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Chapter 13, Build a Security System

by several sequential On-Off-On-Off-On-Off signals. You can turn them

off again (and trust me, you’ll want to) by sending an Off signal. Otherwise,

the alarm will shut itself off after 30 seconds.

Gathering Evidence

Obviously, your first priority is to get an intruder away from your house

and to keep yourself, your family, and your belongings safe. However, after

everyone is out of danger, you should notify the police so that they can

take steps to identify the intruder. You can help the police out by gather-

ing evidence for them. First, you should record the feedback from your

sensors—simply knowing the exact time an intruder opened your window

can be very useful. Second, you can record visual information about the

intrusion. Captured video of the intruder can be useful for identifying the

intruder, and may even be used as evidence if the case goes to trial.

Many security systems have a significant weakness when it comes to record-

ing evidence because they store the video on-site. A skilled thief who has a

few minutes to spare will follow the video cable from a camera to a VCR,

and steal the VCR, too. This section will describe how to record evidence

and automatically ship it off-site, so that you won’t lose important evidence

if your computer is stolen.

1. Install cameras

Several of the projects ...