Adding smart home security cameras only makes your home 14% more secure – but that's not why I get them!

In the past few years, as the technology has advanced, smart home security cameras have spread like wildfire – which must make everyone's home much more secure, right? As an expert, people ask me what to get for the best security… but I have to tell them that the real answer is, at best, a bit more complicated than that.

I'm not going to argue that having no footage is better than having it. Clearly it is helpful to have footage. Similarly, I'm not going to argue that it's better to have lower quality footage. It's obviously better to have better quality surveillance footage if you've got any.

But if you're putting cameras up, what you are really hoping is that you'll never need them. That they'll have a successful deterrent effect and lower the crime around your home to zero – and in your neighborhood, too.

Is that the truth? Evidence is spotty, but it suggests that there is a reduction – not elimination – in crime. The British College of Policing has seen a statistically (if not actually) significant 14% drop in drug-related crime within view of a camera, and 20% in car or property crimes. That's less, but it's not as much less crime as you'd hope!

Why might that be the case? There are a lot of reasons, but I suspect on a very simple level that the cameras might sometimes be a bit too small to be noticed.

Wyze prides itself on the two-inch cube that is its standard camera, which fits a spotlight, microphone, speaker and more besides in a box. Other companies, like Ring, offer black, white and colored versions of its cams. Do people use these to blend them into their aesthetics and make the cameras even less visible?

Modern smart home cameras – the cheapest to install – are also very susceptible to interference from more sophisticated criminals. Some cameras record to memory cards inside them so, if you can reach the camera to extract the card, you might be able to remove the evidence, even if it is recorded.

Many criminals are well aware that not every user wants to pay the monthly subscription fee, or change the batteries, so security is compromised.

I have been asked by police for evidence from my security camera, and it had not gathered anything useful for them because of its settings.

The threshold required to trigger the recording and the short period for which clips are stored means that – other than simply getting a face, which can be fed into databases – there are limitations to the evidence that can be gathered using IoT / Smart Home cameras versus the traditional approach to getting a complete recording.

This is especially true where there is even a slight lag in starting to record, as people walk in and out of shot surprisingly quickly.

Cameras might deter a casual thief or vandal if they actually spot them, but something else to remember is tampering. Many so-called smart cameras communicate using WiFi or another wireless method, and a clever or determined criminal should have no problem blocking the signal.

On plenty of homes, they might just be able to reach the camera and pull the battery or cable out. There is a reason they cut the wires in heist movies!

That's not to say you can't derive a lot of personal security from the cameras by gaining a full-time view of your home – let alone one bolstered by AI monitoring that can identify people, animals and other specific interlopers.

The solution is to understand security in that broader sense. Do you feel more secure if, while you're on holiday in another country, you can take a quick peek into your bedroom and check nothing has been disturbed?

My girlfriend does, and this can make a holiday that much more relaxed. It's hard to put a value on that kind of feeling, but it feels high. And it can certainly be called security.

We live in a very immediate world. People can't help but wonder. Cameras can answer worries instantly. If you have pets or kids roaming your home, that's all the more reason.

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Check our guide to the best outdoor security cameras and read some of our reviews of the different types of security camera. We keep a specific guide to the best Ring cameras, too.

Personally, while I live in a Ring-protected home now, I also spent several years preferring the best Apple HomeKit cameras, and I think Apple fans might want to check my guide to that system.