Ask Slashdot: Inexpensive SOHO Crime Deterrence and Monitoring? 272
First time accepted submitter trellz writes "My sister and brother-in-law are self employed, and run a small business with a storefront. It was broken into about a year ago, and since then they have reinforced physical security; bars on the doors and windows, better locks, etc. Unfortunately, their store was broken into and vandalized again last week, in spite of the added security measures. Being technically savvy, I'm trying to come up with inexpensive ways to add deterrence, monitoring, and alerting to their business. They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin, so the solution needs to be almost free. They do have an internet connection at the store, so motion detection, web cameras, Arduino devices, and the like are certainly an option. Ideally I would like a rock-solid alerting method. Something like an email or text to a laptop at home, or a dedicated prepaid phone, but without the pitfalls of such a solution (i.e. random wrong numbers, solicitors, email spam, etc). I'd also prefer not to poke holes in their firewall at the shop if at all possible. I was considering an email with some sort of long code or hash in the body, and then could white list that on the receiving end to key off of. The goal is to never have a false alarm based on the transmission/reception method." What advice, beyond ZoneMinder?
How was it broken into again? (Score:4, Interesting)
Bars on the doors and windows suggests someone was pretty aggressive about getting in there - or your physical security upgrades are just insufficient. If people can still get in, and if what they take is relatively lightweight, a sophisticated alarm isn't really going to help you all that much compared to just something which makes a lot of noise.
Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:4, Informative)
My vote is for a cheap $50 (or less) motion detector tied to a loud speaker. Nobody wants to rob a place so loud it hurts. You could set it up to send an email when triggered or such, but that's not going to make a huge difference in the robber's response. Unless the plan is to get a $200 cheap PVR/camera security combo so that they can catch people, rather than scare them off after they've done $1000 damage to windows and bars before running off.
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Myth... busted!
Mythbusters tried to yank the axle of a car using a fixed cable but every time either their cable failed or their anchor failed. They busted the rear axle up pretty bad, but never yanked it off as seen in American Graffiti.
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Myth... busted!
Mythbusters tried to yank the axle of a car using a fixed cable but every time either their cable failed or their anchor failed. They busted the rear axle up pretty bad, but never yanked it off as seen in American Graffiti.
that depends on the car.... rusted up lada and think again what happens.
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Myth... busted!
Say it with me, Mythbusters is not science. You're busted. Stop citing mythbusters, especially when hilariously trying to prove a negative.
Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:5, Insightful)
In what way? Mythbusters use the scientific method to test claims. They measure, experiment, collect data on a variety of scenarios - controlling and testing different variables on each pass - and report on their findings.
Some of their findings have been challenged by members of the public, and repeat experiments have been conducted - some confirming the initial assessment and some forcing a revision. Their experiments and their results are available to anyone and are testable, repeatable, and refutable all the same, with further experiments refining the hypotheses under test.
That's called "science".
I'm afraid you've been poorly educated on the subject if you don't think so.
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In what way? Mythbusters use the scientific method to test claims. They measure, experiment, collect data on a variety of scenarios - controlling and testing different variables on each pass - and report on their findings.
The main issue is that failing to replicate something is not evidence that something did not happen.
When they confirm a myth there is usually no issue. But busting a myth by failing to confirm it is not really valid science.
They make assumptions about the environment the claim takes place
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Because random youtube clips are a more reliable source.... Right?
If all it takes is some youtube clips to prove them wrong, then they're clearly full of shit. And indeed, that is the case.
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I'd have to see the mythbuster's attempt to pull the axle out. I've seen the axle of a 3/4 ton Ford pickup pulled halfway out from under the truck. The truck was still operable, barely. It was driven to a close-by garage for repairs. Pulling the axle free of the frame isn't easy, but it isn't impossible either.l
If it were my goal to recklessly pull the axle out from under a vehicle, I'd start with an old, high mileage vehicle, preferably with a lot of rust. If some young, dumb kids have altered the sus
Watch again - Mythbusters yanked axles (Score:3)
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And also set up a camera on the building opposite so it records everything as teh camera on the violated property will probably get trashed if seen
I'd assume that all the cameras should send out to an off-premises server. In this case they should be recorded before they trash them.
