Recent Sellers
Is your home secure?
3 December 2009
In the July 2009 Today’s Parent magazine, a ‘quiz’ asks How Secure is Your Home?
Unfortunately, the article/quiz offers some suspect advice… specifically, the third question in the quiz asks:
3. A home security system with an alarm is:
a. Essential;
b. nice to have, but only if you can afford it; or
c. unnecessary
According to Today’s Parent and Tom McKay from the Peel Regional Police who helped them with the quiz, the answer is ‘C’ “unnecessary”.
He specifically states: “Most alarm-monitoring services can’t respond fast enough to catch a thief in the act, and crooks know it. “Burglaries last mere minutes,” notes McKay, who warns homeowners to be wary of salespeople’s claims that their company’s system is directly monitored by police. He says, “It doesn’t work that way.”
The rest of the quiz includes a lot of the typical, and overly simplistic ’security tips’ such as cutting your hedges and picking up newspapers that seem to make their way into every home security tips list.
You would expect much more from people the public puts so much belief in, especially by those that who have likely witnessed the devastation a burglar or home invasion can have on a family. From a security standpoint it is frustrating to see such ridiculous advice get published without any type of rebuttal or perspective from the security side. It is afterall an article on Home Securty.
Re: In Response to the Quiz: How Secure is Your Home, July 2009
The idea of suggest that an alarm is ‘unnecessary’ is irresponsible.
The reason that Tom McKay suggests security alarms are ‘unnecessary’ is that “monitoring services can’t respond fast enough…” Most alarm monitoring services respond in a matter of seconds, while most police responses are measured in minutes that are closer to the hour mark. Now this is NOT the fault of the police departments. This is a result, at least partially, of the ratio of false alarms to real alarms, police departments; they must prioritize. Many and even ‘most’ alarms are not useful is because of the way that they are sold and installed. Most home alarms are sold at a very low price point and are primarily designed to make a profit, not protect your home or business.
What Tom McKay doesn’t state is that:
Even if police response is not immediate; by adding outdoor sirens with a strobe light (yes plural sirens as in more than one!) will draw attention to your property. The last thing a burglar wants is attention. This is a HUGE deterrent when the potential thief sees that you have taken your security seriously.
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system will ensure that you do not unknowingly catch the home invader in the act. For example, if you pull up to your home and your siren is blaring, call the police immediately. They will make is a priority to get to your home or business.
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system will ensure that you know if anyone has been in your home. For example, when you get home and there have been no alarms (on a properly designed system) you do not need to worry about checking under the bed and in the closets to make sure no one is hiding there!
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system turned on while you are at home, especially at night will ensure that you know if anyone is breaking into your home while you are sleeping. For example, Accent Alarms installed DMP control panels are capable of being configured with a Home, Away, and Sleep modes – providing protection at the most important times; while your loved ones are sleeping!
One of the goals for a properly designed alarm is to detect someone while they are still trying to break-in rather than after they are already inside. Coupling an alarm with several easy to implement physical security tactics is how security can be maximized.
The most important of those security tactics is ‘five-minute-proofing’. ‘Five-minute-proofing’ means that, from the point at which your alarm trips, it would take a crook at least 5 minutes to get to whatever it is that you are trying to protect. It is a combination of early detection by your alarm and slowing a crook down so that he cannot find (or remove) whatever it is that you are trying to protect.
In the article, the first tip suggests using a hockey stick to prevent a sliding glass door from being opened. The mistake most people make with this tip is that they make the stick the same size as the rail that it will be laying in. Instead, apply a ‘five-minute-proofing’ strategy by ensuring that the stick is cut so that it is about two inches shorter than the door. This way, when a crook tries to pry the door, it will open enough for the alarm to trip, while still keeping him outside.
‘Five-minute-proofing’ can be applied to every single item in your home. It’s simply a matter of identifying which items you need to protect and applying the same strategy.
Some other simple ‘five-minute-proofing’ strategies include:
• In almost every residential burglary, thieves will head straight to the master bedroom and pull open the bedside table drawers, then rifle through the closet. Do not leave your family jewelry there. Either put the jewelry you do not wear into a safety deposit box at the bank or put it in another room in your home;
• Consider putting a lock on your master bedroom door. It’s almost always the first place crooks go… a lock, even a really cheap one, will slow them down;
• Use a bicycle chain to keep your LCD or plasma screen TV connected to it’s wall bracket;
• Combine a window film with a properly installed glassbreak detector (monitored by your alarm)… that way, when the crook tries to smash the glass and can’t on the first attempt, the alarm will trip while he’s still standing outside;
• If you want to get a safe, ensure that it gets professionally installed and bolted into concrete. An 800lb safe is much easier to move than most people think… if it’s not bolted down, it’s not ‘five-minute-proofed’.
Contrary to the advice in the article, I recommend against canceling your newspaper, milk or other deliveries. The fewer people that know that you are away, the better. Ask a trusted friend or neighbour to pick up any deliveries for you in your absence. The goal is to try and keep your home looking just as busy when you are gone as when you’re home.
