Guide
You’ve been broken into. What now?
This is written to be useful whether or not you ever call us. The first part is what to do in the next few hours. The second is what to think about before you spend money on security — because the decisions made in the week after a break-in are usually made under pressure, and often badly.
If it’s happening now, or you think someone may still be inside, call 000. Don’t go in to check.
To report a break-in that’s already happened, call Policelink on 131 444.
The first few hours
Don't go in if anything feels wrong
If you've arrived home to an open door or a broken window, the safest assumption is that somebody may still be inside. Call 000 from outside or from a neighbour's. This is the one part of the process where being wrong is expensive in a way nothing else on this page is.
Report it to police before you tidy up
Report through Policelink on 131 444, or 000 if it's in progress. You'll get an event or reference number — keep it, because your insurer will ask for it. The instinct to clean up immediately is completely natural and worth resisting for an hour: photograph the point of entry and any damage first, and leave surfaces alone in case anyone attends.
Photograph everything before touching it
The forced door or window, damage inside, and where things were taken from. Photos taken before cleanup are worth far more to an insurer than a description written a week later, and they cost you nothing but a few minutes.
Make a list while it's fresh
Serial numbers, makes and models of anything taken. Receipts and old photos help, and it's worth checking whether you have images of the items from before — people routinely under-claim because they can't evidence what they'd owned. Report stolen phones and cards to your provider and bank straight away.
Secure the property tonight
Board or repair the entry point, and change locks if keys were taken. Bear in mind that a house that's been burgled once is at elevated risk of being burgled again — offenders know the layout, know what's there, and know what's just been replaced by insurance.
Then decide what changes
Once the immediate mess is handled, it's worth thinking properly rather than buying the first four-camera kit you see. What follows is the part most people get wrong under pressure.
Before you spend money on security
Six things worth knowing, whoever you end up using.
Insurers want evidence, not reassurance
Most policies ask what security measures were in place and whether they were in use. If you install a system, keep the invoice — some insurers offer a premium reduction for monitored alarms, and a claim goes more smoothly when you can evidence what was installed and that it was working. It's worth a call to your insurer to ask what they actually recognise before you buy anything.
Footage that shows an event isn't the same as footage that identifies anyone
This is the single most common disappointment after a break-in. A camera covering a wide yard produces footage where you can see a person moved through it and nothing more — no face, no clothing detail, nothing an officer can act on. Identification needs enough pixels across the target, which in practice means at least one tighter camera at the point everybody must pass: a gate, a path, a front door.
Most break-ins happen in the dark, which is when cheap cameras are worst
Infrared cameras produce grey, often motion-blurred images at night. Low-light colour cameras keep colour after dark, which matters enormously — clothing colour is frequently the only description available. The trade-off is that they usually want some ambient light. Which type belongs where is a per-camera decision, not a whole-system one.
Retention is usually shorter than people assume
Break-ins are often discovered days later, especially at businesses over a long weekend or homes after a holiday. If the recorder only holds a week and you find out on day nine, the footage is already overwritten. Two weeks is a sensible target, and it's a calculation — camera count, resolution, frame rate and drive size — rather than something to hope about.
A recorder exposed to the internet is a liability
A very common setup is a recorder with ports forwarded straight to the internet so it can be viewed remotely. Those get found by automated scanners, and default passwords are still widespread. Remote viewing should go through the manufacturer's proper cloud service, and the recorder itself is best kept on its own network segment.
Cameras are evidence, not prevention
Cameras record what happened. Detection and deterrence — sensors, lighting, an audible alarm, and something that actually summons a response — are what change the outcome on the night. Most people who've just been burgled think first about cameras, when a layered approach usually serves them better.
If you want it looked at properly
We cover Brisbane, Logan, Gold Coast. A system gets designed around your property and the way somebody actually got in — not sold as a box of four cameras.
QLD Security Providers Licence 4703669