The idea to get cameras opposite is good though. At that point getting together with all the shops in the area and setting up a system together might help. Scary and anti-freedom though this is, nobody will care or try to stop you. This will be much cheaper than paying for everything yourself.
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>The problem with off site servers, is that the thieves will trace the wires back to your home address!!!
I can't tell if this is a troll, but even the cheapest of Chinese CCTV DVRs today have a backup to network, backup to hard drive, and backup to offsite option.
Also be sure to look for "pentaplex", meaning you can do 5 things all at once (view, record, ?, ?, and ?).
Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:4, Informative)
A camera? Now stop being silly. Go to a location that has presumedly similar layout to the one in question. Take a pic with your digital camera. Scale it down to NTSC resolution. That's the best case image you're going to get -- stuff from usual cameras used for monitoring looks much worse. Most security cameras are completely useless. You can barely tell between a human and a gorilla on most of the feeds that catch large areas. A small storefront may leave you with a bit better image than most, but it's still way too large area of an to cover if you want to see any faces. Other than recognizing faces, what's the point? I mean, you know there was a break-in, there's no reason to look at a video recording to confirm what's obvious. Either you get faces that are recognizable, or it's mostly useless.
You've basically fallen for the security monitoring scam: people love it until they actually need to see the images and realize they are useless.
To get good monitoring you need HD cameras, and plenty of them. For a small storefront monitoring, you may need coverage from two 1080p webcams. They are not exactly the most inexpensive of things. Alternatively, if you believe in a bit of luck, a digital photo camera taking timelapse pictures every second may also be likely to catch the faces. I'd go for one of the Canons where you can replace stock firmware with CHDK. You can then make it delete old pictures and keep new ones in round-robin fashion.
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The police and manager were in the office reviewing the tapes, and they had to call me in to point out the robery, as
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>Maybe they should move their office to a safer neighborhood.
> They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin
Maybe you don't understand something here. Rent. In the neighborhood you want them to move to rents can be double and triple the cost of the ghetto. If they are not making huge profits as it is, they simply can't afford to.
Locking up all the items is fine, but the problem stated was vandalism. That is a different problem then theft. A vandal may not take anything, but instead just smash
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If a loud alarm isn't enough add some smoke (as long as it doesn't trigger sprinklers or similar ;) ).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOgKti335tQ [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFWe-sAsAIA [youtube.com]
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Yeah, a good bar system should take longer to get through than anyone would be willing to commit.
And also be so ugly that customers might decide to go to the mall instead.
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I've seen a number of "barred windows" in my time. I didn't exactly count them, but roughly 35 or 40% of them can be bypassed with nothing more than a screwdriver and/or small pry bar. Taking some wrought iron, and screwing it into the storefront's facade does NOT constitute "barred windows", IMHO. Maybe for legal purposes, such a setup helps to demonstrate intent and determination, but most of us live in the physical world, subject to the laws of physics. A teenage girl with a bad case of PMS could rip
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Obvious solution - get a dog.
Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:5, Informative)
Dogs work well. But, housing and caring for dogs in a downtown business district can create a lot of headaches, too. Not to mention, that well trained security dogs are expensive, and poorly trained dogs are a liability. Be prepared to spend not less than twelve hours per week with a pair of dogs - time that many businessmen don't have.
