Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I personally think the biggest advantage of a monitored alarm is actually the smoke detectors. I find it reassuring knowing that if there's a fire while we're not home, our house and our dog have a better chance at being saved.
And I don't have any experience with police response time (thankfully) but when we moved into our house the central alarm was still being monitored even though it was supposedly canceled by the previous owner. I was playing around with the system thinking it wasn't monitored and within a couple minutes the entire fire dept was outside our house!
I agree that the standard burglar alarms are little more than deterrents for petty thieves. That said, it seems like it is the petty thieves (usually drug addicts i suppose) that botch a robbery attempt and wind up shooting people. A 'real crook' that could get past an alarm undetected is also probably smart enough not to try and rob a house with people in it. So I think a burglar alarm isn't such a bad idea as a first line of protection for you and your home against random burglars, but as another poster said, if someone has targeted your house b/c they want something specific the standard alarm may not be enough.
I personally think the biggest advantage of a monitored alarm is actually the smoke detectors. I find it reassuring knowing that if there's a fire while we're not home, our house and our dog have a better chance at being saved.
And I don't have any experience with police response time (thankfully) but when we moved into our house the central alarm was still being monitored even though it was supposedly canceled by the previous owner. I was playing around with the system thinking it wasn't monitored and within a couple minutes the entire fire dept was outside our house!
I agree that the standard burglar alarms are little more than deterrents for petty thieves. That said, it seems like it is the petty thieves (usually drug addicts i suppose) that botch a robbery attempt and wind up shooting people. A 'real crook' that could get past an alarm undetected is also probably smart enough not to try and rob a house with people in it. So I think a burglar alarm isn't such a bad idea as a first line of protection for you and your home against random burglars, but as another poster said, if someone has targeted your house b/c they want something specific the standard alarm may not be enough.
I agree with everything you say here.
I would imagine the fire dept would have a better response time than the police.
The response time of the police or the fire department also has a lot to do with how busy they are when the call comes in. For instance, if all of the police available for your area are already tied up on jobs they will obviously take longer to respond to anything as compared to if they are not busy. The same goes for the fire departments.
I've had a monitored security system in every house owned since the early 1980s and would never be without one. It's become second nature to me (and I never ever EVER fail to arm it every night, every time I leave the house, and even when I am home but working outside in the yard).
As others have mentioned, I value it also for the insurance savings, fire/smoke/carbon monoxide coverage, and general peace of mind. I went to "cellular" (which is actually a radio, not a satellite, signal btw) connection as primary (got rid of the phoneline connection) as soon as ADT made it available. At first it was only available as backup to phoneline, but a couple of years ago they made it available as the main connection.
Due to severe allergies, having a dog was never an option, as of course is the case with other people who are likewise allergic.
I have never regretted a single penny I have spent on my security systems, which I guess answers the OP's question of whether I think it's worth it.
A large dog (depending on breed; but most large dogs) serves as a deterrent and will do all they can to STOP a burglar that does get in.
Dog vs silenced pistol = dead dog, the US Army LRRP teams figured this out during the Vietnam War. They even developed a specially modified Smith & Wesson pistol just to kill NVA/VC sentry dogs and annoying snooping dogs from nearby villages in their area of operations so the teams couldent be comprimised by a barking dog.
Criminals are not as dumb as they are made out to be.
If anybody has ever watched it takes a Thief, can see that half the homes they broke into had dogs, and most of the dogs did nothing, some even licked the burglar. Dogs are wonderful animals if anybody thinks that a dog is going to protect you against a burglar is greatly mistaken, people
do not realize how sophisticated burglar alarms have come, if they did'nt, insurance companies would not give a 10% discount, and thieves would be breaking into jewelry stores all the time. In my 37 years in the trade and the FBI statistics, I know they work.
If anybody has ever watched it takes a Thief, can see that half the homes they broke into had dogs, and most of the dogs did nothing, some even licked the burglar. Dogs are wonderful animals if anybody thinks that a dog is going to protect you against a burglar is greatly mistaken, people
do not realize how sophisticated burglar alarms have come, if they did'nt, insurance companies would not give a 10% discount, and thieves would be breaking into jewelry stores all the time. In my 37 years in the trade and the FBI statistics, I know they work.
How much will a typical installation that you talk above will cost the homeowner, lets say he wants to secure 3 doors to the exterior of the house and about 10 windows (do you normally do the windows ?)
Are those cable or phone based ?
this is completely anecdotal, but when I lived in Los Angeles, I knew two people who were broken into right after they had alarms installed. Both were convinced it was an inside job from the alarm company installers. Not a statement against alarms, but certainly makes me think I'd really like to check into the company and installer if it's possible. Installing one is a great opportunity to case a place.
In another instance, I had a friend who moved into a house in Hollywood, installed an alarm. The house next door was having a bunch of work done too. A few weeks later, she got got repeated calls at work that her alarm was going off. Each time, was a false alarm. Nothing taken, nothing broken, etc. Company couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. She got so disgusted, she stopped arming it when she left in the morning and went to work. She got broken into and they took the flatscreen, jewelry, computer equipment etc. In her hedges there was a broken section leading to the backyard next door. She was convinced that the first false alarms were set off by the workman next door to annoy her till she stopped setting it and then they broke in - having seen her move all this new equipment into the house. Far fetched? Maybe but it's possible.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
