Inside guide to home security
Protecting your home from unwanted intruders.
Home Security
We've all read the statistics: every 20 seconds or so, a home or business in the UK is broken into, and one in five homes is burgled more than once a year. However, few of us heed the warnings until it's far too late when we suddenly become overnight security experts. But why wait until after the break-in to make your home a safer place? A few common sense measures can help protect your property against an opportunist burglar. Alternatively you can install your own security system or enlist the help of a CEDIA specialist to implement a more advanced security strategy.
Basic security measures
There's no denying that simple security measures such as leaving a light on or plugging lamps into a timer switch when you leave the house can help deter any burglar. Timers are available from any high street store from around £10 and are becoming increasingly sophisticated, allowing you to set different on/off times for each day of the week to look more natural.
Similarly, it's essential to fit BS Standard deadlocks everywhere throughout your property. According to government statistics 20 per cent of burglaries do not involve forced entry at all as victims simply leave their doors and windows open (particularly common place in the summer time when people want to let some air into the house). A further 30 per cent of burglaries are breakins through doors that have only very basic latch locks.
Of course, these common sense measures are all very well, but if you want to deter the professional burglar you do need something a little more hi-tech. A good place to start is with PIR (Passive Infrared Detector) security lights at the front and back of your property. These detect movement by monitoring infrared energy levels and illuminate a certain area for a pre-set time. They are remarkably effective as they not only dissuade intruders, they also attract the attention of neighbours and passers by. Another option worth considering is investing in a good burglar alarm.
Bells-only vs monitored alarms
The problem with burglar alarms is, like car alarms, they are often ignored by neighbours. How often have you heard an alarm going off in the middle of the night, rolled over and gone back to sleep again? What's more, even if you do phone the police they probably won't come out to investigate. Police regulation DD243 states that a single tripped sensor from a burglar alarm is no longer enough to prompt a police response. Either a break-in has to be confirmed by sight or sound, or two alarm sensors need to be triggered before the police will do anything.
This is where monitored alarms come in. Unlike bells-only alarms, monitored alarms are connected to one of several specialist Central Monitoring Stations (CMS) which are run by security companies like ADT. As soon as the alarm is triggered in one zone of the house the bells are automatically sounded and a signal is sent along a telephone line to the monitoring station. If a second sensor is then triggered, indicating that there is movement within the house, the home owner and any keyholders are automatically contacted by phone. If these people are unable to explain why the alarm has been triggered then the police will be called.
DIY solutions
There's certainly no shortage of security companies that will fit basic alarm systems for you: just take a look in The Yellow Pages or on the internet and you'll probably see dozens listed.
Typically a system comprising six wired or wireless PIRs, internal and external sirens and a master control unit will set you back around £500 to get it fully fitted. However on top of that, there's the annual cost of monitoring the system which is usually between £200 and £300 a year.
A far cheaper solution is to buy your own off-the-shelf security system. Available from DIY stores and local high street shops, these are available in wired and now wireless versions. The advantage of wireless systems is that they are generally much easier to fit. However, on the downside they are less suitable for advanced security applications, like remote video monitoring.
