Window Guards VS Security System
I will be moving into a ground floor apartment in Prospect Heights (Washington Ave near Pacific) in the Spring. The unit has very large windows with great views. However, the windows are only about 4 or 5 ft off the street and I’m concerned about security. Ideally, we would like to buy a high end…
I will be moving into a ground floor apartment in Prospect Heights (Washington Ave near Pacific) in the Spring. The unit has very large windows with great views. However, the windows are only about 4 or 5 ft off the street and I’m concerned about security. Ideally, we would like to buy a high end security system and not have bars covering the windows. Is that enough though? I’m very new to the neighborhood, so I would love any thoughts people may have.
Thanks!
Burglar alarms are like most other deterrents, they will keep the amateurs at bay. However alarm systems have other neat functions like smoke detection, flood detection, and low temperature alarms if your heat goes out. If you want an aesthetically pleasing form of protection from a brute force attack though I recommend replacing your street level windows with tempered glass. You can take a brick to those windows and they won’t break.
Bars are ugly and make your home feel like a jail cell. When I first moved to NYC, I had them installed in my exterior windows, but a year later later I had them removed and the place felt much more spacious and airy afterwards.
It’s better to invest in very good windows and an alarm system.
Simply locking your windows when you leave home is my best advice.
Usually burglars look for apartments with the easiest means of entry and an open or unlocked window is always their first target.
Phoned in alarms go to the bottom of the priority list for 911 calls, so you could be looking at a substantial response time before the cops get there. They don’t even get called in as burglaries, but as automatic alarms, and since so many of them are false alarms, the cops don’t kill themselves getting there. Too many false alarms (it used to be three in a year, I don’t know what it is now) and the cops won’t respond at all. Personally, I think that alarm systems are a rip off, and I know that precincts used to have crime prevention officers who would do safety surveys on houses and they were taught to recomend bars over alarm systems. Most thieves, obviously not all, but most, will go to the next house if a house is secured with bars, especially if they are exposed and not hidden behind shrubs, trees, things that thieves can operate behind without being seen.
Aren’t bars on windows a safety hazard? How would you get out if there is a fire and your front door is inaccessible? There was a fire in Flatbush were all but a two of the occupants of the house died because the windows were blocked by security bars.
We had a one man burglary wave in Lefferts Manor a few years ago caused by someone (since apprehended and serving a long prison sentence) who spread bars apart (presumably) with a jack. FWIW this particular bad guy only spread bars where the window was left open. He would not break glass, which makes more noise.
Sure, you can rip the bars off. You can also use a car jack to spread them.
You can rip the alarm panel off the wall too, or disable the phone system before you break in.
You can also just go thru the roof with a chainsaw.
You can get a dog, and you can get a gun. You can get a safe, something I’ve always had.
The bottom line is you want to have more sh*t than your neighbors’ do. If you’re the only one on your block with bars, they’ll probably break in somewhere else. If everyone else has bars and you have bars and an alarm, ditto.
No easy answers here, nothing is foolproof, but the more you have, the better off you are. And of course you do have pick-proof locks, right?
Bars don’t keep people out. Ask your local precinct about that, they’ll tell you. I know somebody whose bars were simply ripped off their house.
We also live on a 1st flr apt and I was really dreading having the bars, but they’re really not so bad. They don’t spoil your light and views as much as you might think and the security is definitely worth it.
i’ve always heard that burglars will find a way in even with bars, better to go with a security system. false alarm is better than no alarm.