Burglary - Important Notice Regarding Household Contents Insurance

You always have to ask yourself with alarm systems, motion detectors, video surveillance, and self-firing devices what each individual measure achieves and how reliable it is against false alarms..

Your mockery and irony are somewhat out of place here.

No one mentioned self-firing devices.

For all other systems mentioned, it depends both on the quality of the equipment and on the professionally correct installation – also with regard to the false alarms you mentioned.

Do I want an automatic notification to the police if something happens in the garden? Who pays the costs in case of a false alarm?

This statement shows that you do not have much knowledge of the subject you want to discuss. Alarm connections to the police are not allowed for private individuals in Germany. For that, you need a security company / alarm center.

A grating, as you mentioned, is neither desirable (because usually extremely ugly – who wants to live in a "prison") nor permitted on all windows – here, the keyword is "second escape route."

There are also now motion detectors that are pet-immune.

So before you make wild claims here, I would first advise a well-founded engagement with the topic.

Apart from that – I wish that you never find yourself in a situation facing a burglar or returning to your completely devastated home.

One must admit, however, that DragonyxXL is not entirely wrong. We also decided against particularly secure windows + doors. Only an increased number of mushroom head locks + a multi-point locked front door. No RC2 windows (which also require the appropriate glass), no alarm system, no lockable handles or similar. The extra cost simply wasn’t worth it to us. Our house is illuminated from the outside (partly with motion detectors in the garden area), at night the shutters are closed, all windows are locked during the day, the front door is locked, and all outdoor sockets near the house are powerless. That is enough for us, as it is for most other families as well. Maybe there simply haven’t been enough burglaries in our area yet. I don’t know anyone in our neighborhood in the last 15 years who has had a break-in. Therefore, we prefer to spend our money on what we consider to be more sensible things.

Hi,

the burglar-resistant glass is a nice to have, but you don’t necessarily need it.
Try breaking a triple-glazed window... I don’t have the statistics on hand right now, but windows are broken very, very rarely. It makes too much noise and the risk of injuring yourself is too high. Even a burglar thinks about occupational safety…

I consider the grating as irony.

From my point of view, the burglar-resistant glass and the grating were forgotten here.

Now some argue: If you only make it difficult enough for the thief by increasing the burglary attempt duration to 3-4 minutes, then he gives up. But you can also say that the thief can get in everywhere if he wants to. One could also claim that thieves are attracted to particularly protected houses because of the especially protectable interior.

Yes, that’s exactly the point. Make it hard enough for the burglar so he gives up and rather targets the less well-secured neighboring house.

And I don’t care at all about the damage to the house. If you prefer that a burglar causes only minor damage to the house but rummages through your stuff, possibly steals/destroys irreplaceable things due to their sentimental value, destroys your trust in your home as a place of safety and security, and it possibly leads to dangerous encounters between you, your family, and the burglar:

Okay, your decision. But I suspect you are a very rare exception with that attitude!

Of course, with sufficient effort, you can get into absolutely any house!
Probably the only really somewhat secure house is Fort Knox. Only I can’t afford a complete military base as a security team. That would also be somewhat exaggerated for what we have at home.

If you increase the effort to get into your place, you already scare off probably 95-99% of the “normal burglars” who just break in without prior knowledge about the houses and see what they can take.

If you are, of course, a widely known art collector/jeweler with storage at home/coin dealer or similar, you probably deal with burglars who have specifically spied on your house and know exactly what obstacles to expect. That’s a different league.


Best regards,


Andreas

For all other mentioned systems, it depends on the quality of the equipment on the one hand and on the professionally correct installation on the other - also with regard to the false alarms you mentioned.

That is the case with almost everything. If everything were always built correctly, this forum would not exist. Therefore, one must assume that the company may be incompetent or the equipment faulty. As always, there are ways to narrow down the problem (certified companies, companies with a well-known name, etc.), but only a suitably qualified expert could really ensure that, right?

This statement shows that you do not know much about the subject you want to discuss.

I had not tried to hide that. If discussions in the forum are only allowed to be conducted by certified experts in the respective field, then why can anyone register here in the forum?

A grating, as you mentioned, is neither desirable (usually very ugly – who wants to live in a “prison”) nor permitted on all windows – here the keyword “second escape route.”

I see it exactly the same way. But I see it the same with video cameras. They bother me and my guests as well as the neighbors.

There are now also motion detectors that are animal immune.

As above, it’s all just a question of cost, the right company, and quality or frequency of errors.

Before you make wild claims here, I would first recommend a thorough engagement with the topic.

At least I have raised as many questions as I have made claims.

Apart from that – I wish that you never come to a situation where you face a burglar or return to your completely ransacked house.

I wish that for everyone. The reports of acquaintances, colleagues, etc. are often very disturbing. The affected people usually struggle with it for quite a while.

Hi,

Our general contractor charged an amount for the windows in "half RC2 equipment" = RC2 fittings and locks but no RC2 glass that was below 1% of the house price. We found that quite reasonable for 17 windows, many of them double-leaf. That is under €200 per window.

Only an increased number of mushroom head locks + multi-locked front door. No RC2 windows (because suitable glass is also needed for that), no alarm system, no lockable handles, etc. The extra cost simply wasn’t worth it for us. Our house is illuminated from outside (partly with motion detectors in the garden area), at night the shutters are down, during the day all windows are locked, the front door is locked, all outdoor sockets near the house have no power. That is sufficient for us, as it is for most other families. Maybe we just haven’t had enough break-ins yet. I don’t know anyone in our neighborhood in the last 15 years who has been broken into. That’s why we’d rather spend our money on what we see as more useful things.

Unfortunately, that can change. I grew up in Münsterland and it has happened to us that we left while a 2 m wide sliding door in the living room was completely open. Then either nothing happened for 3 days or a neighbor pushed it closed so rain wouldn’t come in.

My father had a 7 Series BMW in the early 90s. The car had a loose electrical connection which, when the car was locked, caused all kinds of lights to blink at around 0 degrees Celsius, the horn occasionally to sound, etc. The new control unit was unavailable for months; as a workaround, my dad never locked the car at home during that time. Nothing ever happened.

In other words, completely peaceful area.

Today, unfortunately, there are occasional break-ins in the area.

Best regards,

Andreas

no lockable handles

In my opinion, a shortcoming (in connection with burglary protection). The burglar drills through glass or frame (by the way, with a battery-powered device, no power outlet needed), pulls a wire through, and then opens the window. It takes no time at all. Roller shutters are not an obstacle, pull a little at the bottom in the middle, no problem.

By the way, this is not expert knowledge; anyone can learn this by seeking police advice.