jules63

Following a break in (boo hiss to them) I am looking to beef up my house security. I have two half glazed doors to an internal courtyard which is accessible to burglers (as I have just found out!) so I am going to put on some sort of security grill/door and wondered if people had any advice about best type to have and any idea of cost. I am getting quotes this week but wondered if anyone had any advice from their own experience.

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Thanks

missile

We installed a security door, grills, alarm, fitted a beware of the dog sign. We do not actually have a dog but purchased a device with a sensor which gives a very realistic dog barking sound which gets louder and more intense as the intruder approaches our property.

I do not like to cause you further distress, but you are more likely to be targeted a second time. The low lives wait a few weeks, giving you just enough time to replace the stolen items with new.

lynnxa

check for these marks on the wall outside your house - often your property will be 'marked' for future reference

Rotor

I bet a journo with time on their hands put it together , most house robber struggle to remember their name let alone a complicated sign system.

More like scare mongering , could also be good for winding up your neighbors,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/de...alk-marks-wall

lynnxa

our local police sent them out recently to 'neighbourhood watch' groups - the actual 'document' has been around for a while though

HBG

If you have Neighbourhood Watch in your area, then they will be able to give you advice re security fittings. The signs posted by Lynn are mostly in use by the Gippos and are very much in evidence, though hard to spot.

It's hard, but try not to show any outward signs of wealth, keep the outside scruffy and don't wash your car too often, it it's a flash foreign car, hide it in the garage, and get a small, dented Spanish one for shopping and local trips.

Most proper burglars employ young boys on push bikes to ride around and spot suitable targets, or a couple of Spanish Gippo ladies who walk around rabitting while sussing out easy targets. They talk loudly to see if you have a dog.

Neighbourhood Watch will have a list of a hundred other things to help you.

Lynn R

We leave our TV on when we go out, and programme it to come on and go off automatically when we go away, or leave a radio on with a timer, as well as leaving a lamp or two on timers to come on and off a couple of times a day.

None of it is all that much use if the thieves live nearby, though, or know people who do, because they will be all too well aware of your movements.

HBG

There is no immediate answer to the question of home security. You can install high walls, alarms, fierce dogs roaming your garden, have weapons to hand, but where's the quality of life?

Or you can be totally relaxed about it, don't bother with security and drive around in a shiny Mercedes, until you get robbed.

Most of us aim for the in-between, sensible security measures without them impinging on your life too much.

It's not a Spanish problem, it's worldwide. Personally, and it's not for everyone, I have a Doberman, a big one. I've just been out on the cold terrace watching him do his job. He patrols round and round, jumps up at vulnerable points and barks when necessary.

I've also got a little white dog, 12 cmts high, who keeps an eye on the Dhobe. Now, when he starts barking, I know it's for real.

bobd22

HBG I used to have 2 Dobermans had them from pups both dogs unrelated people were terrified of them. At the time I was a military instructor for potential NCO's, the troops would arrive on a Sunday for the initial reception, whenever it was my turn to do this I would often walk my dogs first then take them with me. My wife worked in a shop and overheard some of the students talking one asked who the others instructor was and he said me, the other said oh I'm sorry for you I heard he was a devil but when I saw them dogs of his I knew it was true. However truth be known they were the softest dogs in the world never or hardly ever barked insisted on sleeping together in 1 bed and one would insist on sitting on visitors knees with his front feet on the ground much to the terror of visitors that didn't know them. The only thing that was guaranteed to get them to bark was if someone started fighting even if it was on TV. We even once had someone deliver something and the wife was out she then bumped into my wife who had left the door open,the lady had opened the door and put the parcel inside, when the wife said did the dogs not do anything "Dogs" says the women never saw any the wife explained what they were and the women said oh I wouldn't have gone near had I known. I would not have relied on my two pals to guard anything, but you know what they were the best dogs I have ever had fantastic with my daughter when she was young and sadly missed.

HBG

The present Doberman is the third one I've had in my life. The first two were family dogs who grew up with my children. This one is just as soppy as the others, loves every one, but hates burglars.

The children have long gone, but guarding is in his genes. I got him here in Spain and he has an immaculate pedigree. I got him rather than move house when the burglars got in for the seventh time in this high crime shithole that I live in.

My wife loves it here and works here, and I can't sell my house anyway. So I've got the Dhobe to keep the peace, and he's good at it. He's got his own bed but insists on sleeping in ours. Along with the little white one.

anonimouse

I think the only real cure is to move to a location with a lower crime rate, from what I have read it's difficult to stop them as they will follow you home from supermarkets if they see you have a posh car and look like you may have good pickings

bobd22

Mind we have a mutt now very old about 15 staffie cross again soft as muck with people but not other dogs. We had a parrot until a couple of years ago which we had when we had the Dobermans he wasn't afraid of them either the parrot would some times get in their bed which confused them. But with the Mutt we have now the parrot used to tell him to get in his bed (sounded just like me) and the daft mutt did as he was told lol then the parrot would chuckle away to himself.

Domino

I have recently heard of a Brit who died of heartattack, the house, with no neighbours nearby, was being refurbished and he was sleeping there alone whilst family stayed elsewhere due to previous attempts to break in.
House was stripped whilst everyone was at his funeral, now just a shell, worse than when they bought it..

Remember someone coming on here a few months ago to say whilst back in Uk (?) his new solar panels and generator were stripped out, he lived up a track some way from nearest neighbour with no one beyond him.

Once you become a target - for whatever reason - you will be robbed/stripped. They will take no care, no delicacy. If they know they have a clear field they will rip out bars, security shutters etc etc.

So do internet based webcams, alarm systems etc etc actually work, and is it possible to get any response from the police ??

jackytoo

The Police around Marbella seem very responsive. We once lived down a private lane with only one other house. The other house had been empty for over a year. OH had a feeling things had been disturbed around it's entrances and one day he saw a gyppo hanging around. Two Police cars came within several minutes (we were about 10 mins from the centre). They didn't mess around, dragged the two people out, the woman by the hair.

I read this week that two thieves were caught in a villa in Benalmádena. A woman was alone in the house, two men rang the bell, she peeped out and thought they looked dubious so didn't answer. They thought the house was empty so broke in! She rang the Police and they were caught. When their home was raided there was cash including dollars, lap-tops, top of the range mobiles, jewellery etc.

missile

I don't know what use a web cam would be other than perhaps to identify the intruder. I would recommend an alarm linked to a monitoring centre. Prosegura have a man on a motorcycle we chose Alart24 who will send the police. I do know the police do respond very quickly in Ciudad Quesada.