I like the idea of doorbell cameras, but not sure how well they would have worked for Dabbler. The police are not judges, and can only report and act on the evidence. A video recording might have provided a better balance of police services. But I'm not sure how well a doorbell system would work once inside the doorway and in your face.
I've been robbed twice in my early years and had a car stolen once. Over the years I've become a fan of a multi-layered independent security system with lots of redundancy. I've posted about my system on the forum before.
My DSC Shop Alarm was posting errors when I opened up today. Turns out the battery bit the bullet. Prolly the recent storm and power outage. But I used it as an excuse to check out my system. Discovered that every single window sensor was NFG. I could kick them loose by toggling them with a...
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com
Also on cameras here:
Anybody here using a remote camera system to monitor out buildings? My daughter is looking at setting up something to monitor the barn during calving season, 3or 4 cameras likely. The major problem i can see is distance from barn to her house, 3-400 yards, that may not be an issue if using a...
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com
For video surveillance, I have come to like the Arlo Wireless Cameras. I have others (Toucan, Linksys) but they don't seem to work as well as the Arlos do and I've found myself removing them as my system improves.
The batteries are re-chargeable and also last about 3 weeks to a month per charge depending on usage. They are day/night and can be set for high res. You can program them to focus on a particular area and sense vehicles and humans, filtering out animals and bugs. I got a starter kit initially but liked them so much that I have expanded my system to include two inside my barn and one outside, three inside the house and three outside. With careful placement of the hub, the wireless range is actually amazing.
Because they are wireless, you can put them almost anywhere. You can get aftermarket camo jackets for them too. This makes them easy to hide in the bushes and trees or even a pile of stone.
Currently, the biggest drawbacks are the lack of local storage, the server fees, and the video lag (prolly mostly due to my remote slow provider connection). These might have changed with the latest models. Still, they work extremely well for my needs. I used one to monitor my father while he was dying of cancer at my home, and I even mounted one on the fence to watch for the racoons that were after my Purple Martin's. They are not just for home security.
They can be programmed and monitored remotely and its easy to create modes like vacation, home, sleeping, raccoon watch, etc that can be armed and disarmed on a schedule or manually.
I use them separately to my monitored home alarm system.
Highly recommended.