Most people either have....
- some monitored service like ADP
- or some homebrew, dog in a cage with a blanket on a chain, pin-pulled grenades tied to strings in cans nailed to the windowsil(thanks Phantasm II), X10-a-thon, webcams, hidden cams, motion sensors, etc....
- Fancy magic traps like in Deception/Trapt (I just know Mondain does!)
I recommend 2 tiers... I mean face it - yer shyt is valuable and you dont want some greasy ashole stealin all yer gear and stuff....
Use a combination of monitored services AND homebrew madness.
Get the real but often slow cops in qeue, but also do some local vandamage to deter the thives!
Do you really want to leave it all up to one lazy sod in a monitoring call centre manned by a barely competent ops team?
Do you really want to leave it up to a whistle/horn in your house?
1.) pick a monitoring service/alarm package of your choice.
2.) go to RadioShack or x10.com and buy a bunch of the RF alarms, switches, outlets, etc.... (I never recommend internal motion sensors, but pressure plates are OK)
Get creative with it - I love deploying multiple control boxes (the thieves find one and destroy it another alternate box will still activate the synched alarm devices.)
- use the wireless controlled light switches instead of the usual flip switches, when the alarm is tripped every switch controlled light in the house will fade/flash on and off over and over as the alarm sounds making it harder to navigate the interior and harder for the thieves to see you about to knock their fukkin heads off.
- Dont rely on the standard X10/Radio shack alarms - hook up the remote mics and use the alarm box to dial 911 - when the operator answrs the control box will play the microphone audio to 911 contact center which will record everything as part of the call.
- Hook lamp modules up and attach terror devices....lamp modules are made to be plugged into a wall outlet and then have a floor or desk lamp plugged into them so you can remote control the lighting/fading. Since we dont care about make out lighting here, and are going for maximum screamage, hook devices of terror up to the lamp modules that whe nactivated upon alarm tripping will terrorize the thieves...some good suggestions are a powered air siren (so loud it can be heard for blocks), strobe lights, an ignition device that launched clusters of bottle rockets and fireworks (outside or inside the house
), etc... be creative. One of the things I have is an old display with a VCR that powers on and plays a looping segment on a 2 hour tape of me telling the thieves how fucked they are....what will you attach to lamp modules?
I thought of posting this sbecause I helped a friend do up his crazee alarm system recently - it was like 100$ in X10PRO parts and the shyt is pretty rad (activates these smoke machines that flood certain rooms with smoke - including the foyer
