Feeling safer with CCTV

We were packed and excitedly waiting for Uncle Bala, our ‘family taxi uncle’, to pick us up when suddenly we remembered the laundry. Uncle Bala hadn’t arrived when my husband called. I was sure he was calling to ask where to pile the retrieved clothes, but it wasn’t so. He said my parents' house had been badly ransacked. My heart sank. This wasn't the first time we had suffered a robbery. I felt sorry for my folks and very angry at the people who did it.

The thing about house robberies is that you rarely find out who these strange, unscrupulous people who went through and stole your belongings are. You’re left with a home that has been thoroughly violated, stripped off its sense of privacy and safety. You home suddenly feels alien to you, with evidence of strangers’ hands all over your possessions. It’s creepy and makes you sick in your tummy to see the entire contents of a huge wardrobe strewn on the floor so you have to stagger through it to get accross the room. Not only did I have to consider forgetting our trip to Singapore, but I was now left with the heart-wrenching task of calling my folks who were on holiday to be the bearer of bad news. What if we had forgotten to take the clothes in and had not known until we returned after the weekend? What if my parents were in during the break-in? I started thinking of the best way to break the news to them, without shocking them too much.

It helped that Dad was once a Police Superintendent. Perhaps it even helped that we’ve been robbed before. We knew the drill. Dad conveyed the plan of action and I followed. The police arrived and conducted the necessary procedures. They weren’t as helpful as they could have been, but I wasn’t very surprised. After a rather hectic day of police station visits and arranging for the window grills to be re-secured, my parents insisted that my hubby and I head for Singapore after all - we needed the break all the more now.

My parents have since installed CCTV Cameras around the house, as our ‘Taman’ is prone to break-ins. Every other house here has been a victim. It does surprise me that these very industrious robbers are yet to be caught.

We feel safer now because the obvious CCTV cameras hopefully pose as a deterrent to potential robbers. They are connected to the CCTV company's HQ and the house is viewed in real time and surveyed 24-7. If a break-in takes place, the alarm is set off, the staff on surveillance are alerted, and they would then call the police. If the obvious cameras do not deter the robbers, at least the alarm may and if they decide to still grab whatever they could, the police might just get there in time to nab them.

We lost about RM20,000 worth of cash and items. It could have been worse. The next-door neighbour’s house got robbed two weeks later. She did not have much cash and valuables lying around so they took her television.

Fixing a CCTV system may cost a few thousand ringgits, but definitely saves from losing a lot more in robbery prone areas. We should have put them in place after I got robbed at knife-point after parking in front of the same house a few years back. In a country where most people feel that proper enforcement is not in place to deter such incidents, we have to rely on our own resources to keep ourselves, families and homes safe.

The CCTVs can be linked to our smartphones and has been linked to my husband’s office desktop. We can now keep an eye on my parents’ house from anywhere. The CCTV company also has the phone number of the three people most likely to respond first when there is a break in and when the CCTV company is alerted. Our neighbour’s number is one of them. Fostering healthy relationships with our neighbours also helps tremendously in ensuring that our homes are not totally isolated when we’re away. In the end, it is we, who have to be pro-active in finding solutions to create the safest environment for ourselves and our neighbours.

We feel a tad bit safer now. The CCTV company calls if they notice anyone other than the usual dwellers going in and out of the house. They called my mom when she was in India to tell her a suspicious lady in red entered the premises. That suspicious lady turned out to be yours truly. Served me right really - that told me I wasn’t visiting the old lady enough. They even called me once at 5 a.m when my mother’s maid couldn’t sleep and decided to throw the rubbish out. Though annoyed at first, i was thankful later that the company was efficient. Sometimes they do get it wrong but better safe than sorry!