The police provides a free consultant who can point out the weak spots around your house. The guy we had even went through the offers we received from security companies and told us what we need, what was overkill, etc.
For our ground floor apartment, he suggested installing strenghtening bars on the windows and doors, more motion sensor lamps especially outside. The idea is to try to discourage the random-type break-ins, without advertising that we have very valuable stuff to steal, which we don't.
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.
Have to agree with that. We know of 2 top-floor apartements (1 in our block, just before we moved in ) that were broken into. The other flats were untouched.
A few years ago we were broken into but the thing about dogs not being a deterrant is quite right,
We had a Bulldog and a Staffie at the time and when I entered the house
I thought it was strange that the dogs were not there to greet me but I could hear them barking from a downstairs room.
I went into my sitting room and thought it felt cold and the burglars had removed the leaded light glass from the window and propped it back up.
In another room were my beloved dogs surrounded by cocktail sticks - the police told me that they had seen this before and the thiefs had obviouly bacon/sausages on the sticks and lured the dogs into a room and shut them in....
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?
Much depends on taking some precautions. Years ago, when my brother and his future 2nd wife were on holidays, and lived near my parents, I went by their apartments and always left a light, but always in another room alight. I closed one shutter and opened another. When I went and go for holidays I keep some major windows fully closed but some secure ones half open. Then, if you get away for a week or two, arrange that your mail is kept back at the post office. Know your neighbours. Which means that if you are on real terms with your neighbours, they will intervene if they see somebody at your door and ask the person what he/she is looking for. Another aspect is to have plants on your balcony. It gives the impression of this being an inhabited apartment. There of course is no guarantee, but there are so many ways to give the impression of you being around, for instance when you are out for two days.
Another aspect is to have plants on your balcony. It gives the impression of this being an inhabited apartment. There of course is no guarantee, but there are so many ways to give the impression of you being around, for instance when you are out for two days.
Not always, though. Some people put plants on the balcony when they leave so the rain would water them.
For the light, one can buy a cheap socket timer. You can get 2-3 timers with a switch to have different lights switched on automatically at different times.
Not always, though. Some people put plants on the balcony when they leave so the rain would water them.
For the light, one can buy a cheap socket timer. You can get 2-3 timers with a switch to have different lights switched on automatically at different times.
Absolutely so ! But at the time mentioned those devices were not yet available. I still find such devices far more intelligent than all the alarm-devices. Also an aging neighbour who on each 2nd day gets around to give your plants a bit of water is possibly more an asset than all the high-tech rubbish mentioned
I live in an apartment block and last month i left my bike outside my flat unlocked and unchained to anything for four or five days continuously. It was still there every morning.
For the light, one can buy a cheap socket timer. You can get 2-3 timers with a switch to have different lights switched on automatically at different times.
Quite right, but don't buy those fancy digital timers with lots of tiny buttons and an LCD.
Simple timers with a round dial will do the job and don't need three days of carefully studying 164 pages of instructions ("Press Mode three times, then hold the Set button down while pressing the Day button for at least ten seconds. Next, using the > and < buttons, step through the 234 options displayed to find the 'Only once a week but not in leap years with New Year on a Sunday' option" -- I'm sure you know and love all that annoying stuff).
By the way, most of those digital timers lose the program you spent hours on within half an hour or, at the very best, a few hours after unplugging them; so you have to go through the same ordeal again next time you go on vacation.
Buy 24 h timers (usually switchable every 15 minutes) and 7 day timers (usually programmable every hour); combine them to avoid the same lighting schedule every day.
You may even consider combining a 7 d timer and a 24 h timer in one socket, in this sequence, i.e. the 7 d timer is in the wall socket, determining the times the light may be on, i.e. at times that really make sense, whereas the 24 h timer sits in the socket of the 7 d timer and is programmed to switch the light on and off in an irregular pattern during the ON periods of the 7 day timer.
That may sound a bit complicated, but it's much simpler and much cheaper than any super programmable digital timer, and it can be unplugged after your return, stored in a drawer and plugged back in before you leave for your next vacation.
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This user would like to thank Captain Greybeard for this useful post:
I also believe that dogs doesn't make any difference. I have to dogs and if ever that appen in our house, I will be afraid that they will be armed or killed if they tried to protect the house from robbery.
Quite right, but don't buy those fancy digital timers with lots of tiny buttons and an LCD.
Simple timers with a round dial will do the job and don't need three days of carefully studying 164 pages of instructions ("Press Mode three times, then hold the Set button down while pressing the Day button for at least ten seconds. Next, using the > and < buttons, step through the 234 options displayed to find the 'Only once a week but not in leap years with New Year on a Sunday' option" -- I'm sure you know and love all that annoying stuff).
By the way, most of those digital timers lose the program you spent hours on within half an hour or, at the very best, a few hours after unplugging them; so you have to go through the same ordeal again next time you go on vacation.
Buy 24 h timers (usually switchable every 15 minutes) and 7 day timers (usually programmable every hour); combine them to avoid the same lighting schedule every day.
You may even consider combining a 7 d timer and a 24 h timer in one socket, in this sequence, i.e. the 7 d timer is in the wall socket, determining the times the light may be on, i.e. at times that really make sense, whereas the 24 h timer sits in the socket of the 7 d timer and is programmed to switch the light on and off in an irregular pattern during the ON periods of the 7 day timer.
That may sound a bit complicated, but it's much simpler and much cheaper than any super programmable digital timer, and it can be unplugged after your return, stored in a drawer and plugged back in before you leave for your next vacation.
) that were broken into. The other flats were untouched.
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