Best home or neighborhood security system 2023

Eric - July 19, 2023

AdviceGearScenarios

What are the best options to detect, deter, and prevent breakins in your home or neighborhood? My neighborhood had a nighttime burglary recently (involving a car, not the house) which has raised the issue of security in my neighborhood. I’m interested in recommendations for my own home’s security, especially detection/alerting, as well as neighborhood-wide options that I could present to the HOA.

Here are some relevant previous security articles and discussions, but I suspect some of the technology has advanced in the years since these were written.

https://theprepared.com/homestead/guides/home-hardening-basics/

https://theprepared.com/gear/reviews/alarm-systems/

Please share both ideas and experiences about how to setup home or neighborhood security systems.

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I think external lights do a lot of the lifting, the hard part is positioning them so you can actually see what’s happening but not placed so low they can be stolen. Next door, my aunt keeps buying solar motion activated lights, but because she only puts them on the ground, they keep getting stolen. They stole some other solar lights off the gutters of one of the less habitable houses on the property as well.

I always wanted to go with a system that went through a router or hub without any IOT connections and solar area lights. The hard part was elevation, we have multiple sections of overlapping buildings, trees, foundations and walk ways, so it was very complicated to figure out, along with not having any windows on one side of the house and others being accessible in only a narrow angle.

 

Our next door neighbor’s home was burglarized a couple weeks ago. We live rurally, on a dead end street with about 12 homes (5 acre lots). It was done in the middle of the day (between 1000 – 1200), no one was home. They took medications, tools, a safe, some antiques, and small electronics. 

It shook me—it’s easy to feel safe when you live far from urban areas—and I spent some time reviewing our home security measures. Our house sits a ways off the street, and it’s not very visible from the street. Our 5 acres are fully fenced, with an electronic locking gate at the entrance. We have cameras at most of the choke points. Plus we have 3 dogs who have access to our entire property. 

I think the people who broke into the neighbors house considered ours first. We saw a suspicious looking car (no license plates) on camera pull into the driveway to the locked gate then leave — about the time their house was broken into. 

 

We have Ring security cameras. They’re great for talking to someone at the front door without opening it or letting us know that a package arrived. I don’t really trust them for reliably alerting us about intruders. Issues include inconsistency in recognizing activity, false alarms when squirrels run by, and sometimes losing wifi connectivity.

I like the idea of cameras, recognizing people vs animals, and automatic alerts. It just feels like Ring needs some improvements in reliability. Anyone have a better experience with another brand?

I see that some of these security systems have other types of sensors focused on detecting window breakins. Anyone have experience with those?