Your $500 camera is watching a $20 strike plate

A doorbell camera costs $200, the subscription $6 a month, and the strike plate it is watching was installed with two three-quarter-inch screws.

The camera does its job. It records the kick, sends the notification, and gives the responding officer a clear picture of a hooded figure at 2:14 in the afternoon. What it does not do is change what happens to the door.

Detection and resistance are different products

Cameras record. Alarms call. Smart locks text. Each one tells you an entry is happening, and each one is worth having. None of them adds a second to the time it takes to get through a jamb held by pine and short screws.

Resistance is the barrier itself: the screws, the strike, the hinges, the frame, the glass beside the lock. It is the least glamorous part of home security and the part that decides whether the burglar gets in.

What $595 buys

Steel jamb, hinge, and lock-area reinforcement on your existing door, installed in under an hour, invisible from the street, backed by the manufacturer’s $500 performance guarantee against kick-in. Combined with the camera you already own, the door now resists the kick the camera records.

Start with the door the camera watches

Most homes put the camera on the front door and the weakest jamb on the back. The free assessment scores every door, and the report tells you which one to fix first. Schedule yours.