House Alarm Systems - Why Bother

The FBI defines ‘burglary’ as ‘the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a theft or felony’ and confirms that burglary may or may not involve forced entry. Based on this definition, there were 2,179,140 burglaries in the USA in 2007. And this, of course, only accounts for those that are reported. It is suspected that there could be others which have gone unreported, thus uncounted. What is also worth noting is that with that figure in mind, it means that burglaries accounted for 22.1% of all reported crimes committed in 2007. With almost a quarter of crimes committed involving someone entering property that is not their own, it is little wonder so many people rely on home alarm systems for the peace of mind when it comes to protecting themselves and their property in their homes. 67.9% of burglaries take place on residential properties, so it seems justified that people care concerned with their safety at home. To put these statistics into perspective a little.... a burglary takes place in the USA approximately every 14 seconds. Worrying information.

Someone entering your home is a hugely unpleasant experience. Not only could your property be damaged or stolen, but your personal space is invaded. This can make you feel that your own personal safety is being compromised or threatened and can actually make you feel uncomfortable and insecure in your own home for quite some time after the incident.

For these reasons, the home security industry is ever growing with more advanced and feature laden home alarms arriving on the market all the time. Whether you are looking for a basic system or one of the more advanced, right through to a full video home surveillance set up, there is something on the market geared towards your needs and, most importantly, your budget!

A growing sub industry in this area is that of home alarm monitoring systems, which essentially link your existing alarm, using a device, to a manned call centre. This setup means that when your alarm is triggered, outside help can be called on your behalf. This offers extra peace of mind for those who are concerned either about their own safety or about the personal safety of someone they know, perhaps an elderly relative, who lives alone. Such systems have an ongoing monthly subscription fee but are not as bank breaking as you might think. Once you pay the setup fee, the monthly payments can be as little as $8.

Even without a subscription to an alarm monitoring service, though, alarms offer additional security in the home. Some alarms will come equipped with video surveillance cameras to enable you to constantly survey the entrances to your home.

Because of the number of false alarms (around 90%ofalarm activations are false alarms) there are no home security alarm systems that connect directly to the police station. The alarm monitoring services would be required (if you have a monitored system) to manually verify there is a genuine need for the emergency services and to then contact them themselves to dispatch the required assistance, Automated calls to the emergency services would lead to a massive and unnecessary use of resources in dealing with non-emergencies and accidental false alarm activations. And as the most common cause of false alarm activations is human error, it’s worth ensuring that you know exactly how to use your system. This is particularly important in cities where law enforcement departments have introduced fines for attending the scene of an alarm which turns out to be false. As the owner of the home and the alarm you are deemed responsible for the alarm sounding.

Any alarm you buy should be purchased after real shopping around. Look at the features available and decide which you want. Then find a system that has your requirements (or as near as possible) and that fits within your budget.

Most importantly, make sure you read around other people’s opinions of any system before you splash the cash and try not to be too frugal as your peace of mind and own personal security in your home is more valuable than any amount of cash!