Do I need the home protection plan/Quail Hollow elementary school? (Salt Lake City: crime, big house)

[MovingtoUtah99]

Dear all,
I think we finally found the home........if you all don't remember me..we were looking for a home that is a reasonable commute to the U and a good elementary school.

We found a home a block North of Newcastle Dr (apprx. 8800 S and 2200 E) in Sandy. We like the house and placed an offer but wondering if we need one of those "home security systems". I checked crimereports and most of them around the area are sexual offenders although someone did warn me that there was a guy breaking into homes in broad daylight a few years back (they have since caught him) and they haven't heard that happen again.

We have moved here from a pretty small town where we have forgotten to close our garage door more times than we like to admit (until a neighbor would come knocking or call us late in the night telling us we forgot to close it) and nothing ever happened. Moving into a "bigger city", wondering if we need to subscribe to a home security system. What are your thoughts?

Also how good is Quail Hollow elementary? Did any of your children go there?

[irman]

Originally Posted by MovingtoUtah99

wondering if we need to subscribe to a home security system. What are your thoughts?

For what it is worth, here my *experiences* with a home security system.

Two basic ones
- private system (self installed or professionally)
- commercial (monitored by a central agency)

I know very little about the latter.

I decided to add a self installed video system,
simply because I have a big yard,
and we have grand kids playing in our yard at all times.
So I opted for a video system in order for me to *see* what they are up to.

It is OK and I have not experienced any criminal activity at *our home*.
Never had any since we moved here 17 years ago.

What is a neat feature of the system is that
we can *see* who is coming into our drive way
(if we happen to look at the monitors),
and who is actually *at the door*
when the bell rings (look at he monitor) and then decide to open or not.

Here the irony ...
When I was installing the system, one of our neighbours who is a policeman,
comes by and says:
*You realise that a few well placed signs
and one or two fake cameras,
will do almost the same thing ?*
I have a few large signs (in English and Spanish !) very visible from the street !
One even visible at night, since the yard lantern pole lights it up !

One of daughters has a commercially installed system,
monitored by a central agency.
One day she comes home and the system tells her something is wrong !
She calls the company and the police.
The security company is there within 18 minutes (she timed it)
and the police half an hour later ...
Apparently, she forgot to close a window before she left !
For the umpteen years she has had it, she never had a break-in,
but she has this commercial sign in her front yard !

If you like to know more about a video surveillance system, let me know !
I learned a lot using it !

So ... ,
do the neighbours say there is a recent problem ?
Have you spoken to the nearest police station
and find out what problems there *might* be ?

In the end, I think, NO area is totally safe.
A few signs might be all you need.

But, *better safe than sorry* always has been a good start !

Last but not least, I think *everybody* should have security lights installed,
Those which turn on when you enter your drive way.
I have them installed *all around the house*.
If I enter the yard at night, they come on and light the yard up for me !
I can also do some hocus pocus switching routine,
which allows me to *keep them on* for a longer time.

[Geo-Aggie]

Another option for a fairly cheap, effective, family friendly home security system that is very common in Utah (considering crime is relatively low and everyone goes hiking):



Pros:

• It sends off a warning alarm before people even open the door acting as a far better deterrent than a box with some sensors.
• It also increases the intensity of the alarm if the intruder enters the door.
• If its owners determine the security threat to be benign it goes into sniff mode and makes sure there are no hidden treats.
• You'll spend about $30 a month to power it and maybe $150 a year in repair bills, so it comes out to be the same cost as an alarm system.
• Your kids will love it.
• It will greet you with tail wags every time you get home.
• Eats spiders

Cons:

• Shedding
• Dog breath
• If you buy it new it'll pee in the house a few times. Older "shelter" models are typically not prone to this.
• Gets fat without regular exercise.

[MovingtoUtah99]

heheheeh..my almost 3 year old would LOVE ME MORE if I had get one of those Geo-Aggie...but I am not ready to deal with a second toddler in the house !

[MovingtoUtah99]

And thank you irman for the detailed response!! I will have to consider the private and the yard signs option!!! I have not checked with the local police station ...but the story goes that the guy who was breaking in would choose a back basement window, knock on it and then use a glass cutter to come in. The way he got caught is that the homeowner was home and heard the knock and saw him...and eventually they caught him...not exactly sure of the sequence of events there or how long ago exactly this was...but enough to scare me !

