Pre-SHTF Home Security/CCTV/Hardening

Preparation, Preparedness & Prevention Disaster Preparation & Planning
1

I wonder if we could get a sticky like the Comms thread?

Just read this:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1368891_Well__my_house_was_burglarized_today_and_my_vehicle_stolen_.html&page=2

Makes me want to hurry the hell up and finish the window film.

There are multiple things we can go over in here - alarm systems, doors, reinforcing, locks…the possibilities are endless, and I know we have some good experience here.

Just to get things started - I took up locksport a while back. DAME/DASE has always been an area that interested me, since I was a kid and didn’t even know what it meant. I am NOT “good” at it by any means, but I’m good enough to scare the hell out of myself. Go look at your doors and see what kind of locks you have. Go on, I’ll wait.

Kwikset, huh?

After desultory fucking around with a basic pick set, I can walk through a Kwikset in 15 seconds if I get lucky, and two minutes if I’m not…and I suck. The guy who is learning me on this is a former SMU member who can open these locks so fast it looks like he used a key. But regardless, what I’m getting at is that it doesn’t take James Bond to open one of these things. And that doesn’t even take into account bump keys.

Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVUjQh7dya8

And this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8G63AUJTnY

Want to talk about locks now?

2

Great thread idea, something I am very interested in. New home owner here, been considering an alarm system and security film (house has a lot of windows).

SItuation:
Pros-
-Good neighborhood/neighbors
-area is away from main roads, very quiet region
-good visibility / lighting around the house exterior
-three dogs, one of which is a 150 pound Rotty in a Jack Russell body
-a few good safes throughout the house for firearms / important docs

Cons-
-large bay windows ALL over the house
-no security system
-neighborhood is still under development, which means a number of unfamiliar vehicles going in and out al the time

I’m sure many others here have similar setups / problems.
Has anyone here recently purchased a security system or new locks?

3

The alarm business is a fucking racket. I know, because I worked in it for about 6 years. Run far, far away from ADT, Wells Fargo, or any of the well-known companies. So far I have found ONE alarm company that seems honest, doesn’t lock you into a contract, and has great customer service. That would be alarm.com. I seldom evangelize for any company or product, but I’ve used them since they were a startup in 2005 and have turned a lot of people on to them.

I could tell you horror stories about ADT that are never-ending.

If you go with Alarm.com or FrontPoint (which I believe is the dealer that they use now), I can help you quite a bit with suggestions because I know their panel inside and out.

As far as locks - depends on how secure you want to go. A mid-grade Schlage is better than a vanilla Kwikset, but for the SCAR of locks, you’d want an Abloy Protec or a Bilock brand cylinder. I have no personal experience with the Bilock but they are spoken highly of. Abloy is the fucking bomb though, if you really want to be sure. Look here: https://securitysnobs.com/

And if you REALLY want to be sure, add a Geminy Shield to the Abloy Protec. But before you put money into that, you need security doors and window protection, otherwise they’ll just look at your high-zoot lock and say “Well, fuck it then” and throw a chair through a window.

4

The BUSINESS is a racket, alarms in general, not so much. Paying some company to monitor it for you on a monthly contract may not be the best idea, but if you have a system designed for you by a custom designer, it’s a little different. It can get as complex and automated as you want, or as simple as you want.

Pretty cool to have glass break sensors, motion sensors, contact sensors all connected to cameras. Say for instance you have a motion detector go off on the front gate. The system can be designed to automatically feed the video from the nearest camera directly to a device such as an iPad or a dedicated monitor. So, alarm goes off on the ipad, you roll over, pick it up and it’s showing you what set off the motion detector. Have this set up to activate external audible alarm on the property and flood lights or not. Add IR cameras if you wanna be the best on the block. Substitute break sensor or contact point and you can see immediately what’s happening anywhere you have sensors and cameras. Tie the system into an automatic generator if the power is cut. Some of the high end ones power on within a second or two of power loss, even standard auto gens bring power back up within 10 seconds.

That is probably above what the average person would want, but it’s still pretty cool. The wiring, controls and equipment can get pretty complicated and expensive though.

Even on a relatively small budget, you can still have a self contained system that doesn’t require you have monitoring service like ADT or Pinnacle or all of the others require. Most of them give you basic equipment and installation for free if you sign the monthly service contract. If all you want is a couple of cameras and door sensors, to either alert you or scare off an intruder, its pretty painless.

5

Aside from the physical security aspects, what have you done to catalog and itemize your possessions? When you call your local LE, ATF branch, and insurance company to report the thefts do you have the stolen items model numbers, serial numbers, descriptions, et al. recorded somewhere in a safe place? A safe place being another physical location in case your home is completely destroyed by a fire or some natural disaster.

I’ve gone as far as to engrave my DL # on my electronics so in the event they are stolen and recovered by LE it would aid in the investigation and recovery time of my goods.

One must have photos as well, nothing fancy just clear pics of the item and it’s serial number. I have a buddy who walked through his home with a video camera filming everything and giving a verbal description of all the info I listed above. If you create something as simple as a word document with an itemized list of your possessions and digital photos of the items you can simply upload the info to several different flash drives that you can keep at several off site locations such as a trusted relative’s or friend’s home and or a safety deposit box.

