[cabo35]

I would like to know a lot more about the security gate system before it is deep sixed (seaman's parlance for tossed overboard). I believe there is little consistency in gating. For example, some gates are manned, some are not. Some Villages can be accessed without going through a gate. Questions I'd like answered included:

Are there really cameras in the gating system?

What gates have cameras and what do they take pictures of? Who monitors them? Where are the monitoring stations? Does the Belvidere gatehouse monitor everything south of 466? Are there monitoring stations north of 466?

When you don't have a card and press the button what happens? I have witnessed a mysterious voice that talks through the box to you and always raises the gate. I have seen the gate rise with no mysterious voice, like magic.
What is that all about?

Do the gates record the carded access numbers of users?

Are contractors, landscape and maintenance personnel logged in anywhere?

What is the total payroll for the security gate staff? Sounded like Watergate for a senior moment.

BTK, while I usually find myself agreeing with many of your posts, I have a divergence with you on the gates. I believe they do have a limited deterrant effect but, they are certainly not fullproof.

From past experience I can tell you that most miscreants are opportunists who look for the easiest target. Access to a non-gated home is an easier target. I am not saying because you are gated, you are completely safe. In the same manner that a home that displays alarm protection warnings around the house may be less likely to get "hit" than a neighbor that does not. Similarly the house with a large barking dog is less likely a target. My point is that the gates do have a limited deterrant effect.

Given that, their potential to increase their effectiveness by reviewing and evaluating the whole gating system may be worth considering. If there are in fact cameras at the gates that should be tastefully but conspicuously displayed. That is a deterrant to crimes of opportunity.

I've actually considered volunteering for a neighborhood security committee to evaluate The Villages gate system, but golf, softball, motorcycle riding and the benefits of The Villages lifestyle have left little time for work and since I don't use my watch for anything but tee times, I don't do meetings well anymore.

The answers to the above questions could be a start for evaluating the system and determining, as BTK suggests, whether it is cost effective or whether it can be modified to be cost effective while actually increasing security.