In short, I wouldn't recommend dogs to anyone who didn't
A: think of it themselves
B: actually likes dogs (preferably loves dogs)
C: have a close by exercise yard
D: have plenty of time to work with the dogs
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Well, obviously, you don't have to exercise a night watchman. Now, stop giggling, and go get the watchman some more donuts, please. He's due for a coronary, and we've got to help him! ;^)
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These dogs are not pets, you expect them to work all night and be vicious. Be prepared to keep an animal mean and unsociable. Dogs that aren't dedicated to protection tend to just bark a lot, nip and get shot by intruders. Be prepared to have animal rights people up your butt about it as well.
Not a bad idea for a rural farm area, not so good for urban areas.Impractical.
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My suggestion would be a modified version of this sentry system http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uetmdJJkpdQ [youtube.com] .410 shotgun for use with anything from rock salt to birdshot to deer slugs, dependent on the damage you want to inflict.
Mod it with a
Stun gun? Flame thrower? I'd fool around with marking them up w/paintball, but these guys sound aggressive enough that putting them down would be best for all.
Just a judgement call, but you know your situation better than me.
Heres a bi
Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:How was it broken into again? (Score:5, Interesting)
Right, could be insider threat.
Good point. There's so much here that isn't made clear. Some questions to answer before deciding what to do:
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Parrot to burglar: "God is watching you".
Burglar, bemused: "Who would teach a parrot to say that?"
Parrot to burglar: "The same person who would name a Rottweiler "God".
Seriously, raise a good dog and let him sleep in the shop. If he lets his territory be violated by a burglar, then it's someone the dog already knows.
Dog (Score:4, Insightful)
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And to be really honest, they're not much against a steady nerve and a hefty crowbar either.
Dogs or headcrabs?
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Or even just a recording of one or more ...
Re:Dog (Score:4, Funny)
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How does the gun help if the staff has gone home overnight?
Already Solved (Score:2)
REVO DVR (Score:4, Interesting)
I put in a small Revo DVR unit with webcams last year for a small business. It was $800 and I think it was a lot of bang for the buck. It had alarm inputs, whick are simple enough that if you're on a budget you could set up on entryways. The cameras were motion detecters, IR, etc. I definitely recommend it.
Almost free? (Score:5, Insightful)
They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin, so the solution needs to be almost free.
Doing nothing has a cost too... possibly more break-ins = more lost profit. There is a potentially high risk cost of doing nothing; depending on what it is, they might be able to budget a lot of money, and the net cost could be zero: assuming the break ins are actually causing damage and hurting their business revenue.
The idea that you run a business, and you are not willing to spend any money on security is absolutely ridiculous. You should be willing to spend an appropriate amount of money to manage the risk.
The most important mitigation is probably to have insurance, but again... the premium may increase, the more breakins.
This may be a matter that a security consulting firm should be hired to look at.
Hidden cameras with a DVR may be useful to help catch the perps.... however, there is a problem: this is only useful, if responders become aware of the breakin and get there, before the thief can locate the DVR associated with the cameras and destroy it.
Visible cameras, may be used as a deterrent; however, they are subject to vandalism.
One of the best deterrents which should not be overlooked is a professionally Monitored security alarm system with External sounders, Internal motion detectors, Door sensors, Glass break detectors, perimeter coverage, and an alarm loop and cellular backup to a central monitoring station, that will dispatch authorities in the event of an alarm.
Re:Almost free? (Score:4, Interesting)
Um, this is 100% a waste of money. A monitored security alarm gets rid of nobody but the dumbest B&E'ers. Even if the alarm company is listening, and verifies that a person is physically inside the premises, and phones the cops, the response time is still ridiculous [in downtown Vancouver BC, it was like 20-30 minutes]. And the thieves know it.
$5 for stickers saying you have a monitored alarm works just as good.
DVR's need to be fairly good to be able to positively identify somebody, nevermind at night in the dark. And that assumes the police put much effort into looking at it [it usually amounts to the detective on the case looks at the video, and either recognizes the guy or doesn't...end of video]. And does catching the guy make a difference to your business [as in, how fast does the guy have to be caught for him to still have the stuff so you get it back, as once he has passed it along, the likelyhood of ever seeing it again goes WAY down].
