In a day when security is essential for the home you may be wondering what kind will give you the peace of mind you need. Many people have more than one type of security, so should you have both security doors and a home alarm installed by an alarm company or a simple solution installed by a handyman or just one? If so, which one?
To decide, you need to think like a burglar. Suppose you were on the point of robbing a home. What would put you off more; a door that was difficult to get open or a shrieking alarm?
Burglars have more than one entry point to a home. If they cannot get in the door, they are likely to try the window. They may even smash down the wall with a stolen vehicle. But once that alarm goes off – an alarm that everyone can hear, they would be out of there as fast as they could go. Even if the alarm system was only heard by the police or security company, the burglar would realise that someone would soon be coming to check up on the property. Or that the people inside would quickly be aroused from sleep.
However, some homes are robbed or vandalised by the opportunistic thief. This is a person who robs on impulse as the opportunity arrives. They may knock on a door and if they find no answer proceed to break and enter. But if the doors are the premium security type they will go away disappointed because they feel going through window is too difficult or too visible. Of course, if an alarm blared out as they smashed their way in they would run, too.
The thing is, if there is only an alarm, a great deal of damage can occur before it goes off. The burglar will have smashed the door or the window down to get in before the alarm goes off. That means even if he runs away without stealing anything it will still cost you in terms of repair to the door. However, if you install a perimeter alarm it will go off before the burglar gets in, which will save damage to the doors and windows.
In actual fact, the ideal solution would be to have both, then if you forget to activate the alarm there will still be some measure of protection at your home. And if the alarm works by electricity and has no battery back-up, if there is a black-out it will be virtually useless. You would want to know that your security doors were in place during a storm just in case.
Apart from that, not all alarm systems are back-to-base systems that will draw a response when they go off. So you are really just depending on the sound of the alarm to scare off the intruder when you are not home. If the intruder understands that it is an alarm that no one will respond to, he may simply go ahead and take what he wants while the alarm is shrieking – or he may deactivate it when he gets in. So in all, it is a good idea to have both and make sure your alarm will bring a response team to the rescue.
