Monitored Burglar Alarms

I won’t be bothering with a monitored alarm again!

I had one at my previous home. . . . ‘Free Install’ with 3 Year Monitoring Contract. . . . Waste of money in my opinion!

Monitoring

From all accounts most thieves are mainly after a few valuables that can be moved quickly.

By the time the security service have:

• Phoned you to check that it wasn’t a false alarm, say 3-4 minutes;
• Contacted a mobile guy say, 2-3 minutes;
• The mobile guy has driven to your place , say 10-15 mins;

Between 15 -30 minutes will have passed and most thieves will be long gone.

If they are still there whats the monitoring guy going to do? . . . . call the police that’s another 10 minutes.

Burglaries While You Are At Home

The latest scare tactic by security companies is to say “26% of burglaries are while you someone is in the home!”

Well all I have to say to that is:

• Who has their alarm on when they are at home?
• If you suspected a burglar was in the house would you think about getting to an alarm panel so the security company could ring you back? . . . and then wait for the mobile security guy? . .  I’d be ringing 000 on my mobile so the police would be arriving!
• Rather than have a monitored alarm make sure that you lock all the doors, including the garage, when you are in the house; especially at night.

Alarms In General

Alarms do have their uses:

• The sight of an alarm may deter some burglars.
• The sound of an alarm will most likely cause the burglar to rush, so your losses, are more likely to be limited.
• If you return to your house with the alarm going off you know there could be a problem, rather than walking into the middle of a burglary.

I’m not saving I wouldn’t get an alarm again,  but I would probably go for one with CCTV cameras that send a photo to your smart phone.

At least you would get a picture of the burglar, and you could phone the police straight away with the knowledge you had seen someone in your house.