What is the best deterrent against burglars?

Most of us have worked hard for our belongings and we want to protect them when we are away on holiday, travelling for business or just out overnight on a mini break or getaway.

After getting burgled and telling friends, family you'll always get some people saying, "Well you're insured aren't you? just put in a claim", but in reality insurance payments cannot replace priceless family heirlooms, belongings that contain memories or antiques, so the best course of action would be deterring burglars from targeting your home in the first place.

There are number of deterrents that will put most burglars off breaking into your home but deciding which is best for you and your home can be a tough choice so here's a list of three of the most popular deterrents and their pros and con. This list isn't in any particular order.

When moving into a new home a Good Burglar Alarm is always on the top of people lists because installation is relatively easy especially with the wireless kits that are now available where no holes need to be drilled and no ugly wiring needs running around your home.

There are many different brands on the market, all with different features, however I would not recommend cheap imports from China as most are cheaply made copies of genuine systems and don't allow add-ons like the genuine systems do.

A good quality mid-range alarm system tends to come with a basic kit nowadays, such as a bell/siren box with or without a strobe light, control panel for arming/disarming the system, a couple of door/window contacts and a couple of sensors with anything extra that your home may need being available to purchase as add-ons due to the fact that some people will require more sensors or more door contacts to fully protect all doors and rooms.

For example and some people prefer a second bell box on the rear of the property to act as an extra deterrent. You can usually buy a complete add-on box including the sirenand flashing LED's or you can just get an empty box installed to show burglars that property is protected if they have entered via the rear.

Some manufactories also sell secondary control panels as add-ons that work in tandem with the main panel. People typically put these upstairs allowing them to set/monitor the system whilst in bed.

Here's a selection of some of the most trusted Burglar/Intruder alarm manufacturers

• Eurosec
• Honeywell
• ADE
• Scantronic
• Menvier
• Pyronix

The only problem with residential alarm systems is that people are so used to them randomly going off that hardly anyone pays attention or even looks outside to check if someone is in fact being robbed, so if you do go down this route it's advisable to get a fully monitored alarm system where you pay a monthly fee (typically around £30 -£50 a month) and a monitoring centre will get an alert that your alarm is going off and ring the police on your behalf to report the break-in .

These monitored systems are generally chosen by professionals who travel a lot and/or have a lot of expensive belongings, for them this fee is totally worth it.

If you don't think you'll be able to afford a monitored system with a monthly or annual fee then the next best thing is a system that will contact you via your smart phone if it goes off so you can either rush home or ring the police. With self monitored systems like these you just buy the system, you are not charged a monthly fee as you are simple using your own home broadband at one end and your mobile phone data on the other end.

Home Burglar/Intruder Alarms systems are becoming more advanced every day with some now letting you remotely turn off the system if it's a false alarm and some even letting you talk though the cameras.

Once deemed only suitable (and affordable) for industrial or business use due to their initial high prices and installation costs, CCTV Systems have gained a lot of popularity with private, residential customers in recent years due to the falling prices, easy installation (these too can be wireless) and advanced smart features.

A modern CCTV System with a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) attached will continuously record 24/7, copying over the footage after a week, two weeks or as long as a couple of months depending on your DVR's hard drive capacity. Selected footage can be downloaded to a portable pen/flash drive for evidence. You Just need to remember to have your DVR hidden and locked up so it's not stolen too. A popular location for this equipment is in the loft/attic space out of site.

If you can't hide your DVR then some will automatically upload its recording to a cloud server

CCTV Systems no longer shoot grainy, black and white, jumpy footage, where it's nearly impossible to recognise the culprit (remember CCTV footage on Crimewatch back in the 90's), modern CCTV cameras now film coloured, smooth, high definition video which is crystal clear and a lot of systems now come with mobile phone/tablet apps allowing you to get alerts and view/control your cameras live from anywhere in the world, which means that you can ring the police or ring a trusted neighbour and get them to ring the police (if you're sipping Pina Coladas on a beach in the Bahamas) to report a crime in progress.

Police just love to catch criminals in the act as its make prosecuting them much easier and if you say "there is a burglar in my home right now" they are usually straight round with sirens turned off so they can catch him/her in the act and have a water tight case so a slippery solicitor who specialise in defending low life's cannot get them off.

How about a good old fashioned Guard Dog to protect your home? Dogs are very protective of their homes and their owners and one ex-burglar who was recently interview by the Guardian Newspaper said that a barking dog always put him off breaking into a residential home, admitting that the barking dog could have been a Poodle or Chiwawa but he wouldn't take the risk in case it was a Rowtweiler or German Shepherd and who would blame him!

However, Guard dogs are not a perfect solution by all means as you need to feed them, give them regular exersice and look after them. But if you are a pet lover anyway then they make a great deterrent if you're just out at work or out overnight, but are not so good if you're going on holiday for a week or two as you would have to place your dog in boarding kennels or leave with and trusted family member or a good friend.

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