And your insurance rates go up the same amount whether or not the guy gets caught [unless of course, you recover enough stuff to not bother making a claim, which is very rare].
In general, your best bang for your buck is loss prevention. As in, preventing the stuff from exiting the store prematurely.
For ground-level shops, try roll-shutters over the windows and doors. As a bonus, they also prevent vandalism like window-smashing.
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Yep.
The idea is to make the thief think that breaking in would be a bad idea. If he doesn't make that decision then no amount of fancy sensors will make any difference, he'll just walk in, grab some stuff then walk out admiring all your expensive flashing lights and sirens. He knows the cops won't turn up for half an hour (if at all).
You'll still have a broken window, broken doors, etc. to clean up next morning.
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Get a proper one. [...] The cost is miniscule.
Moreover, it's a cost which absolutely should have been planned for up front. If you can't afford security, you can't afford to be in business.
Don't bother. (Score:5, Insightful)
If you don't have or can't afford business insurance, then you should question whether your business is viable or not, especially if a poorly timed robbery can put you under.
Re:Don't bother. (Score:5, Insightful)
Buy business insurance, do what the insurance adjuster wants you to do, and don't do anything more.
This. Hacking together some "security system" won't do shit for you. Even if you manage to get some clear video, even if you manage to get the police to look at it, even if you avoid having some half-asleep public defender obliterate you in court because you can't actually prove the timestamp on the video is accurate, even if you manage to get a conviction...how the fuck does help your friends? They still need to take that conviction and use it as leverage in a civil case against the perp, and even if they get a judgement....there is no cash register at the court house! Your friends aren't going to see a dime from some broke-ass criminal deadbeat.
This is what insurance is for...to insure assets against risk and let you move on with life.
webcamd on UNIX (Score:3, Informative)
There'll be a bit of manual page reading, setting the motion detection thresholds and areas, configuring it to start on boot, archive/FTP images taken, add timestamps to the images, etc, and writing the scripts that will get run when motion is detected, but it'll be cheap, customizable and it'll work.
I've used this setup in a local maritime simulator where there was a breakin attempt (lots of projectors and electronics naturally), and they wanted a bit of extra security on the cheap.
HTH,
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Whatever seems reasonable... plus this (Score:5, Interesting)
This does nothing. But it completely stops break-ins and it's cheap.
https://spygear4u.com/ds_proddetail.asp?prod=GS-LS-131 [spygear4u.com]
Watch the videos you can find of it around. It's very scary. Does nothing, of course, but it's VERY scary. And that will keep your family's store safe.
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I have to admit, that should scare off the unsophisticated average thief. Smooth.
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Bruce Schneier has pointed out another similar device: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/08/200_for_a_fake.html [schneier.com]
Re:Whatever seems reasonable... plus this (Score:5, Funny)
It's all fun and games until your cat dies of exhaustion.
Monitored Alarm System (Score:3)
If they cannot afford the less than $100/month for this service they're not going to be in business long since they obviously aren't turning a profit.
Here's A Solution (Score:2)
Here's what they need:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnH95uzQPOo [youtube.com]
It's both cheap and effective (apparently).
My alarm system (Score:4, Interesting)
I can't believe modern people are still stupider than medieval people. This is pure castle theory. You don't build tons and tons and tons of defense like walls and locks and moats and then just leave it. Persistent threats will find a way in. What did rich people and kings do? Set traps. Make it look somewhat secure but then oops, you stepped on the wrong rock. Now there's spikes in your face. Or you pick a lock on the treasure chest and it released poison gas because the treasure chest is actually backwards and the real lock is on the back.
Bars on the windows are nothing. They'll just bring a crow bar. The "low hanging fruit" theory about which stores get robbed do not apply here. But add traps aka window break alarms and make sure the "Protected by alarms" and red blinking lights are showing and a thief would have no idea what trap they're about to fall into and would stay away.
