[AnotherCat]

Our son recently finished renovating their house and a month or so ago installed the security video cameras - he had installed the motion detecting security lights and security system earlier.

About 10 days ago the cameras picked up a guy with a backpack coming up the drive during the night and started peering into the two cars parked outside the garage. All of a sudden the security lights switched on and the intruder ducked down into the shadows behind a car, waited a while then slowly stood up to look around and then walked quickly away down the drive to the street. When he had stood up and looked around a camera got fully lit portrait view of him and his distinctive clothing (lots of logos on it and his cap).

While the intruder had not done anything apart from behaving suspiciously the police were very interested as they had been trying to track down a crook performing a series of burglaries in the area. On the basis of the video they have today advised that they were able to identify a suspect, and link him to and charge him with a series of burglaries.

So, the main point, motion detecting security lights seem to work and insurers and police here recommend them. One can see why from the video as the intruder gets a real shock when the lights came on and was then focused on making sure there was no one around to see him, then just getting out of the place as quickly as possible.