http://www.20min.ch/news/schweiz/sto...hburg-29038825

Holy crap - in Zurich, one in 27 apartments gets broken into.

What do you guys do to make sure this doesn't happen to you?

We had a security system installed a few months ago. Interestingly, since then I have FAR fewer people knocking at the door wanting to retile the roof, paint the house, trim the hedges... I guess they don't want to case a house that has an alarm system.

we did that, too, when we had our house constructed. And we made sure all the contractors know that we had that put in. I heard that break-ins happen more often after people had contractors in the house (probably because they tell their friends about the stuff you keep in your home).

Also had the system hooked up to a monitoring service, just in case.

Does anyone have any security system recommendations? We have a big black dog who's a bit of a deterrent, but we'd feel safer with a proper one

We are on the 6th floor, top of the building... so unless you are Spiderman.

But I would imagine, where we live in Kreis 5 there is petty crime. Kreis 4 probably also has a problem. But I have not actually heard of anything happening.

fduvall

It's always best to have a wired system put in during construction work.

If that's not possible, get a Secvest 2Way from Abus. It's a radio-based solution that's easy to install and maintain. Friends of us have it and it works like a charm. Radiation is exceedingly minimal, so no worries there.

Are you Spiderman? Thieves can come in the same way as you

the 20min article actually mentioned that the are where you live doesn't matter at all - the number of break-ins is the same almost everywhere. In Germany, the poorer areas in the North are actually more often "visited" than the richter South.

I have a sign on my front door which reads "Good Luck".

Actually, i'm Batman...

But the difference is, I have the keys to several doors, and the thieves probably do not.

fduvall

but they have screwdrivers and a hammer, which sometimes works faster than turning a key :-)

My neighbour is a consulting firm on the ground floor
and Tuesday while i was calling our cat to come in the
Flat,i went out to bring him home,i notice the Consulting firm
had the Windows open,i knew something was wrong there was no light inside and it was around 7pm,my phone was off UBS forgot to pay the bill great,so i went in the hall and saw the second floor neighboor and ask him to call the police ,they came and ask me a bunch of questions.
I have no idea when that took place maybe around 3 in the morning as i am sleeping in the TV room now to keep the Puppy calm.
Thank god i alway s close my windowas and the metalic outside blinds.
Of course they went by the backyard windows.

Our system is also monitored - it includes video in the event of a break in and we can call for help in an emergency situation (fire, police, medical). It's called AMB Securite.

I find the sign

"BEWARE LARGE UNCONTROLLED DOG"

to be useful. Cheaper than alarms too. (in German also of course).

I thought that in apartment buidlings top floor flats are actually more likely to be broken into, since the thieves can work without being disturbed by neighbors on the staircase.
And (multiple) locks on the doors are merely extending the time a professional needs to get the locks open - which by itself may work as an effective deterrent. Such a professional will never be seen with a hammer and a screwdriver, google 'pick gun' for automated lockpicking tools.

All you need is blue work like outfit and you can enter any flat. Just observe how many people live in the flat and when they are away.

I encourage the dog to bark several hours a day. Sure the neighbours are annoyed, but we never had someone breaking in.

That looks a lot like my office!

Tom

OK...point(s) taken.

However, as my wife and I both work from home AND we have a large dog that barks, our deterrent system is pretty good.

Nevertheless, it is alarming how a determined thief can likely get around most barriers.

fduvall

as our insurance company told us, dogs make no difference at all, they just spray wd40 into there face and the dog is totally disabled

we have a wireless system that texts and calls 5 numbers if its triggered, so you can then talk to the scroate in your house, it also has smoke alarms and co alarms connected to it