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A friend had a remote shop (sop easy to break in without detection and difficult to respond to quickly) which he wired with a simple intrusion alarm system, but also included a fog machine like the kind you buy at Halloween. When the alam is tripped the sirens beging and the lights are switched off and the fog macine starts and the thief assumes he started a fire and leaves. It's worked twice so far with no loss of property, just replacing the busted door.
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In rare and unusual cases, yes. The vast majority of the time they relied and locks and guards just like we did today. Back in medieval times, most of their wealth generally wasn't in coins or other easily portable means anyhow... You should get less of your history from TV or the DM's guide.
Stop being stupid (Score:2)
Seriously, how is anybody supposed to know how their system is deficient or how to prevent further break.ins without knowing the merchandise which is attracting robbers and how their system was compromised?
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The Source has a convincing camera dome (Score:2)
Security should be "in depth" (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm seeing a lot of partial solutions here. Both in what has been done, and in what is being proposed. The first thing you should be doing though has been mentioned, and that's talk with your insurance adjuster. At the very least you can find out what your liabilities are for various security measures, and possibly what measures will reduce your insurance rates.
Start by looking at what a thief is going to see as they look at how to enter the property. You may find the TV series from a few years back "it takes a thief" (or something like that) helpful in looking at the entire place for security problems. The doors and windows may be barred, but is it possible to gain access through the floor, or ceiling? Even a good barred door may be a problem if it's sheltered in such a way that you can't see if someone is working on the lock.
Part of that should also be looking at what you can do to improve deterrence. Signs, visible (if non-functional) alarm panels, even a steadily blinking light next to a sign labeled 'Alarm System' can be a deterrent.
And finally look for ways to monitor the approaches to the property both front and back, and if the building is stand alone, all around the building. You may want to use PIR along with IR Lighting to capture movement around the building.
If you are presuming that someone will break in after you've identified (and hopefully fixed) the issues from outside, then you're to the detect and defend internal options. High resolution cameras, covering the access points. Motion detection, door and window open sensors, glass break detectors, etc. These are intended to generate alerts and set up a means to capture what information you can about the thief. Tip, mark the door frame on either side of likely entrances with contrasting tape to form a crude (half foot or 20 cm increment) tape measure to give you a quick estimate of how tall someone passing by the entrance is.
Obviously you will need to decide for yourself how critical it is to secure different parts of your store. High value gem dealers usually place their entire stock in a vault of some sort overnight. If you know what the reason is behind the break-ins in the area (paying for drugs being common) you may be able to protect high value items by making it easier to steel a few low value items that you are less concerned about loosing.
Understand what the thief is working with. Unless you've been cased for a professional theft, in which case you're insurance carrier may have other suggestions for you, Most thefts are a snatch and grab variety, the thief is looking to get in, get something and get out. Be gone before the cops show up. If you know the cops will be there within 20 min, (talk with other businesses in the area that have experienced break-ins to find out if that estimate is even in the balpark) then you know how hard you have to make it for a thief to get at the valuables.
Also set policies (and follow them) for how to deal with elements of the store that are critical for operating. Assume that a thief can get the cash register, all cash within the store, and possibly your computers in the store. Does someone have a spare cash register, and operating cash for the day that they can bring in at the start of the day if you need to get going while making repairs? Is there sufficient spare stock in an off-site storage to get up and running the next business day, or are you going to be waiting a week for your suppliers to restock? Is the customer information on your systems at work in a secure system? Do you have off site backups of your inventory and books? Have you a policy of depositing all cash over and above what you absolutely have to have for daily operations on a nightly basis? Do you have multiple known locations where you can make those deposits so that if construction makes your usual after hours depository unavailable you can still make your deposit. Have you tested your off site backup solution to confirm that if your systems up and left, or a vandal cam in and drove a pick-ax
Use a fire suppression system like this (Score:2)
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Never mind the dog... (Score:2)
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What about insurance? (Score:5, Interesting)
Often your insurance will demand certain CERTIFIED minimum requirements with your insurance premium going down the more you meet their requirements.
