> But the second a human steps into my garden and starts approaching the house in the night, all the perimeter floodlights are activated, in-house lights turn on, a fake-yet-loud barking dog MP3 starts playing and I get pushover notifications on my phone that won't stop until I ACK them etc (to wake me up).
Wow this setup seems like overkill for a residential setup. I have lived in “bad” neighborhoods before and have never felt the need to get this kind of setup.
The most I have is a single camera pointed at primary ingress/egress point which is configured to upload to Apple iCloud via “HomeKit Secure Video”.
Yeah I didn't feel the need either until I had two small kids and multiple attempts of people to break-in whilst your 2 year old daughter is asleep upstairs etc.
I actually live in a nice neighborhood and this is the problem I think. I am not especially wealthy, but a lot of people in this area are (and not just a bit wealthy, but like absurdly ferarri-owning excess etc). So while crime generally in this area is low, breakins and robbery is unfortunately high.
I am working on the "run faster than the other person when escaping from a bear" approach. Visible deterrents, then more "active" deterrent in terms of automated lights and dog sounds etc, a solid physical security in the hope that they just try to break in to someone else instead.
when I lived closer to the city I ended up with a few cameras covering the street, the driveway, front door..
I caught around a dozen or so car break ins, random trespasses 'looking around' - and a few other things..
Not one of those recordings was going to get police to do anything.
And now that ring / nest etc are everywhere, most people walking the old neighborhood are wearing a hoody covering their head and a 'it's normal now that we had a pandemic mask' of some sort.
Frankly I think it's best to deter with multiple lights and sounds like op mentioned, otherwise you just catch a recording of a minor crime, and it might make you feel good that you could recongnize the person in the video at the corner gas station or bar down the street, but it doesn't let you stop them or do anything to them.
in my small data point experiences, I understand after a hurricane, some parts of Florida had a different police priority announcement, and places like Texas allow the use of force including deadly force to stop a theft of property,
but here having cameras and weapons is not enough, it's actually expected by the 'bad guys'
Wow this setup seems like overkill for a residential setup. I have lived in “bad” neighborhoods before and have never felt the need to get this kind of setup.
The most I have is a single camera pointed at primary ingress/egress point which is configured to upload to Apple iCloud via “HomeKit Secure Video”.