One of the best known wireless setups around is BT's VP1000 Home Monitoring system
BT Home Monitor Complete Kit VP1000 The BT Home Monitor VP1000 is an intelligent house alarm system that alerts you to intruders wherever you are in the UK, via e-mail, text message or a fixed-line telephone call. You can also raise an alarm if you come under personal attack. The VP1000 is the complete Home Monitoring and Alarm System, giving you control and the ability to manage your system through a personal password-protected online account. This is a self install unit which uses wireless sensors. All For Under £180
Inside guide to home security
Tough new controls over video monitoring expected
VIDEO: Tough new controls over video monitoring expected; likely to affect corner shops, publicly accessible areas of office buildings, sports, retail, entertainment and leisure facilities IN BRIEF: A concerted effort seems to have begun to impose greater controls on the use of video monitoring systems that cover areas to which the public has access. Small shops, open office areas, sports, retail and entertainment facilities are just some of the premises likely to be affected. A new jointlydeveloped ACPO / Home Office initiative will seek to impose a requirement for registration of such systems, as well as training and licencing requirements on their owners/operators. The Information Commissioner has revealed that small video systems are now to be brought within the scope of its Data Protection Act enforcement programme. And the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has begun an inquiry into the UK’s ‘surveillance society’. Explains Graeme Gerrard, Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire and coarchitect of the ACPO / Home Office project, “There is a limited infringement of Human Rights with CCTV and there is a recognition that not everyone should be able to do it unless they have been registered to do so.” Government is proposing tough new curbs on the use of small video monitoring systems. Simultaneously, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has revealed new plans to require small video systems to be registered under the Data Protection Act. Both new levels of control will apply to any video monitoring system that views areas to which the public has access. This is likely to include small corner shops, publicly accessible areas of office buildings, sports, retail, entertainment and leisure facilities. The new Government measures form part of a wider attempt to regulate the use of public-space CCTV monitoring. They are contained within proposals in a soonto-be-published National CCTV Strategy, developed jointly by ACPO and the Home Office. Graeme Gerrard, Assistant Chief Constable of Cheshire, is one of the architects of the National CCTV Strategy document. Gerrard says, “After the London bombings [of 7/7] there was a recognition at the highest levels of government of the importance of CCTV.” However, says Gerrard, “There is a limited infringement of Human Rights with CCTV and there is a recognition that not everyone should be able to do it unless they have been registered to do so.” The proposals outlined in the Strategy – which will apply only to those video systems and users that monitor publicly-accessible areas – include a requirement for such video monitoring system owners to be licenced and registered, for the establishment of a national database of such video monitoring cameras, and to require image recordings to be of sufficient quality to be ‘fit for purpose’.
“Anywhere where CCTV is in place in areas where the public has access would be covered,” confirms Gerrard. “It would probably go down as far as the corner shop.” In a parallel development, the ICO is poised to publish its long-awaited revision of its Data Protection CCTV Code of Practice. This, it seems, will reverse previous ICO guidance, to re-include smaller video/CCTV users within scope of the Data Protection Act – requiring such small system users to register with the ICO and conform to the requirements of the Act. Explains the ICO’s Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Bamford, “We will be taking a wider view of what is caught by the Data Protection Act. There is the possibility for small CCTV users such as shopkeepers to be caught. That will be a big change.” Another new element in the revision of the Code of Practice relates to the issue of ‘adequacy’. There will be a new requirement that a video system is adequate for the purpose it is intended. “The data that you hold better be able to do the job,” says Bamford. “If you are recording CCTV images – and the intention is that the law enforcement authorities may wish to use those images in court – then they’d better be of quality so that they can. “If the images aren’t of sufficient quality, then you’d better not be recording,” adds Bamford. “The Code of Practice is something that is supposed to bring the Data Protection Act to life in various circumstances,” he says. “It needs to be effective, but it also needs to be achievable. And it has to be something that inspires public confidence in the continued use of CCTV.” The ICO’s CCTV Code of Practice, the Small User CCTV Checklist and the Additional Guidance will all be replaced by the new revision of the Code. * In addition to these developments, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has recently announced an inquiry into the UK’s so-called ‘surveillence society.’ One of main focal points of the inquiry will be the use of CCTV/video monitoring and the Committee will investigate the case for introducing a new sort of risk assessment, developed specifically for public surveillance called a ‘privacy impact assessment’. In According to the Committee, the inquiry will look at how surveillance activities that ‘offer the potential to play a part in the fight against crime’ – such as CCTV/video and its associated technologies – may impinge on individual liberty. Output from the Government inquiry is likely to include new proposals for the control of surveillance in public areas.
ACTION POINT: These are very significant developments for installers and operators of video and CCTV systems. CCTV system installers should follow developments closely and make their views known to their professional body. However, the full extent of the new controls will not become clear until publication of the National CCTV Strategy document and the ICO’s Data Protection CCTV Code of Practice revision. The ACPO / Home Office National CCTV Strategy document is expected to be published before the summer, but in what form exactly is not yet known. The Home Office website can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk The ICO’s revised Data Protection CCTV Code of Practice is currently in final draft form and is expected to be published, following a 12-week consultation period, sometime around September. When published, the Code is likely to be downloadable from the ICS’s document library at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/document_library.aspx The home page of the ICO’s website is at: http://www.ico.gov.uk For more information about the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee surveillance inquiry visit: http://www.parliament.uk/homeaffairscom