And those requirements don't have to make sense or be best practice but they are the difference between your insurance company paying out and not paying out.
If requirements made sense, we would LONG since have had HD camera's recording to HD's rather then very very very poor camera's recording to low quality tape. But your own 4k mug shot and tricorder scan of the perps DNA and entire social history will see your insurance claim thrown out with a scornful laugh while a certified wobbly 320x200 etcha sketch will get you fully re-imbursed.
So: First check with your insurance company.
Next: Crime prevention is about denying criminals what they want:
1 Fast
2 Easy
3 Cheap
4 Low risk
5 Money
So do stop criminals make their crime be
1 Slow
2 Hard
3 Expensive
4 High risk
5 Non paying.
Your shop needs a door and to be inviting it needs to be airy and this is done by making it out of glass. But a glass door is easily shattered. A wooden door with two large glass panes separated by a wood bar in the middle is ALMOST as inviting but now the burglar either needs to remove the door, open it or climb in through ONE of the smashed panels. This is slower. He will still get in but be able to steal less in the same amount of time. This makes it less profitable.
Shutter I mean one of those rollup "fences" that drop out ofthe celing, no idea what their english name is.
One thing you could do for instance is leave your display window open but install a shutter inside the store itself as an additional barrier to overcome. Barely visible during the day, at night an extra barrier. Many people place them infront of doors but this just requires you to lift the shutter, then bust in the doors that tend to open inwards.
Place an electrically lowered shutter BEHIND inwards opening doors, how do you open that one without a key? You can't push the doors in because the shutter is blocking that and you can't lift the shutter because the doors are in the way. Remember, theft prevention is like preventing being eaten by a lion, you don't need to be able to outrun the lion, you just need to outrun your neighbor.
Hard is similar to slow of course in that you make the burglars work just that little bit harder. Just one more lock, just one more barrier to overcome. One thing we as consumers hate is those plastic wraps around products but they have a simple reason. They are very large meaning it is hard to conceal for shop lifters or at least conceal as many. And they are hard to open to make it hard to open them and take their contents. We know this works because well, we all bitch about how hard they are to open. Most of the large plastic containers are pure theft prevention and contain a fully serviciable selling/display package inside for shops that don't need to fear shoplifters.
Do you NEED to store all your most valuable products in handy to carry containers right near the entrance to the warehouse? Or could you place your most expensive products on the highest shelf in the furthest corners? And lock up the ladder? And add some barbed wire to the shelves for those trying to climb it?
Think of shoe stores, if they are smart, they one have either the left or right shoe on display. Putting both the right and left shoe in the same size outside is asking for it but how many shoe thieves are interested in only left side shoes? I don't know if this was purely accidental but I did once notice that all the shoe shops in one area all had only the left shoes on display.
Expensive might be a little less clear but while you might think that a prepared thief can cut through any chain in any case you might as well get the cheapest available, the simple fact is that not all locks/chains etc are the same. And the better ones require mo
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inwards opening doors
Around here, doors on commercial buildings open outward. Something about making it easier to escape a burning building.
Pay for a Central Station (Score:2)
Don't have the alarm call or text you. That's a waste of valuable time. You're just going to call the cops anyway. And what happens if you're asleep, in a movie, flying, etc? More time wasted. Your job is not to wait for the call or text from your security system letting you know that an alarm has been triggered. Given that you've had break-ins before, I'd say you would drive yourself crazy making sure you're accessible 100% of the time in case a message came in.
Monthly central station service is the price
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Small price to pay for the peace of mind you get having someone ready to get the police there on a moment's notice anytime of the day or night.
Small mind if you think the police will be there on a moment's notice any time, day or night. It can take them an hour to respond to a theft call and thirty minutes is not unusual. You need a monitoring company with its own responders.
