Your cameras are witnesses, not guards
27,953 break-ins in a calendar year for Victoria, a Wi-Fi blackout in South-East Melbourne, and why a smartphone notification at 4:00am is already too late.
In 2024-25, 196,600 Australian households were broken into, with another 217,500 having someone attempt and fail. The second number piques interest: more households survived an attempt than suffered a complete break-in. In 40% of those attempts, the Bureau of Statistics recorded a door or window that had been damaged or tampered with. In my experience, these are people who persist, working at a door or a window until it gives or they give up. It appears that intruders are being given far too much time undetected within the perimeter of our property boundaries, which begs the question: How seriously are Australians taking their home security?
In Victoria alone, 27,953 residential burglaries were recorded in the year to December 2025, with doors the most frequent point of entry, followed by windows, and approximately one in nine showing no forced entry at all, according to RACV, reporting Crime Statistics Agency data.
Where the money is going
Around 39% of Australian households have a security camera. Only 23% have an alarm or monitoring. In Victoria it’s much the same, about 41% with cameras, 27% with alarms.
Put simply, we’re buying things that watch rather than things that stop.
The gap gets wider among people who have already been burgled, not narrower. Among them, 62% have a camera and only 33% have an alarm. The households who have actually been through it buy more cameras than anyone else — and barely any more alarms.
With 12 years within the force and 5 of those as a general crime detective, I understand the instinct completely. The castle was breached and you didn’t see, or hear anything, but having access to your camera feed is a completely different beast from preventing the next intrusion.
You can see where the priorities lie, too. The default choice has become a Wi-Fi camera and an app on your phone: convenient, affordable, and installed in an afternoon. While it sounds convenient and easy, anyone living in a blackspot knows how unreliable Wi-Fi connections can be at times, and offenders are catching on.
When the cameras went dark
In April 2026, a Victorian homeowner took to social media to document his disgust as thieves attended his home in south-east Melbourne, stealing one vehicle at 3:00am and returning two hours later for the second vehicle, taking both vehicles without waking any member of his family, despite protecting his family with a Wi-Fi-enabled security system. It is reported that the offenders used Wi-Fi jammers to disable his and his neighbours’ cameras in the middle of the night, allowing them to sneak in twice, undetected, with his three daughters sleeping upstairs.
It raises another serious question, especially in the day and age we live in here in Melbourne: When does the mentality around home security shift from choosing the most convenient option to the most effective option?
Why 4am is already too late
The answer to that doesn’t come from reading an article, but unfortunately from the realisation that the cars are missing when you wake up for work, or scrolling back through the overnight doorbell footage alert to see someone lurking within the confines of the family home. Neither of which comes with a result that fills you with any confidence. The offender was recorded, that recording may be forwarded to the police, that footage may assist in making an arrest, but does it stop someone coming back again in days, weeks or months?
The current age of home security technology is changing, and with the accessibility options available, it’s easy to convince yourself that having access to your cameras on your smartphone 24/7 is an adequate home security measure that will keep you and your loved ones safe.
“The stark reality is that, at 4:00am, your doorbell sending you a notification that “Someone is at your Front Door” is far too late.”
By the time we wake (if we wake at all), and if that intruder is steadfast in gaining entry to your house, you will find that notification becomes defunct as an unwanted visitor, or visitors, make their way through the family home.
After years of sitting across from victims of break-ins, whether they be violent break-ins, loud, silent or even just an attempt, the story is still the same: someone has entered your castle uninvited with the intention of stealing your property. No matter the monetary value of said property, no matter if it’s taken or left behind, the feeling of violation remains the same. Going to sleep at night should be peaceful and undisturbed (in an ideal world), but the thought of something foreign being the cause of that disruption within the fence line of the family home, maybe within the four walls, is a feeling that remains long after the Police have been and gone, property has been recovered, or an offender has been charged.
BaySafe exists to educate everyday residents and business owners on making the house or premises unattractive to criminals during the casing process, implementing effective property perimeter controls and identifying real-life, everyday factors that assist in turning prying eyes away.
Light, sound and professional eyes on your cameras in the early hours of the morning can buy you enough time to implement your safety plan, ensure that first responders have been notified and are en route or simply spook these “crooks” at the fence line, because what price are you going to put on your family’s safety and well-being? Chat to us to protect what matters most.
