From Panic to Apathy & the Remedy

Security overload leads to apathy. How often do you hear a car alarm go off and roll your eyes hoping the owner would disable the blasted thing before the incoming headache comes a knocking?

The primary objection I have to such systems is they work too well. Every week I hear an alarm being triggered in my neighbourhood. This information overload being fired in our direction recreates the same issue we have with car alarms. People are used to hearing alarms go off so much they basically ignore when it happens. I wager most hearing their own alarm go off will simply disable it without taking a real look at their car. This is what happens when security triggers are spammed at such regular intervals: the default reaction changes from pangs of panic to complete and utter apathy.

This is the reality of our current situation, we have never been so safe in our homes and yet never have we been so unprepared for a threat actually occurring.

Case in point, my home has 4 electronic security systems. Four.

Think about that folks.

Reolink Argus 2 Battery & Solar Powered Security Camera – Amazon / Reolink.com

Securing My Own Property: Issues I’ve Run Into & Solutions

The girl and I inhabit a objectively large property, just us and 2 cats. Securing said property is a bit of conundrum, especially in light of my own personal history with home invasion (you can read my personal home invasion story here).

On that note, the core issues stem from: 1. The sheer size of the perimeter, 2. The number of entryways, and 3. The risk of information overload – which is something I have been giving a lot of thought to over the past 6 months and the reason for this article.

My home came with its own standard alarm, the usual motion detectors, sirens & code deactivation deal. This is the general approach taken when securing property both when asleep & out of the house.

The issue, as I mentioned before, is that they work too damn well. I realized a short while ago that the only security feature I liked was one that was marketed for convenience, not security.

I have an electronic doorbell outside the gate with a camera. It gives me information that is triggered manually. I know when it goes off, it’s not just a cat or a general quirk of technology.

Information allows you to make good decisions. It creates an environment where you can feel secure because you know things are in control. The issue with dumb “alarm” systems, beyond acting as a deterrent, is that the threat is never really established unless caught red-handed. It’s almost a placebo.

Say your security company calls you saying your alarm went off – how seriously would you take this warning?

Most security systems also have a way of contacting the police. Let’s say you adhere to a rigid trust in your security system and always ere on the side of caution. Statistically, false alarms will outnumber actual threats by an absurd margin and I wager that your local police department may treat future responses with far less seriousness than you would like should you actually require them.

So for me, they are a double-edge sword. Trigger happy and often wrong.

On that note, the traditional system in my home is disabled 99% of the time. I instead focused on what makes me comfortable, which is being able to take a look at my home (particularly what’s going on in my driveway) when I am away or simply lying in bed. With relatively minimal information, I can choose how to react accordingly.

You may have already clued in due to the pictures dispersed in this post; basically, to do the heavy-lifting (to get a great view of my driveway), I use a Reolink Argus 2 camera. For the sake of transparency, you should know Reolink sent me this camera.

It comes with a solar panel attached to it (more on this later). I wasn’t paid for this article, and I also own Amazon’s Blink home security system (they have a newer, slightly better system now; yet still inferior to the Reolink), have for many months. Reolink asked me to write an editorial article to feature their camera in, rather than a traditional review, but this is me, and I can’t help interjecting with my opinion, even when not asked to.

My opinion on the Reolink? It’s effectively almost the perfect system for my needs. I guessed it would be, which is why I accepted the freebie in the first place. That being said, I want you to be aware that I didn’t pay for the initial unit, but that I will be buying more myself. 😉

My Home Security Prerequisites

With that out of the way, let’s talk about my prerequisites when it comes to my home security. I suspect that my way of doing things may not be to everyone’s taste, but nonetheless here are some notes for your consideration –

Physical security

I want my perimeter to be decently secure without looking like Fort Knox (the more security it looks like you have, the more intruders will wonder what you have to secure).

My locks should be a pain in the ass to pick, but normal enough looking that people don’t think I am a multi millionaire hiding a Picasso or 2.

I should have the option to add security should I wish. In my case, my front gate, as the option for additional security through a padlock (as well as the regular lock), which is something I like having even if I have yet to ever use it.

I should blend in with my neighbourhood on casual observation, but have enough dissuasion if cased that the perp would go for an easier target.

Getting to me should require obstacles of increasing difficulty for the sole purpose of buying time.

Information Acquisition

My system should be resilient to tampering.

I should be able to access a picture & video stream regardless of where I am in the world.

Fail-safes should exist within the parameters of accumulating evidence (cloud storage and physical retention of data would be ideal).

I need to be able to disable and activate it at will, remotely.

Maintenance

Maintenance should be close to nonexistent.

Obligatory Over-Sharing: My Thoughts on the Reolink

Again, no one asked my opinion, but I’m still going to share it.

The Reolink I was given with attached solar panel is 10 kinds of awesome. I can set triggers to be notified with various sensitivity levels, I can check in whenever I want just for peace of mind, I am in control of what to do with any information sent my way and it offers onsite storage.

I initially bought the Blink system. It’s affordable, and in all fairness it’s tiny and works very well. My little Blinks are all indoor cameras, and are to this day dotted around the house, but the Reolink being effectively offgrid means I don’t care about how much it records, how often I stream from it, etc. It just works, and quite frankly, it’s a superior platform.

The only thing I would change is the option to have cloud backup, which is the only thing the Blink “beats” it at. The Blink offers free cloud storage as standard. Sadly, the Blink’s reliance on connecting to a stupid little device instead of your core network (I have a mesh Wi-Fi network that reaches down the street) means I have relegated the Blinks to rarely accessed rooms and now depend on the Reolink for the totality of my perimeter.

The best thing I can say about the Reolink: it just works.

No need for further ad glib when talking about a security system.

Your Home Security Pre-Requisites?

How do you secure your perimeter and have you also felt information overload? Discuss!