The best ways to protect your dachas from thieves have been revealed

For summer residents, the time for active activity is over, but for country thieves it has begun. The police, and the owners of haciendas themselves, know that the season for thefts at dachas traditionally begins in October-November. News about the arrest of thieves of country property from country houses closed for the winter has already begun to appear in police reports. How to avoid becoming a victim of robbers during the season of “empty dachas”, which modern means are used by Russians and how much they cost, MK found out.

One of the latest examples: on November 17, employees of the criminal investigation department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region, together with employees of the Russian Guard, detained two residents of the Moscow region, 35 and 39 years old, on suspicion of theft. They were detained at their places of residence – in the Volokolamsk and Istra urban districts. “The attackers, using special tools, pressed open the window of a country house located in one of the SNT in the village of Dorokhovo (Ruzsky city district, – Auth.), – said the head of the information and public relations department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Moscow Region, Tatyana Petrova. “After that, they entered the home, stole a TV and set-top box and fled.” The police believe that the detained thieves are involved in committing similar crimes in seven urban districts, since they were found to have items that fit the description of those previously stolen from other dachas.

– What protection do Muscovites-dacha residents have today from uninvited guests?

“We teamed up with several neighbors and hired a person who guards four houses all year round,” Muscovite Artem shared his experience with MK. – Tajik. We chipped in and built him a simple house, and periodically buy food. I pay him 5,000 rubles a month, all year round. He mows the plots, removes snow, and monitors the safety of objects on the plots. That’s why we don’t have surveillance cameras. Other neighbors, as far as I know, install video cameras around the perimeter of the property and connect them to a mobile phone. It’s very convenient, you can always see what’s happening on the site.

The most well-known methods are to install alarms and video surveillance systems. For example, as one summer resident said, who recently installed an individual security system for herself, it cost her 90,000 rubles. The system includes a digital set-top box, four CCTV cameras and a hard disk for recording. Not everyone can afford it.

As MK found out from a conversation with a specialized company, it is quite inexpensive to install one single camera on the front door of a house. We contact a company that sells security systems, which promises “quick turnkey installation of video surveillance.” “Where is the best place to install cameras in the house? First, the entrance to the house – record everyone who enters and leaves the house, second – the surrounding areas (gates, garage, outbuildings),” follows from the advertisement.

“Installing an internal video camera on a door costs 8,000 rubles,” says a company employee. – You will receive a notification on your mobile phone that the camera’s motion sensor has detected extraneous movement. But for this you need to have a Wi-Fi router installed at your dacha that will work 24/7.

– We have a router at the dacha, but we don’t pay for it in the winter and turn it off during this period. This means that this is still an additional expense, and it will have to be left on. What if you also install an external one on the gate?

– No, the camera is not anti-vandal, it can be knocked down if it is outside. You can install a security alarm: motion sensor, door opening sensor. Costs 22,990 rubles. If there is a break-in through the door, we will receive a signal and our rapid response team will come to you.

On the company’s website we also see a “premium” kit (motion sensor with photo recording), which is already more expensive – connection for 34,990 rubles. In addition to the connection amount, we also notice other amounts: “Response (company name) – from 90 rubles. /day”, “Response of the Russian Guard – from 100 rubles. /day”. Add this amount as well – per day (per month, per year).

Most of the summer residents with whom we talked do not have anything installed in their homes – they rely on general security measures.

– Our TSN (property owners’ association) has a closed area, there are video surveillance cameras, plus watchmen do the rounds in winter. There are 16 video cameras installed evenly throughout the village. Our house is visible through one of the cameras – I can look at it in real time through the application. Just now I was looking, how is our house? So far, pah-pah-pah, everything is quiet. Maintenance of the cameras is included in the fees for the village, says Muscovite Irina, owner of a hacienda in the Kaluga region.

– In our SNT (Istrinsky district), cars enter through a barrier using cards. If guests are traveling, they must tell the checkpoint workers the number of the station and the name of whom they are going to,” Nikolai Ivanovich, a pensioner from Moscow, told MK. – There are five video cameras on the territory, including at the entrance. Previously, we had SNT members on duty, a schedule was drawn up, and every night, all year round, four people were on duty: two walked around one half of the SNT, two – the other. Such duties existed until 2016, then they were cancelled. Now you can’t force anyone, the other generation of summer residents on our SNT is young people… I have all my hope for general security measures and for a new fence on the site! By the way, three years ago, when we still had a bad fence, someone climbed onto the site. We later found a kebab bar moved to the fence, which, apparently, the thieves planned to take out, but someone scared them off. Previously, in the winter we had 4-5 openings of dachas, recently less often. Although even this summer there was such a case, but the thieves were found by fingerprints; they turned out to be residents of Istra.

We also talked with a member of the board of one SNT near Moscow.

– I myself have a camera under the roof of my house, I see who drives onto our street, it works via Wi-Fi. Thieves most often break in in winter, of course, but they also happen at night in summer. It is better, of course, to install an alarm. In the meantime, until you install it, you can buy a sign “Protected object” and at least attach it to the gate. Out of five cases, this will stop the thieves in four. They will climb where it is easier and safer.