Frikken Lasers! (Score:2)
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Private security? (Score:2)
I don't know how is in US, but in Romania there are security companies that provide 24/7 monitoring for as little as 40$ a month with a contract that guaranties a 7 minutes response, if you want lower you pay more. They include motion sensors & means to connect directly to their teams to alert the closest one. I own a small business and had no problems until now. But they usually call me if they see an unusual pattern - like opening at night or if I forget to set the motion sensors on after a certain ho
Green Laser Dazzler (Score:2)
Forget cameras (Score:2)
I install cameras for customers, and I would advise you to forget CCTV as a way to stop break-ins. I get a lot of prospective customers who want cameras to deter intruders and advise them the same way. Good camera systems, which pretty much leaves out video, is useful to catch shoplifters, light fingered employees, improper use of resources, and reduce liability in the event of an accident and law suit. If you want to stop intrusion, secure the property (if they got through bars, you need better bars), and
get the ED-209 (Score:2)
Dawg: Lo-tec is sometimes best (Score:2)
The key is, the store is his home. His people (the owners) come to visit him and spend time with him there every day. He gets lots of visitors who he can greet (customers).
End of the business day, his people leave him a small amount of food, plenty of fresh water, and a nice place to sleep, as well as run of the store.
Post signs. Dawgs protect their territory, which is why it needs to be HIS store (his home), n
Re:Chloroform (Score:4, Funny)
Remember: Anesthesiology pays relatively well because knocking people out is easy; but knocking them out such that you can wake them back up is hard.
Also, murder charges are a real hassle, and even jurisdictions that allow you to shot people for little more than trespassing tend to frown on lethal traps...
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Messy though. Not an elegant solution.
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Re:Live there (Score:4, Funny)
Elegant? What do you want? Lightsabers?
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Re:Live there (Score:4, Interesting)
"An initial period of several months of intense training in marksmanship and urban combat followed up with weekly practice and regular refresher training will be needed."
What a load of shit. A good gun safety course takes a few afternoons on the weekend. The urge to return to the range and practice is natural. .45 cal is just about perfect for personal protection. .40 will go through walls, cars easily, a .38 couldn't bring down an aged Pope with a whole clip, a 9mm is just a Euro .38. .357,.44 and .50 are fine for disabling freight trains and semi-trucks .22 and .32 will protect you from rabbits.
Most gunplay with handguns occurs at less than 50 feet and the majority of that at less than 25 feet. Train intensely if you are shooting for the Olympics, train realistically if you want to hit a human size target effectively. Choose an adequate weapon for the task at hand. A
a
Mostly, get gun advise from someone involved with weapons and training. Getting a bunch of anti-gun-nut propaganda from some pacifist hippie on the internet is useless as the one giving it.
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I wish I could mod this up. My mod points *just* expired!
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Get a Foscom Wireless IP Camera. It'll email you a picture if something triggers motion detection. Pretty handy.
Might want to get something that turns on the lights, too, so the camera can get a good look at whomever.
How can Chinese no-names yell in Korean?? (Score:2)
Please excuse me for being dense ...
How can Chinese no-name gadgets yell in Korean ?
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I've evaluated a ton of IP cameras, from low end $49 units to high end $2000 PTZ night vision units. In my experience, cameras like the ones you linked to are 100% useless, and a waste of time and money. Why? Imagine quality.
Security cameras serve three purposes. The deterrence is just the crook being able to see them. A working camera isn't even required for that purpose, and fakes are sold for as cheap as $10. The second purpose is to identify the criminal. For that you need a VERY clear picture.
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"I don't think a thief is going to be able to burgle your store while a variety of discordant tones plays at 150dB, increasing to 180dB, then maybe on up to about 220dB. I think at around "louder than a rocket launchpad" even a deaf thief will notice."
