Alarm Signage

[D-der]

Any thoughts on whether an Alarm warning sign on a residence actually deters break in's ?
I haven't seen actual stats and assume most of the signage support may be from the alarm companies
I've read where it does but, wonder, does that actually warn a possible intruder they need to be more careful in their approach.
I suspect this form would be a good source of info on this.

[Hambo]

IME residential alarm response is not a big priority. Our policy was for dispatch to call, then send a car non-emergency. The FD had so many residential false alarms that it dropped its response from a normal alarm responding code 3 to one truck responding non-emergency. All the signs do it let the crackhead know he's on the clock.

If you have cameras linked to your phone and know there is someone in the house, that gets a quicker response.

[BillSWPA]

The technician who installed the alarm on my house claims that houses that have both alarms and signage are less likely to be burglarized. I have not verified his claim. My house has a sign.

A sign from an actual alarm company may carry more weight than the generic signs available at the local big box hardware store.

Modern alarm systems have battery backup and cellular communication. A thief would have to know much more than merely the presence of an alarm to defeat that alarm.

I have only had one false alarm, when I opened a door to let the dog relieve herself while on the phone right after waking up, forgetting to turn off the alarm. The police arrived within minutes of my failing to answer the call from the alarm company.

[Chuck Whitlock]

I have heard it said that if one has an alarm from ABC company, to put up signage from XYZ company.

I cannot confirm or deny the veracity of this advice.

[mmc45414]

Modern alarm systems have battery backup and cellular communication. A thief would have to know much more than merely the presence of an alarm to defeat that alarm.

When I had mine initially installed it was before the cellular option was a thing, and since the land line entered the house at knee level without any kind of conduit or other armor at all it seemed like a bad idea to put a sign in the yard. I also, in both of the houses I have had installed, not had any of the keypads visible from any window.

All the signs do it let the crackhead know he's on the clock.

Now that I have a cellular connection I still do not want a sign, because I would rather have them not know they are on the clock until they are already on the clock.
But on my dead-end street the clock probably actually started running when they walked or drove down the street, between the people that are retired or working from home.

[Coyotesfan97]

The only alarms that are worth it are the ones that give you the alert in real time whether it’s cameras or back in the day microphones that turned on. The company that’s monitoring it also has to call the PD right away.

I responded to a lot of alarm calls in my career. The overwhelming majority were false alarms. The trick is trying to respond to them like they’re real. Alarms happen so frequently it’s it’s to go on autopilot.

I looked at alarms as a way to tell you a crimes occurred and get a faster police response. Burglars mostly get in and out of places quickly. Alarms were a priority one for us. Alarm companies delay calling the cops for the most part.

When I was working graves my beat had a Radio Shack. It got hit all the time with smash and grabs through the front windows. I watched it when I could. One time I was writing reports in a parking lot two blocks away. I got the call, threw down my clipboard, and was on-scene 15-20 seconds. The burglars were long gone. I found out from the manager it had taken Tandy Alarms 15 minutes to call it in. If it’d been a live alert I’d have caught a burglar. <<shrugs>>

[BillSWPA]

I use Ring cameras outside my home. I figured out very quickly that the only alerts I wanted to receive were someone ringing my doorbell. I do not need the distraction of an alert every time my wife of kids enter or leave, every time a car drives past the house, or every time an animal decides that our front porch is a good place to hang out at 3 am.

Alerts to the phone are also of limited value if the phone is not with you (vacation at a water park) or if you are in a meeting at work and cannot monitor the phone. There is value in having someone who gets paid to do nothing else monitoring the alarm.

If my alarm company waited 15 minutes to call the police, fire dept., etc., I would switch monitoring companies ASAP.

[Hideeho]

YMMV, from my experience policing in New York, residential burglaries generally occured daytime when no one was home. Residential burglars relied on two common factors: 1) slow police response to alarms, and 2) people tend to keep valuables in the same place--bedrooms. Ask yourself how long it would take for you to break a window or kick a door, get to the bedroom(s), grab valuables, then leave residence? That sequence can be measured in under 5 minutes. Then ask yourself how long it takes after your alarm activates for the alarm company to notify police, then police dispatch to send officers, and officers to arrive? That's a +5 minute situation. Companies use fear to sell products and services because fear arousal helps sell. Introduce me to an alarm tech who says signs aren't all they are cracked up to be, and I might buy that person drinks for life.

Please consider doing these things to reduce the chances and impacts of a burglary:

1. Respond when someone knocks on your door. That tells burglars the target isn't safe. And I don't mean open the door. A simple who's there and not interested sends the message the resident is home. Not responding to a burglar's knock sends the wrong message, and will usually result in the sound of breaking glass. Do not say no one is home. I think the Dallas home invasion we saw on video might be partly the result of the resident telling suspect no one was home and using his remote camera/audio system to convey that message which might have had the unintentionally reinforcing the message no one was home.

2. Hide valuables in places other than bedrooms. I use empty detergent boxes in the laundry room. Find a hiding location that's not in a bedroom.

3. Have sufficient insurance to cover your theft loss.

[D-der]

Now that I have a cellular connection I still do not want a sign, because I would rather have them not know they are on the clock until they are already on the clock.
But on my dead-end street the clock probably actually started running when they walked or drove down the street, between the people that are retired or working from home.[/QUOTE]

This has been pretty much my thought, I'm a mile in, near the end of a narrow dead end dirt road with no other way out unless it's dirt bike, side by side or snow machine. We did have a false alarm a while ago, I called the PD, apologized, let them know a sensor was replaced and inquired if I owed them, was very pleasantly told no, not at all, we did send a thank you card with a gift card for the local pizza place down the road. We've got a monitored system that's cellular with battery back up, I've been real hesitant / boarder line dead set against camera's just because of hacking potential but, just too much bull shit going on these days, I'm going to add some external camera's to the monitored system, still no way I'm putting then in the house though.
Thanks, very much appreciate all the input!

[BillSWPA]

YMMV, from my experience policing in New York, residential burglaries generally occured daytime when no one was home. Residential burglars relied on two common factors: 1) slow police response to alarms, and 2) people tend to keep valuables in the same place--bedrooms. Ask yourself how long it would take for you to break a window or kick a door, get to the bedroom(s), grab valuables, then leave residence? That sequence can be measured in under 5 minutes. Then ask yourself how long it takes after your alarm activates for the alarm company to notify police, then police dispatch to send officers, and officers to arrive? That's a +5 minute situation. Companies use fear to sell products and services because fear arousal helps sell. Introduce me to an alarm tech who says signs aren't all they are cracked up to be, and I might buy that person drinks for life.

Please consider doing these things to reduce the chances and impacts of a burglary:

1. Respond when someone knocks on your door. That tells burglars the target isn't safe. And I don't mean open the door. A simple who's there and not interested sends the message the resident is home. Not responding to a burglar's knock sends the wrong message, and will usually result in the sound of breaking glass. Do not say no one is home. I think the Dallas home invasion we saw on video might be partly the result of the resident telling suspect no one was home and using his remote camera/audio system to convey that message which might have had the unintentionally reinforcing the message no one was home.

2. Hide valuables in places other than bedrooms. I use empty detergent boxes in the laundry room. Find a hiding location that's not in a bedroom.

3. Have sufficient insurance to cover your theft loss.

All excellent points. Most here likely realize that an alarm is a layer in a layered home security plan. It cannot be the only layer. If something does happen, I prefer that it be noticed in minutes rather then hours, or possibly days.