Preventing criminals from bypassing your electric fence

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

Journalist
Staff member
Joined
Mar 6, 2024
Messages
1,062
Reaction score
843
Sneaky tricks criminals use to bypass electric fences — and how to stop them

South African households and businesses should be wary of the techniques criminals use to bypass their electric fences.

While these additional boundaries can deter would-be burglars and robbers from entering a property, they are not fool-proof and are particularly susceptible if not installed or maintained properly.
 
Daniel Puchert said:
Sneaky tricks criminals use to bypass electric fences — and how to stop them

South African households and businesses should be wary of the techniques criminals use to bypass their electric fences.

While these additional boundaries can deter would-be burglars and robbers from entering a property, they are not fool-proof and are particularly susceptible if not installed or maintained properly.
Click to expand...
Contradicting yourself just for a click bait title, nice...
 
  • Wall characteristics — Ensure boundary walls are more than 2 metres high and are made from a double row of bricks
Click to expand...

This is illegal in Cape Town and probably any other civilised municipality. The limit is 1.8 metres for a street boundary wall. And it needs to be 40% visually permeable, i.e. not solid brick all the way.

Edit - another thing that's illegal in Cape Town:

  • Height — Where walls could allow criminals to get a foothold, the fence should stretch higher than 80cm
Click to expand...

Maximum height of an electric fence is 450mm. (And the whole thing must be at least 1.8m above ground.)
 
Last edited:
Tomtomtom said:
But if you live in a complex why do you need prison walls around every property? I thought that was the point of the complex...
Click to expand...
No complex. Just people in my street with mental health issues. Dude is paranoid. The wall is approximately double my height, so I am 1.5m tall, wall is probably 3m high. The fool had it extended during the pandemic. All you can see is the edge of his gutters.
 
UrBaN963 said:
theglockshop.co.za

Glock 17

Glock 17 Buy at Best Price in-store or online. Sandton, Johannesburg or Durban South Africa. Comprehensive support, service and training.
theglockshop.co.za theglockshop.co.za
Click to expand...

My preferred choice

theglockshop.co.za

Glock 40 Gen 4 MOS

Glock 40 Gen 4 MOS Buy at Best Price in-store or online. Sandton, Johannesburg or Durban South Africa. Comprehensive support, service and training from SA's #1 Online Glock Dealer. Want to shoot a G 40 in 10mm auto. www.glockexperience.co.za for more info.
theglockshop.co.za theglockshop.co.za
 
My Caucasian Ovcharkas did a marvellous job, and it meant there were some days I did not have to feed them.
 
PaulMurkin said:
HOA trumps CoCT bra
Click to expand...

Tomtomtom said:
But if you live in a complex/estate why do you need prison walls around every property? I thought that was the point of the complex...
Click to expand...
So I am in a complex. We had pretty much no crime. Then a bunch of paranoid old people insisted we get an electric fence because they will get murdered in their homes.

It is ridiculous. Electric fences are ugly and we didn't have a crime problem. And when somebody wants to shoot you dead they will do it at our unmanned gates.

Anyway I am pretty sure our fence is illegal. I don't think most installers know all the laws and standards - they will do whatever the owner asks because they want the money. And overpromise how secure an electric fence is.

Sure electric fences work well for some things some of the time. But it is hardly bulletproof. I think most domestic electric fences are psychological aids for the residents rather than true security measures.
 
Johand said:
I think most domestic electric fences are psychological aids for the residents rather than true security measures.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The pernicious thing is, once they go up, they will never come down again, regardless of whether the crime situation (real or imagined) improves.

Houses around here where there hasn't been a single home invasion in years, aren't bothering to keep their fences maintained, so they're all just falling apart. But take them down? No way, that would be to invite the criminals back. Better whatever the deterrent effect of a tangle of loose wires.
 
Johand said:
So I am in a complex. We had pretty much no crime. Then a bunch of paranoid old people insisted we get an electric fence because they will get murdered in their homes.

It is ridiculous. Electric fences are ugly and we didn't have a crime problem. And when somebody wants to shoot you dead they will do it at our unmanned gates.

Anyway I am pretty sure our fence is illegal. I don't think most installers know all the laws and standards - they will do whatever the owner asks because they want the money. And overpromise how secure an electric fence is.

Sure electric fences work well for some things some of the time. But it is hardly bulletproof. I think most domestic electric fences are psychological aids for the residents rather than true security measures.
Click to expand...
They do function effectively as an IQ test. Which deters out most of the common criminals in SA.

We have had plenty of break-ins in our complex. All the ones where they have tried to get in via bypassing the fence have resulted in the alarm goes off and our security company comes and pays a visit. Not to mention the fact that there are residents in the complex who do carry cordless hole punchers.

They usually don't even bother with trying to bypass it, they just cut the wire and try and get in and out as quick as possible. Which effectively limits what they can and cannot do. They will not be able to just cut the wire, then have enough time to break into a house.
 
An electric fence is a waste of money. Rather invest in high-quality outdoor alarm sensors along the periphery of your property and then again along the walls of the actual house itself.
 
deweyzeph said:
An electric fence is a waste of money. Rather invest in high-quality outdoor alarm sensors along the periphery of your property and then again along the walls of the actual house itself.
Click to expand...
We are in the process of augmenting our electric fence with cameras that can do this digitally.
 
konfab said:
They do function effectively as an IQ test. Which deters out most of the common criminals in SA.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure they're the smartest way to create an IQ bar though.

Another question is what do your low-grade criminals actually steal vs the cost of defending it. Garden furniture, taps, etc? Compared to the house invasion gangs you are actually hoping to deter.
 
Tomtomtom said:
I'm not sure they're the smartest way to create an IQ bar though.

Another question is what do your low-grade criminals actually steal vs the cost of defending it. Garden furniture, taps, etc? Compared to the house invasion gangs you are actually hoping to deter.
Click to expand...

This is the problem with commercial consumer-grade electric fences. They really only offer false comfort. Unless you can afford the kind of perimeter security that a maximum security prison uses, with multiple layers, excessive height, barbed wire, ditches, etc you don't really have any chance of stopping someone who's determined to get onto your property.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter