to the camera, put blue masking tape and then security was gone. And "theoretically" car and bike.Not a real world experience but interesting how easy it was.
As stated before, a lazy crook will pick the house over-there instead as they don't even lock the front gate
@LFO: Well I guess real criminals don't play such an unrealistic heisting game…..
All I needed was to wear a winter silvery reflective hooded jacket and two LED torches. Walked to the camera, put blue masking tape and then security was gone. And "theoretically" car and bike.
What did she say after you broke into her house and proved her wrong?
@LFO: All depends on how they are used as well. I have two at the front from different angles. The front fence is secured as well so they'd have to climb over the fence to get to them. They are set to alarm between certain hours if anyone approaches. There's magnetic door sensors on every door as well, and a 30Kg canine that goes nuts if it hears anything outside. There are still glass windows that could be easily broken ;) hoping the sound of the dog is enough to scare off anyone that gets that far.
They are useful to monitor deliveries and kids coming home from school. Also keeping an eye on pets in the backyard.
A lot of the porch pirates just don't care or wear a cap…
Good point
Your home already has excellent security, so it would not be worthwhile.
My windows are not overly secure. Only have fly screen no grilles. Trying to decide whether I should install window grilles first or invest in the cameras with a linited budget in mind.
CrimSafe you mean?
They are worth it. CrimSafe first, CCTV second.
If in a budget, plan how many cameras you'll love to have, then buy an NVR with that number of ports and as many (one?) cameras as possible.
Then expand to a full system.
Needless to say POE (power over Ethernet) is the way to go.
They don't cost very much nowadays, as little as $49 for a wireless unit. Outdoor battery powered cams are usually around $100.
Theyre a deterrent, or clarify what happened. they dont actually stop the theft
Well, if you had one handy, you could use it to knock a burglar out so technically, it can actually stop a theft.
Dumb.
They don’t deter anyone. Offenders simply use gloves, hoody etc. They very rarely help with a prosecution and you won’t ever get restitution anyways. Any possible insurance concessions are outweighed by the initial and possible associated on-going costs. Save your coin IMO.
The number of local cases solved because the crooks were linked to a cctv, not necessarily the CCTV of the premise they targetted, is very very high.
Most recent case that I personally was involved in was an item stolen off a roof rack. It wasn't the dashcam that captured the offenders or even the CCTV of the premise the vehicle was in. It was the CCTV next door.
We had a break in about 6 years ago. At the time we had a couple of battery powered cameras inside the house. They spotted one camera and took the SD card, but they didn't spot the other one.
Cops took a lot more interest when I told them that we had pictures of the culprits - before that, they were saying that it could be a day or 2 before they'd attend - they were around within about an hour to take a look. They immediately recognised 2 juveniles and they and another juvenile were arrested and charged about 3 weeks later.
Only a few items were actually recovered, but one of them was a watch that my wife had given to me for our wedding, so that was quite a good outcome in itself.
Didn't hear anything for ages until about a month ago - I got a letter from the State Penalties Enforcement Registry to say that they had collected $370 as restitution from one of the offenders. Got to keep that money even though we were covered by insurance.
Since then I've set up cameras all around and through the house and written my own software to monitor them and send alerts automatically when we're not home.
It has cost quite a bit of time and money to get to where we are now, but after the experience of being broken into, it's nice to have the feeling of security knowing that we're not going to come home to unexpectedly find the house absolutely trashed and items of value missing. (The offenders spent about 90 minutes in our house turning it over)
Woa, what a story! Thanks for sharing.
Is evidence worth their cost?
hire me and ill watch ur house 24\7
And if the client sleeps through an alarm, you can creep in and shake them awake? Flawless plan..
I was sick and tired of running downstairs whenever I heard some noise. I now simply run the app to see if there is any activity outside. And it gives me some peace of mind regardless of its effectiveness. I am pretty happy I've installed them.
What brand or system have you got?
Dahua 6MP cameras connected to and powered by NVR with Power Over Ethernet. I did not want to use wireless ones as I had many troubles with wireless network.
Thank you for the info.
Depends where you live….I have used mine to discover wild fox parties in front of my house or damn rabbits eating my spinach. Good LOLs.
Sounds like a wonderful place where you live. The only wild thing I would hope to catch is one of my neighbours' dog shitting in our front lawn.
What I love about the wireless ones are (I suppose any cameras, but my experience are wireless), they can notify you on your phone if there was motion/heat signature. You set a time for this function to be active and it monitors the area. So 12am to 7am as an example. Then when you're out at work 9am to 4pm.
You can see when the postie comes, and talk to them to leave at a specific spot. Or you can shoo potential burglars away (since you can call 000).
I recon they are totally worth it. Smart cams with 2 way audio also send a notification to your phone when they detect movement, so you can check it out but also talk through. Personally i would expand security system with alarm that can be triggered with the phone, so in case you are not home and somebody is on your property, one simple GTFO police is being called, followed by alarm on, should scare the intruder even before he actually break in.
Good point
Sounds good - do you have such a setup?
I would recommend getting one. There so many different options though so I would do some research. I ended up upgrading certain components. Things I like, things to consider :
they are a deterrent to a certain degree but if they really want to get in they will
get highest resolution you can afford. Nothing worse than looking at crappy Grainy footage
some camera also record sound, handy for front door
I’ve had police knock on my door few things to look at footage for crimes that happened in area, not to me
probably common, but get option to be able chek live video feed from your phone. Handy for when you’re not home. Also handy when you are at home and hear something suss, it’s cool just looking around your home on your phone or monitor/tv. By the way most of the time it was a cat.
get biggest hard drive you can, to look back on footage.
some cameras not always best for night or low light video
Hope that helps
Thank you for the advice, Kokopop.
My brother would say they are a big waste of money.
He installed them around his house and then someone stole them the next day.
Hard wired security cam system can be useless if electrical mains is switched off from the outside, right?
Yes, that can be a problem, however, you can get an approved padlock to put onto your fuse box to prevent the thieves from turning off your power.
We've also got a decent sized UPS on our system, so even if the power goes off, the system will still run for a while until the batteries go flat.
If you have a smart meter you can just put any lock on there.
Has anyone managed to put a WiFi camera 50 meters away from their router?
Just like insurance and dash cams…they're a waste of money until you need it.