6

I have always been fascinated with this stuff since I was a kid. My father was a foreman at a large construction company and rather than have master keys for small locks they would make a key.

Those master bicycle locks where you file off the rear parts. or some small Yale locks which you can do similar. The “school locker” combos, and “bike chain” combos.

I can also bypass some “lock-boxes” that are used to store keys.

Of course when I lock myself out of the house, I never seem to have what I need to get back in.

I guess I’ll be the dummy again… what is DAME DASE?

==============

I guess you have considered that with those fancy locks you mentioned that someone can still open your home with a battery powered saw. Provided it’s not built of brick.

I -thought- a lot of lock companies installed some anti-bump measures a couple of years ago when the “bump craze” went around the news.

But again, if you are in a Kwikset type house, you can probably get in faster with a swiss army knife.

===============

-Good neighborhood/neighbors
-area is away from main roads, very quiet region
-good visibility / lighting around the house exterior

Don’t let those fool you. This past year we have seen many day time break ins in very nice communities. In fact they were singled out for that fact. Door usually bashed in or in the case of cars, doors unlocked.

A couple of weekends ago we had a shooting. these are business owners, doctors, executives, police, management type families. One family goes away for the weekend. Kid has party. Some “un-invited” get’s accused of shooting a girl in the head. This case is still on-going.

This type activity is what most would refer to as “unheard of” for this region.

7

I must admit that I have fallen victim to the “business” of home alarms. I am stuck in a 3 year contract, with an alarm that I feel is not of the best quality. $45 a month for monitored service. It does provide a bit of piece of mind when I am away on TDY and the family is home. One of the biggest complaints I have is that it is linked to the telephone, which if that is cut, there isn’t a way for it to transmit to the monitoring company. Also, there is only an alarm on the keypad, which is annoying inside, but it can’t be heard from outside.

Currently trying to figure a way out of the contract so I can invest in one of the more custom setups like mentioned above.

8

Alarms mean nothing more then limiting the time inside the home a burglar has if your not at home.

I have seen this play out numerous time and the game is simple.

Internal sounding alarm only,
Bad guy waits until the alarm company calls the home to verify if the alarm was tripped by the owner and if there is no response the police are contacted.The bad guy knows once the call comes its now time to hurry up and grab what ever he can and leave before the police respond. Always have the alarm company call the police directly as soon as they receive the alarm and not call to the home.

External sounding alarm,
The bad guy will only hit the sweet spots such as the master bedroom and any bedroom which appears to have a female in it. They are in and out in less then 3 minutes with mostly unsecured small items.

Also bad guys will remove the meter head to cut the power then cut the phone and cable lines to knock out the phone service before entering the home. Most alarm companies delay contacting the police on power failures or phone outages and will most likely try secondary contact numbers or key holders allowing time for the bad guy to shop inside your home.

Door locks don’t really deter entry so much on a weak wood jam frame or a cheap hollow core entry door were a simple shoulder or kick will defeat both easily. People never think to close ventilation windows especially if they have pets or at night while sleeping which allows access inside the home. Bad guys will also push in a window mounted A/C unit or remove the vertical slats of a crank open door or window for simple entry.

Physical deterrents such as steel doors on steel frames with the excellent Schlage Primus High Security Cylinder System stops kick ins and lock pick attempts. Closing and locking windows with inside mounted half window grates stop these easy entry locations and the correct security gates or folding scissor grates for sliding doors protect those areas.

Don’t forget second floor windows as bad guys will climb onto porch roofs or even use a ladder you left laying unsecured on the property to gain entry.

Your best bet is lots of lights, no hidden windows do to bushes or small trees and front and rear external sounding alarms (Min 140 DB) and a alarm system which has a long term battery back up and a cell line dialer to call out if the phone line is cut. Just a little work and common sense can make your home a hard target and as difficult as possible for the bad guy to make a easy score.

Most people make it easy for them selfs to become victims and with just a little work the bad guy will look for a softer target.

9

… and leaving attached garage doors open! Man I see that all the time.

10

In a small town near where I grew up there was a serial rapist who would gain access to his victim’s homes via this route once the husbands left for work in the mornings.

As my father taught me at an early age, some people are just born victims.

11

I have been looking at the Medeco Maxum 11WC60L Deadboltfor the price point. Anyone have any first-hand knowledge on these?

12

Yes, I think they have bump proof construction. which means if someone wants in they will use a sledge hammer and unless you have fortified the framework, the locks extra strength will help it tear through the woodwork.

All of the break-ins that lasted for months and were done by teams of 2-3 were smash ins. As far as anyone knows, all were planned. They watch the house, learn the pattern and then simply go break in. Usually during the day. Often they would ring the front door bell to be certain no one was home.

… and that’s the “key” so to speak. If your home is situated such that all your neighbors go to work, you are the center home, you have an access point that is somewhat hidden, you have a situation that if a contractor truck showed up no one would question it, all those things make you a target and a nice lock is not going to stop a determined thief.