[MovingtoUtah99]

And irman, what do your "signs" say...did you purchase them or make them yourself? Could you send across a picture?

[Chango]

I went to Quail Hollow Elementary, but that was the late 80's so I'm sure it's not the same.

[dcisive]

I just lost my job this last March after 7 years working in the commercial security industry. I can tell you that due to the lack of sufficient police on the beat in most jurisdictions these days, home alarms are a "low priority" hence response times are from not good to next day at best. This tends to be just a bit area specific as well. It seems Daybreak and Herriman (Unified Police) are getting rather fast responses. South Jordan and Draper are pretty decent as well. I can't speak for Sandy however. West Valley City, Taylorsville, might as well plan on a visit the next day they are dog slow responders to such alarms. Indeed If I were you I'd contact the Sandy PD and have a little discussion on what your expectations should/could be under a triggered alarm scenario. Salt Lake City now has a ordinance in place considered "non response" They won't even come at all unless or until a guard service has come before to confirm there is an incident. Then they put it on their docket, but don't hold your breath. Many a business owner is livid over losses due to this, but there simply are not enough cops on the beat to handle these lower priorities.

[irman]

Originally Posted by MovingtoUtah99

And irman, what do your "signs" say...did you purchase them or make them yourself? Could you send across a picture?

I have a good friend, named Google ...
He gave me this
Google Image Result for
Then I printed the signs, and laminated them.

OK, since you seem interested in a video surveillance system.
Several on the market, and I like to buy via Amazon .. pretty good return policy if you do not like the system.

I settled on ZMODO (anybody answering with *that is crap* , go ahead I do not care what you think !)
Make a small diagramme of your house and yard. What would you like to see.
Most systems are 8 channel but sell you more than often only 4 cameras.
In the end, after figuring out what to do, I ended up with 8 cameras.
Four outside, four inside.

The system has a feature that, when triggered, will send you an e-mail.
So if you have a *smart* phone, it can tell you something is going on at home.
Guess what ... , the first time I set it up and went away,
(I only activate the remote trigger when I am NOT at home),
I was inundated with umpteen e-mails.
Apparently every leaf that blows across the screen,
every bird that hops around in the field of the video cam,
every car that drives past your house,
triggers the system and sends you an e-mail ...
We were gone for 4 days and had over 100 e-mails !!!

So 4 more cameras, and put those inside.
Figured out where anybody would like to come in and set up cameras there.
Now, no more impromptu outside triggers.
Only the inside cameras are set up for remote triggering.
I know it works, since one time, my son came in (he has a key)
triggered the system, and I got an e-mail.

On my smart phone, I can dial in the data and can *see* which camera is triggered,
and that is when I recognised my son.
I called him and got him to look at one of the cameras.
So I know it works that way.

You may say, why not put the outside cameras inside,
but remember I needed to *see* the kids in the yard !!
So ..., when I am in my home office (I work from home),
I can check on the kids playing outside.
Totally impossible to be *with* 100% of the time !!!

OK, you get the idea ?

Next is the quality of the cameras.
The higher the amount of TV lines, the better the pic.
There are also two kinds of cameras. CCD and some other type,
I forgot, but you will notice when you start shopping.
I opted for CCD, since it seems to be a better quality picture.
Also check the spec for the distance it can *see*.
Mine are 80 feet ... (take that with a grain of salt).
Yes you can *see* 80 feet away, but you do not recognise anything !!
Make sure they are equipped with night vision.
The more light, the better the night view !

I have one outside camera 7 feet away from any face of a person,
who stands at the front door and rings the doorbell.
I can easily recognise their face !

Hard drive size.
Most of them come with a 500 Gig HD.
I think big enough, since when full, it will wipe old recordings and overwrites.
some of them do not came with a HD installed.
Nothing to it, buy one somewhere, and install !
Screws, connectors are all provided !

Wiring.
Inside, I went thru walls and then just wire the cameras.
You have to decide where to put the wires.
For a really big house, you may have to buy extension cabling.
Outside, the bundle goes thru an outside wall, into 1 inch diameter plastic pipe.
A bit of a job, but I did not have pay umpteen green ones for some wannabee pro ...


Note, they now have a *new* system with only one wire
between the camera and the DVR.
Mine has two ( video signal and power)

[MovingtoUtah99]

wow...Irman..thank you so much for the detailed explanation!!! Definitely sounds like a project that my husband could tackle in his free time ( I don't have any free time :-p)!