Indicating that you have a security system installed makes a thief think twice about trying to break into your house and acts as a deterrent for one who is looking for an easy mark. The more difficult you make it for a potential burglar, the less likely they’ll give your home a try and will instead opt for an easier target.
The question is do you really need an actual security system in place or is having the sign visible enough to scare away a potential thief? Do you need a dog or can you just put a Beware of Dog sign up and gain security?
Do Security System Signs Deter Burglars?
Simply using a fake security sign tends not to be an effective option for a number of reasons:
- If you use an actual fake sign from a non-existent security company, anyone including a potential thief can quickly search online and realize it’s fake.
- If you use a real security company’s sign but don’t utilize their services, you could get into legal trouble with that company should they find out. They own the copyright to their logo on the signs and they have no interest in you mentioning their service if you don’t actually use it since a break-in at your house reflects badly on them.
- Most robberies go unsolved since there are often no witnesses and no proof. A fake security sign offers nothing other than the potential of scaring away an amateur thief. Nothing is witnessed or caught on tape.
- Putting up a fake sign may give you a false sense of security, let your guard down and lull you into believing your home is more secure than it actually is.
Research
shows that burglars have a high rate of drug and alcohol usage including at the time they commit crimes. They may be looking for illicit drugs, prescription drugs, drug money, or small items to steal and are just looking for an easy score. Many thieves use drugs and alcohol for courage during robberies and may therefore be less likely to notice or care about a security sign.
Does Having A Real Security System In Place Deter Burglars?
In this case you not only have a security sign visible outside your house but you actually have an active system in place. Research shows that burglars are much less likely to target a home if they believe that a security system is in place.
About 60% of burglars would avoid a home with a security system and would seek a better, easier target according to research. A real, monitored security system can do the following:
- Act as an actual deterrent to a thief who may decide to skip your house and find one without a security system to worry about.
- Provide hard evidence of the crime. If you have a visible security camera, a thief may avoid your house and if you are robbed, the camera may identify the suspect(s).
- Offer quicker response as a monitored system should be triggered by a break in so that your security company can respond right away.
- Dispatch police if you suffer a break in while in the house and are unable to call for help yourself. The security company should do this on your behalf.
- Actually put a stop to a crime if a thief manages to break in, sets off the alarm and is scared away from the sound of the alarm or from a 2-way voice system that lets them know that the police have been dispatched.
Professional thieves often case a house before breaking in. They look for patterns of the homeowner and see when they tend to be away from the home. Having a monitored security system in place protects the house around the clock whether you’re home or not.
Seeing evidence of a security alarm may also cause the potential burglar to leave your house alone and try someone else.
Warning Signs
Some homeowners will visibly place a security sign or beware of dog sign outside their home in the belief that just a sign will scare aware a potential thief. In general terms you will most likely find two different kinds of thieves:
Impulsive thieves: Most thieves are not professional, they steal on impulse and target houses that look easy. So a security or dog sign might scare them away because it doesn’t fit their criteria of an easy target. Plus because they’re amateurs, they may not have the skill or knowledge to get past a security system and/or dog if in fact you have either or both. They won’t take the chance.
Planners: Professional thieves who have experience may not be scared away by an actual security system that they know exists or a dog that they can see in the yard, let alone warning signs alerting them to the possible presence of either. Security systems can be disabled and the phone line can be cut if they notice an older style system attached to a physical landline phone line. Dogs can be worked around especially if they aren’t particularly large. A skilled burglar won’t care that you have a security sign and if they happen to be on drugs or alcohol which many are when they commit crimes, they may not care.
Burglary Factors
Most home robberies are committed by impulsive burglars to some degree. While many burglars are meticulous planners, many more commit crimes without much thought or planning and attempt to find the easiest low hanging fruit to rob.
Robbery facts that are worth knowing:
- About 1/3 of thieves collect information on a home before robbing it. They may visit the home several times, determine when residents are away, look for ways to break in and check out the existence of a security system or a dog.
- 49% of thieves suggested that when planning occurred, the theft took place within 1 day. In other words, when an easy target was discovered they didn’t take too long to figure out whether or not to rob it.
- More burglars target residences than businesses.
- Most thieves want to quickly rob you of easy to transport goods like cash, jewelry, illicit drugs, prescription drugs and electronics. The more you have these items lying around your house and easier they are to find, the easier the thief’s job.
Source: UNC Charlotte
How Burglars Rob You
Easy Entry Points: Most burglars enter a home through an open window or door or by forcing open a window or door. So keeping windows and doors securely locked and reinforced may significantly reduce the chance you get robbed.
Finding An Empty Home: Flyers and newspapers accumulated in the mailbox. Peering through the kitchen window and seeing a calendar on the wall announcing that you’re on holiday. A broken window or damage that hasn’t been fixed. Or they simply look through the windows and see the house is empty. People often go away and leave a home vacant or unoccupied and thieves can quickly figure this out.
Cut Phone Lines: Many burglars will cut phone lines or alarm wires in advance of a theft. Modern households have cellphones of course and fewer people use landlines than in the past. Modern security systems are either cellphone or Internet based which may eliminate these factors from consideration. This also illustrates the benefit of such a security system over a landline-based one. Once the security system is disabled, your home is like any other unguarded house.
Unlocked Garage Doors: Some people keep front garage doors open or unlocked. Some garages have an actual door at the rear that may also be left open or lightly secured. Both can offer easy access to a thief to steal the contents inside.
Find A Better Hiding Place: Thieves know to check all the obvious places like closets, drawers and under mattresses for valuables.
Advice From Burglars
Burglars are often deterred from attempting to rob a home based on certain things that they see or consider. Burglars tend to be most deterred by:
- Occupancy: The more likely your home is occupied or appears to be occupied with someone inside, the less likely you are to be robbed. Many thieves want to avoid having to potentially deal with homeowners since it increases the chance of them being hurt, caught or more severely charged if the homeowner is hurt.
- Houses that look lived in: Mowed lawns, watered gardens, half empty garbage bins, car in the driveway, empty mailboxes. These all indicate that there is likely someone at the house or that the home is otherwise occupied.
- People: The presence or close proximity of other people such as neighbors, foot traffic around the house, lack of escape routes. It helps too when you have neighbors who keep an eye on each other’s houses.
- Visible space: The more visible your home to others the more likely a robbery could be noticed. The less brush and shrubs you have means there is less privacy for the thief to operate. The more lights you have on, the less they are able to hide. The less privacy fencing you have the more others can see your house which thieves don’t like.
- Security: The actual presence of signs indicating security around the property such as a functioning security system, active security camera or a dog may dissuade a thief from trying to rob your house.
- Lack of opportunity: Many thieves strike when they simply see an opportunity that is too good to pass up. Conversely if you deny them this opportunity by making your home less desirable than another, you can reduce the chance you get robbed. Don’t leave a key hidden under the front mat like in the movies or somewhere else that anyone can access.
- Reliable locks: Using high quality locks on your doors can help. Research shows that thieves pick locks to enter a house in a minority of cases. In most cases as mentioned above they either enter through unlocked or weak doors and windows.