Additional information on security alarms is available at AccentAlarms.com including FAQ''s, Videos, a Security Forum, and more.
Unfortunately, the article/quiz offers some suspect advice… specifically, the third question in the quiz asks:
3. A home security system with an alarm is:
a. Essential;
b. nice to have, but only if you can afford it; or
c. unnecessary
According to Today’s Parent and Tom McKay from the Peel Regional Police who helped them with the quiz, the answer is ‘C’ “unnecessary”.
He specifically states: “Most alarm-monitoring services can’t respond fast enough to catch a thief in the act, and crooks know it. “Burglaries last mere minutes,” notes McKay, who warns homeowners to be wary of salespeople’s claims that their company’s system is directly monitored by police. He says, “It doesn’t work that way.”
The rest of the quiz includes a lot of the typical, and overly simplistic ’security tips’ such as cutting your hedges and picking up newspapers that seem to make their way into every home security tips list.
You would expect much more from people the public puts so much belief in, especially by those that who have likely witnessed the devastation a burglar or home invasion can have on a family. From a security standpoint it is frustrating to see such ridiculous advice get published without any type of rebuttal or perspective from the security side. It is afterall an article on Home Securty.
Re: In Response to the Quiz: How Secure is Your Home, July 2009
The idea of suggest that an alarm is ‘unnecessary’ is irresponsible.
The reason that Tom McKay suggests security alarms are ‘unnecessary’ is that “monitoring services can’t respond fast enough…” Most alarm monitoring services respond in a matter of seconds, while most police responses are measured in minutes that are closer to the hour mark. Now this is NOT the fault of the police departments. This is a result, at least partially, of the ratio of false alarms to real alarms, police departments; they must prioritize. Many and even ‘most’ alarms are not useful is because of the way that they are sold and installed. Most home alarms are sold at a very low price point and are primarily designed to make a profit, not protect your home or business.
What Tom McKay doesn’t state is that:
Even if police response is not immediate; by adding outdoor sirens with a strobe light (yes plural sirens as in more than one!) will draw attention to your property. The last thing a burglar wants is attention. This is a HUGE deterrent when the potential thief sees that you have taken your security seriously.
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system will ensure that you do not unknowingly catch the home invader in the act. For example, if you pull up to your home and your siren is blaring, call the police immediately. They will make is a priority to get to your home or business.
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system will ensure that you know if anyone has been in your home. For example, when you get home and there have been no alarms (on a properly designed system) you do not need to worry about checking under the bed and in the closets to make sure no one is hiding there!
Even if police response is not immediate, having quality security system turned on while you are at home, especially at night will ensure that you know if anyone is breaking into your home while you are sleeping. For example, Accent Alarms installed DMP control panels are capable of being configured with a Home, Away, and Sleep modes – providing protection at the most important times; while your loved ones are sleeping!
One of the goals for a properly designed alarm is to detect someone while they are still trying to break-in rather than after they are already inside. Coupling an alarm with several easy to implement physical security tactics is how security can be maximized.
The most important of those security tactics is ‘five-minute-proofing’. ‘Five-minute-proofing’ means that, from the point at which your alarm trips, it would take a crook at least 5 minutes to get to whatever it is that you are trying to protect. It is a combination of early detection by your alarm and slowing a crook down so that he cannot find (or remove) whatever it is that you are trying to protect.
In the article, the first tip suggests using a hockey stick to prevent a sliding glass door from being opened. The mistake most people make with this tip is that they make the stick the same size as the rail that it will be laying in. Instead, apply a ‘five-minute-proofing’ strategy by ensuring that the stick is cut so that it is about two inches shorter than the door. This way, when a crook tries to pry the door, it will open enough for the alarm to trip, while still keeping him outside.
‘Five-minute-proofing’ can be applied to every single item in your home. It’s simply a matter of identifying which items you need to protect and applying the same strategy.
Some other simple ‘five-minute-proofing’ strategies include:
• In almost every residential burglary, thieves will head straight to the master bedroom and pull open the bedside table drawers, then rifle through the closet. Do not leave your family jewelry there. Either put the jewelry you do not wear into a safety deposit box at the bank or put it in another room in your home;
• Consider putting a lock on your master bedroom door. It’s almost always the first place crooks go… a lock, even a really cheap one, will slow them down;
• Use a bicycle chain to keep your LCD or plasma screen TV connected to it’s wall bracket;
• Combine a window film with a properly installed glassbreak detector (monitored by your alarm)… that way, when the crook tries to smash the glass and can’t on the first attempt, the alarm will trip while he’s still standing outside;
• If you want to get a safe, ensure that it gets professionally installed and bolted into concrete. An 800lb safe is much easier to move than most people think… if it’s not bolted down, it’s not ‘five-minute-proofed’.
Contrary to the advice in the article, I recommend against canceling your newspaper, milk or other deliveries. The fewer people that know that you are away, the better. Ask a trusted friend or neighbour to pick up any deliveries for you in your absence. The goal is to try and keep your home looking just as busy when you are gone as when you’re home.
Additional information on security alarms is available at AccentAlarms.com including FAQ''s, Videos, a Security Forum, and more.
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