Police data shows that last year 4.3% of Queensland homes experienced at least one break-in. That is more than one reported to police every hour!
These break-ins represent 64% of all reported offences against property, which have been on a steady rise over the last decade, with some drastic annual increases of up to 12%. Additionally, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, seeing people in their homes more, reports of unlawful entry increased by 4.7%. Of these, 70.8% resulted in theft, 49% resulted in significant property damage and 11.8% reported confrontation with the perpetrator. Alarming!
Comparing this data to home insurance claims, there is an additional 24% of break-ins that are not being reported to police. It is then quite unsettling to consider how many break-ins occur that are not being reported to police or claimed through insurance. Very Alarming!
The good news is that a significant majority of these incidents can be prevented through the installation and implementation of sufficient security systems. The Australian market has a wide selection of products and services on offer to help keep you, your family and your property safe. And, through advancements in technology, many of these systems have smart tech functionalities for real-time access, notifications and fail-safe locking. There is nothing worse than worrying if you have left the front door unlocked!
We recommend this handy guide by Queensland Police to check your home security.
To make understanding your options easier, we have summarised security options available along with our professional opinion on the pro’s and con’s.
Motion Sensors with Lights or Alarms
Motion sensors are a simple, quick option you can DIY or have professionally installed. They can be battery powered or wired and come in a range of options that trigger lights, alarms or send notifications to your phone. They can be left on permanently or activated via keypad or phone app.
Motion Censor Pros
- Cost effective and DIY (each unit can cost less than $50)
- Trigger lights and alarms deter intruders
- Real-time notifications
- Do not require digital or cloud storage of video footage
- Some monitoring includes police deployment, backups and fail-safes if professionally installed
Motion Censor Cons
- They won’t prevent intruders from accessing your home
- Reliant on a power source and wifi to be cost effective
- False alarms can be costly with monitoring services and police deployment
- Are visible and can be avoided, disarmed or stolen
- Needs to be on to be working and can malfunction, break or disconnect without warning
- Monitoring and backup services have ongoing costs of approximately $20 per/month
CCTV Cameras
CCTV cameras are also quite cheap and can be installed DIY. Similar to motion sensors, these systems can be wired or wireless, send you notifications and be equipped with monitoring. The additional advantage is when triggered video footage can be automatically saved and you can remotely access your cameras to assess potential threats. They can be left on permanently or activated via keypad or phone app.
CCTV Camera Pros
- Analogue or digital video access and recording
- Real-time notifications
- Some monitoring includes police deployment, backups and fail-safes if professionally installed
- Cameras can be viewed remotely in real-time via apps
- Visibility can work to deter intruders
CCTV Camera Cons
- Required additional services such as: cloud storage, monitoring and apps are long term costly expenses on average of $45 per/month
- A decent quality single unit can cost upwards of $1000
- CCTV should only be installed professionally to ensure adequate coverage, troubleshoot connectivity issues and ongoing technical support. This can skyrocket the install cost alone to well over $5000 with ongoing monitoring, storage and access fees.
- Does not prevent intruders from accessing your home
- Reliant on power, wifi and being turned on (or left on permanently)
- Technology can become obsolete
- Many variable factors that significantly influence the cost and success of the system
- Prone to being disarmed and stolen or the cameras defaced
- Low quality cameras that are not wide angle create blind spots or capture unusable footage
- Can be tripped accidentally or malfunction, break and disconnect without warning
Crimsafe iQ
Crimsafe iQ is Crimsafe’s range of security technology to give you peace of mind for the safety of your home and family. This range has passed the toughest burglar-resistance testing, not only in Australia, but in the world! This technology includes superior locking solutions, anti-jemmy heavy duty hinges and a wider, stronger frame.
Crimsafe iQ Pros
- Permanent and fail-safe
- Passed worldwide burglar-proof testing (heavy duty, jemmy-proof, knife proof etc.)
- No ongoing fees – mobile app included
- No ongoing repairs and maintenance
- Tamper-proof, concealed screws
- Automatic locking with keypad, manual key, finger-scan or bluetooth access
- Keeps bugs out, filters 62% of UV radiation and lets in 53% of airflow
Crimsafe iQ Cons
- Larger upfront cost
- No monitoring, alarms or video
- Your neighbors might get jealous
What’s Best For Your Home
Motion Sensors are the cheapest and can be installed yourself in a single afternoon. CCTV cameras are comparable in convenience and price with the added security of video recording. This becomes complicated when the success and true advantage of a CCTV system relies on the quality and accessibility of the video. Features such as 4K HD, wide angle and night modes drastically impact the price of the system, however without usable video the advantage of CCTV cameras over motion sensors is questionable.
CCTV and Motion Sensors are both trigger activated systems, that means they rely on what they can see and detect. If not installed effectively, blind spots and obstructions become vulnerabilities in your system that intruders will take advantage of. Motion sensors and CCTV also pose a low threat, deterring only 22.8% of intruders, leaving your home, your family and your property unprotected.
Significantly, these systems are heavily dependent on power and wifi. Without expensive fail-safes and backups in place, a power outage, flat battery, troublesome wifi connection, simple malfunction or even a savvy intruder could completely disarm the system. This leaves your home, your family and your property vulnerable and unprotected. You might not even be aware of it!
Intruders are also known to break, steal and deface security systems, which becomes costly to repair, replace and maintain.
Apps, monitoring services, backups and cloud storage (for CCTV video) can be useful and some security services even activate police deployment. The downside here is that trigger systems are prone to malfunction and false alarms which can become costly. CCTV is helpful to resolve this, through real-time remote video access, which will unfortunately skyrocket your additional annual costs in excess of $450! There are cheaper options, however, to truly take advantage of your CCTV system investment, these additional services are mandatory.
The most important concern with trigger systems is that even if your system is fully functioning and has all the costly fail-safes in place, motion sensors and CCTV are primarily a deterrent. They do not adequately protect your home, your family or your property as they do not stop break-ins, theft or unlawful entry. Moreso, when you are alerted to a crime, these incidents are often over in under 5 minutes, hardly enough time to do anything about it.
Having a deterrent does help, however actively preventing intruders from entering your home should be the number 1 priority when considering your home security options. In fact, 67.5% of Queenslanders choose security screens to protect their homes, over 32.5% who install trigger systems.
Proven by worldwide testing, Crimsafe is the highest rated, fail-safe security screen option that prevents intruders entering your home. Particularly Crimsafe iQ, which has an automatic locking system, preventing 70% of intruders that gain access to Queensland homes through open doors and windows.
Now we can’t blame Queenslanders for this as we all know how hot it gets! But with Crimsafe iQ installed, your windows and doors can remain open, locked and more impenetrable than any closed door. Cool breeze can flow through your home, damaging UV rays during the day can be limited and pesky bugs and intruders will be kept out!
Whilst each option offers benefits, motion sensors and CCTV are only effective at deterring intruders. On the other hand, with Crimsafe iQ, you are paying for a permanent, fail-safe barrier and break-in preventative.
Crimsafe security screens are also extremely heavy duty, weather resistant and made in such a way that ongoing costs and maintenance are not required. Unlike motion sensors and CCTV which require ongoing monitoring, maintenance, upgrades and electricity costs. Additionally, motion sensors and CCTV can only notify you of an intruder, Crimsafe iQ security screens add an impenetrable guard between what is coming from the street into your home.
So there you have it, motion sensors, CCTV and Crimsafe iQ security options for protecting your family and home from break-ins and theft. We know which one we’ll be choosing!