The latest thing is Indian families being followed while out at the Mall or what have you. They are known to have high quality gold as part of their life style so to speak. So they are being singled out, followed, and robbed when not at home.

In fact, last weekend and Indian man was kidnapped going to work at a gas station. I think he owned it. He was found dead in the river yesterday.

Around here it’s fairly normal to hear about a shooting in a high crime area, but things are transitioning. The areas where one would have expected some security in the past are now fair game.

I will say though, that the Police do not take it lightly. They have been very good at keeping the public aware and also in catching the bad guy ( sometimes going out of State to do so ).

Nice locks are nice, but unless you live somewhere that break-ins are sort of “expected” and a strong lock will just make them go next door… beyond that, these guys are planning a lot further ahead.

I’m not a professional but that’s how I see it.

-------------- In keeping with the thread about cameras. I think that a warning that cameras are in use might be one of the best deterrents. It’s also something I rarely see. I visit hundreds of homes a year and can only recall one recently that clearly had cameras present.

13

I have most of what you mention above. I enjoy screwing around with it, and I used to be a designer. It doesn’t cost THAT much if you DIY, but you have to have some idea of what you’re doing.

And you’re right, alarms aren’t a racket, the security business is mostly a racket.

The problem is that most people don’t actually want security, they want a security blanket. The same problem exists at the corporate level - security is seen as a liability, not an asset. Therefore, the only time you can get them to spend much money on it is if it’s right after an incident took place, or if they’re required by an outside agency to have good security (i.e. nuke plants, etc.). I worked in high-end corporate systems, and generally the only way you could get them to break off money for anything good was to either partner up with their insurance guy or just keep an ear open for something shitty to happen.

14

alarm.com is 100% cellular.

Security storm doors with a good lockset are a great thing to do. I just replaced my front one with an even heavier model and it only cost $400 installed - a local outfit custom-makes them to your specs. I substituted Lexan for the regular glass windows (I had to source the Lexan, but they cut it and framed it). The same company is fabricating custom bars for my basement windows, and the glass itself is getting the 3M treatment. It will be an exercise in frustration to get into those things.

To address the fire concerns, one set per room will be QD. I designed a simple mechanism with 1/2" hardened cotter pins on lanyards that you can pull, and the bars will fall out of the frame. Then open and remove the basement window as normal, and exit. If you find a good local metal shop they can pretty much do whatever you can dream up, and then I have a place here that powder-coats truck parts and stuff like that. They’re used to powder-coating weird shit for me.

15

Yeah…brick house, steel barred doors. You could get in with a serious Sawzall or a fire saw, but the alarm would be triggered way before you completely breached, and I’m a half-mile from the police station.

What really put the fear of God into me was this summer, I forgot a key to a house I was working on, but I had a set of Bogotas in my wallet. I was in so quick it gave me cold chills. And like I said, I suck at this compared to some of the guys out there.

Schlages aren’t much better. Even the Security + line is pickable with a little effort. I put one on my practice board and messed with it for a couple of days and finally got it figured out.

What really did it for me on the lock thing is that I forgot a key one day over the summer, but I had a set of Bogotas in my wallet. I was into that Kwikset-equipped house so fucking fast

16

I had my house broken into when I was a kid. I walked in on the two scumbags. One of them was waring a high school jacket with his name embroidered on the front…you don’t need to be smart to be a thief.

17

Here in TX there are professional crews (3 to 4 guys) who drive around in delivery trucks/work trucks that blend in with all the day labor, landscapers, construction workers who do nothing but take down houses during the day.

Down this way a lot of foreign nationals (especially illegals) DO NOT have bank accounts/debit cards. They are paid in cash and keep it about their person until they do a money transfer to their families back home south of the border. Some of the gang bangers have caught on to this and will roll day labor guys after payday (Fridays).

Even if one cannot afford a CCTV system they could always get the inexpensive decoys. They have a fake wire that leads to no where but they give the appearance of the real deal. Some even have a AAA battery in them so as to have a blinking red light. Most (not all) potential burglars will walk on by once they spot a camera(s).

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Trademark-Global-Rotating-Imitation-Security-Camera-with-LED-Light/15603485

18

I just bought a Foscam camera to watch our front door. Will see how well it works or not. Main purpose is to allow us to see who is at front door: solicitor or threat or friend before we approach the door. Suppose to allow us to monitor on our computers or iPhones as well as have SD card.

If this works out we will get more to monitor other sided of house. Also getting a security storm door so we can have a delay barrier when we open the door, and covering the sidelight windows with film and curtains.

19

My house got broken into Monday while I was at work. Bastards kicked in my door and ripped up my small pistol safe I had anchored under the bed which had a Glock 26 inside.

They first tried to enter by knocking a hole through a glass paned door but gave up when they discovered it had a double cylinder deadbolt and simply went around to the other door and kicked in the door jamb with a few kicks.

Harden your home by whatever means you can afford. Trust me, it is worth every penny.

It sucks getting broken into.

20

Damn it. Very sorry to hear that. Can you tell us any more (door construction, house construction, etc.)? Did they get anything else?

No alarm, I take it?