The neighbors will come and kill them. And the speakers. And you.
But anyway, all these solutions are very fine but not cheap. Also if the perps get in, the damage is done, you'd need new doors, new bars, new locks, new cameras, new loudspeakers etc, a cheap so
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Excellent idea.
I've done high profile contract work for Audio Defense Systems.
The average person can alternate white and pink noise at those volumes cheaply enough. Use of a timer is a good idea and shut it off after 10 min or so.
People of means and governments can afford to pump an effective 9 - 11 c.p.s. at 180 dB which has inhumane features to contribute to the nervous system along with hearing damage.
Do not use around puppy dogs.
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With police like that I doubt pictures of the crooks will help. Especially if they are masked or wearing helmets.
I wonder how much those anti-theft fog/smoke things cost and cost per release: ;) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAPw_xbTJzk [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK083niNAmY [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOgKti335tQ [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOqECorcOno [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SZeCbARjKM [youtube.com]
There's even a disco light edition
These seem more likely to reduce the amount of stuff stolen than s
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No, that's far too simple. He's after a high-tech solution.
I still want to know how sending an email will prevent the burglars. Is he going to put up a sign: "Warning! This shop protected by email!" ?
I'm not sure I'd hire him as a security consultant. I might do something crazy like ask a local cop what to do. Somebody who knows the area and knows what sort of people break into shops. That's just me though...YMMV.
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put up a sign: "Warning! This shop protected by email!" ?
Warning! This shop protected by attack email.
That way they would-be perps know that they'll have to deal with malicious payloads, instead of just phishing and 419 like you get from the usual sleepy bone-chewing guard emails.
Re:Simplicity... (Score:4, Interesting)
i bought a really nice bike years ago when i started university and it was stolen (locked up in an open public place within the university grounds)... talking to campus security revealed that it was commonplace and that the solution was to use a cheap shitty looking bike because they aren't targeted
in other words... make your store appear less of a target; if you have massive steel bars on the windows and security cameras everywhere, crims will think you are protecting something of value. i dunno what the store sells, but you may want to look at what measures are used by other similar stores in the area.
there are a bunch of possible reasons why your store could have been targeted:
- what sort of neighborhood is it in? (maybe shift to somewhere with lower crime)
- do you have any enemies? (think outside the box here a bit, such as does your wife have nasty spats on facebook? women can be as vindictive as men)
- how do you get on with your competitors? (you're not competing with the mafia are you?)
- are the police offering any advice? if so, maybe consider following it
at the end of the day, you need to analyze how it is affecting your business overall. i'm guessing you're not in the security business so having bars on the windows and alarms and cameras probably is costing a lot and not contributing to increased sales. the decisions you make should be sound business decisions, as well as consideration of your personal or family situation if you think there is any risk (what happens if someone comes in while you are in the store?). for the business, add it to your threats column and see how it all stacks up. if you are spending more on security to the point where you're not making enough to pay your bills then the viability of your business in on the line. continuing an unviable business out of spite for the criminals is stupid obviously (that's how government's think, not small busininesses).
trying to shape the problem to suit a solution that an IT specialist can help with is putting the cart before the horse; more security may not be the right solution.
there isn't really enough info provided to give much more of a story but its a fairly common problem with shop fronts so there should be a lot of folks out there with ideas.
No, no. Fill it with sand! (Score:2)
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It is powerful enough for this:
The skin of his hands was white and black due to the burns.
But:
Nah it wasn't powerful enough to kill somebody, made sure of that.
That is totally contradictory.
A quick look at some web sites gives me answers of 15 mA across the heart to be the minimum lethal current, while burns can be expected at currents of 200 mA and above. That are huge currents to run through one's body, and if any vital organs are in the way (e.g. hand to foot - drawer to ground) it's simply lethal.
Cattle fences give nasty shocks, yet work at far lower voltages than 170 kV (2-10 kV usually), and give pulses of just microseconds