Limitation of Security Alarms - How to Make Sure You"re Fully Protected
No security alarm is infallible.
However, a thief with the high-tech skills necessary to get past a sophisticated alarm system will more than likely be targeting commercial establishments and the rich.
There are some ways that most security alarms can fall short even if the thief isn't a pro.
Some of these issues are in our control and some are out of our control.
By addressing all the issues below, you will come closer to being fully protected.
How a security alarm may fail to do the job If you have a system without central station monitoring, you are relying on yourself and/or neighbors to call the police if an alarm is set off.
Granted that a thief may just run if they hear an alarm but they would also silence it as quickly as possible when they can.
This is why it's important to have the bell, siren or other attention-getting alarm, to be mounted high up on the exterior of a home where it is inaccessible to a thief.
Also, if your home is in an isolated area, the sound of an alarm won't even be heard by anyone.
Vulnerable ways into your home Hopefully you've got alarm sensors everywhere that you need them.
Often though, people neglect to use a sensor on every potential entrance into your home.
Attached garages are prone to a break-in as garage doors are usually easily opened by a thief; especially if the door has windows.
The manual override pull can often be "fished" by a skilled thief from outside the door.
Perhaps in the interest of saving money when the alarm system was installed, you opted to not put sensors on all the accessible windows and doors.
Those will all be a potential entry points for a thief.
Bathroom windows, second floor windows and doors where a balcony exists are some of the most commonly overlooked protection points.
All monitoring isn't equal Many of today's alarm and surveillance systems offer you the ability of monitoring your home on a Smartphone or other Internet connected device.
If this describes your alarm system, all it takes to disable it is for the thief to cut your Internet connection (usually a cable modem line) outside your home.
This is the most important reason to consider a professional monitoring service that uses cell technology.
I'm personally a home automation enthusiast and have had Internet surveillance on my home for over 10 years but realized it's shortcomings long ago.
How quick do thieves work? Even with a monitoring service, there are delays between the time a break-in occurs and the time that the police are called.
Due to a very high rate of false alarms, monitoring services will first call you, the homeowner to confirm that there is a real incident.
Once they confirm that the alarm notification is valid, they will call the police and then their response time comes into play.
These delays are in addition to the response time of the monitoring service itself.
A quick burglar can make off with quite a few valuables and leave long before the police ever get there.
However, a thief with the high-tech skills necessary to get past a sophisticated alarm system will more than likely be targeting commercial establishments and the rich.
There are some ways that most security alarms can fall short even if the thief isn't a pro.
Some of these issues are in our control and some are out of our control.
By addressing all the issues below, you will come closer to being fully protected.
How a security alarm may fail to do the job If you have a system without central station monitoring, you are relying on yourself and/or neighbors to call the police if an alarm is set off.
Granted that a thief may just run if they hear an alarm but they would also silence it as quickly as possible when they can.
This is why it's important to have the bell, siren or other attention-getting alarm, to be mounted high up on the exterior of a home where it is inaccessible to a thief.
Also, if your home is in an isolated area, the sound of an alarm won't even be heard by anyone.
Vulnerable ways into your home Hopefully you've got alarm sensors everywhere that you need them.
Often though, people neglect to use a sensor on every potential entrance into your home.
Attached garages are prone to a break-in as garage doors are usually easily opened by a thief; especially if the door has windows.
The manual override pull can often be "fished" by a skilled thief from outside the door.
Perhaps in the interest of saving money when the alarm system was installed, you opted to not put sensors on all the accessible windows and doors.
Those will all be a potential entry points for a thief.
Bathroom windows, second floor windows and doors where a balcony exists are some of the most commonly overlooked protection points.
All monitoring isn't equal Many of today's alarm and surveillance systems offer you the ability of monitoring your home on a Smartphone or other Internet connected device.
If this describes your alarm system, all it takes to disable it is for the thief to cut your Internet connection (usually a cable modem line) outside your home.
This is the most important reason to consider a professional monitoring service that uses cell technology.
I'm personally a home automation enthusiast and have had Internet surveillance on my home for over 10 years but realized it's shortcomings long ago.
How quick do thieves work? Even with a monitoring service, there are delays between the time a break-in occurs and the time that the police are called.
Due to a very high rate of false alarms, monitoring services will first call you, the homeowner to confirm that there is a real incident.
Once they confirm that the alarm notification is valid, they will call the police and then their response time comes into play.
These delays are in addition to the response time of the monitoring service itself.
A quick burglar can make off with quite a few valuables and leave long before the police ever get there.