Don't Just Record It.
Make Them Leave.
A camera that only records gives you a nice video of your own break-in. Pair detection with a 150 dB siren and visible cameras, and the goal changes: stop it while it's happening.
Here's an uncomfortable truth about a lot of security setups: they're built to document a crime, not prevent one. The cameras roll, the footage saves, and the homeowner watches — afterward — exactly how they got robbed. That's evidence. It isn't protection.
Active deterrence flips that. The idea is simple: the moment the system knows someone's there, it makes their experience loud, bright, and unwelcoming enough that leaving becomes the obvious choice. The centerpiece of that is the siren.
The Deterrent
The StreetSiren — 150 dB Of "Not Worth It"
The Ajax StreetSiren ($249) is the piece that does the actual deterring. It's a weather-rated (IP54) outdoor siren that hits up to 150 decibels — loud enough to be genuinely intolerable up close and to carry across a property and to the neighbors. When an alarm trips, it goes off outside, where it does two jobs at once: it tells the intruder they've been caught, and it tells everyone nearby something's wrong.
Most break-ins are opportunistic. The person wants in, out, and unnoticed. A 150 dB siren destroys all three — and the overwhelming response to it is to abandon the attempt and run. That's the entire point: an intruder who leaves took nothing.
Indoors, the HomeSiren ($125) adds an immediate interior alert, so anyone home knows instantly and the noise follows the intruder inside as well as out.
The Trigger
Cameras That See, So The Siren Knows When
A siren is only as good as what tells it to fire. That's where the cameras and outdoor detection come in — and where a modern AI camera does far more than record. Ajax's cameras carry AI object detection, so they distinguish a person from a passing car or a swaying tree, which means the system can respond to a real approach rather than crying wolf.
AI Cameras — $449 each
The BulletCam, TurretCam, and DomeCam — 4K PoE with AI object detection and hybrid night vision. They capture the event and can help drive the response.
MotionCam Outdoor — $529
The MotionCam Outdoor is a motion detector with a built-in camera: it senses the approach and sends a photo of exactly what triggered it, so a verified person — not a cat — sets off the response.
The MotionCam is the honest hero of deterrence: because it detects and photographs at the perimeter, the system can confirm a real human is approaching and sound the StreetSiren while they're still outside — the earliest possible moment to make someone reconsider. That's the payoff of perimeter detection feeding an active response.
How It Comes Together
Detection, Verification, Deterrence
Put the pieces in sequence and the system stops being passive:
- Detect. An outdoor detector or camera catches a person approaching the house.
- Verify. AI confirms it's a person — not wildlife, not weather — so the response is real, not a false alarm.
- Deter. The StreetSiren sounds outside while cameras capture it, confronting the intruder before entry and giving them every reason to leave.
On a local recorder, the footage is yours with no monthly fee — but the footage is the backup, not the point. The point is the siren going off while there's still something to protect.
The Options
What It Costs
- StreetSiren — $249. 150 dB, IP54 outdoor siren — the deterrent itself.
- MotionCam Outdoor — $529. Perimeter detection with a verifying photo built in.
- AI Cameras (Bullet / Turret / Dome) — $449 each. 4K PoE with AI detection and night vision.
- HomeSiren — $125. Immediate indoor alarm alert.
Keep Reading
Related Guides
- Outdoor & curtain detection — catching the approach that triggers the deterrent
- Do you need a siren? — the case for making noise, in depth
- PoE vs Wi-Fi cameras — which way to run your camera system
Want A System That
Fights Back?
Tell us your property and we'll design detection, cameras, and a siren that work as one — so an approach outside becomes a response outside, and the intruder leaves before there's anything to record.