Think about this: how do you keep your property secure without home security systems? Not very well, I’d imagine. If you have no kind of home security in place and you have never experienced any trouble then you either live in the real world version of Cloud Cuckoo Land or you are the luckiest person in your street. Home security systems are a vital part of property security in the modern world. Sad fact but true.
Start with a list of home security companies that you are prepared to do business with. Generating this list is a matter of preference both in terms of who is on it and how you got them there. My advice would be to contact an estate agent in control of properties in your street and ask who they use; or contact your home insurer and see if there are any home security companies that they would recommend.
However you do it, you need a list of companies that could install home security systems for you. Then you need to look at your property with the company that you choose from that list. Look for weak points and strengthen them with lights and cameras. Walk through the interior of the house and define the areas that need the most protection.
The kind of protection that you feel your home needs, dictates the types of home security systems that you will end up using. There is no sense, for example, in having a panic room installed in a garden shed – or in having enterprise level CCTV installed for a semi detached two bed. Protecting your home with home security is about matching equipment to your needs.
There are two basic forms of burglar protection – deterrent and alarm. The best form of defence when you use home security companies is deterrence. That’s simply because you don’t want burglars in your home at all – so the best alarm systems are ultimately the ones that never actually go off.
Take the lead from your home security company (or home security companies, if you are sharing the responsibility for your security among different providers). They’re the experts in the field after all. Let them show you the equipment that will provide the most effective deterrence – combined with the equipment that, in the case of a break in, will supply the most effective alarm. The mixture of the two should be enough to put any burglar off his or her food for some time.
The basic point of home security systems is to discourage burglars from even trying. That means plenty of outside lights, obvious window strip use and even signs up that state in plain English “we have a security system installed”. Bear in mind though that most burglars know the difference between real and fake home security – so make sure that your house backs up its bark with an obviously inconvenient bite.
2 Comments
It’s important to do your research into security services. Thanks for all this useful info!
Good information! I agree completely about adding outside lighting and signs, as they are a great deterrent. I would suggest to find an alarm company that uses a local monitoring station in your area. Here in Phoenix, we can get severe monsoon storms in the summer. These cause many false alarms and power outages. Our local central station operators are familiar with this, and it helps both alarm companies and their customers to cope with the problems.