Security Products
Home Alarm Systems

NO security products are guaranteed to prevent any crime - but will likely serve you well if combined with the guidance in Home Security.

The area's 18 previous home invasions convinced Homer Garza Sr. to install a security system on Monday. Early Wednesday morning, its siren rousted him out of bed. It's a bone-chilling sound. ... Thinking the alarm was a mistake, he bolted from his bed. He quickly found himself blinded by the beam of a flashlight, and felt the barrel of a shotgun against his head. The intruders who had kicked open his door ordered him to enter his security code and turn off the alarm. ... The siren stopped. By then, the monitoring agents had tried to call the home. Garza didn't answer. The intruders had bound his hands, and also those of his son. When a homeowner doesn't respond, the company summons law enforcement officers to that address. ... Even if the goons had forced one of the Garzas to answer the call, the cops still would have been summoned. All the homeowner has to do is give a false code word and the company calls authorities. ... Garza’s son kept telling the intruders that sheriff's deputies would arrive soon. "That's why they got out of here when they did," Homer Sr. said. "You could see they were starting to get a little scared.” ... “I recommend it," Garza said. "After death, money isn't going to help you. If you can pay for cable, you can pay for security products."
Excepted from The Modesto Bee (CA) – 11 September 2003

Always keep your alarm system activated - especially when you're at home. Though it's sometimes inconvenient, it'll soon become an unconscious habit - like always wearing a seatbelt when driving.

Basic Alarm Systems
The typical basic system includes contact sensors for exterior doors and ground-floor windows, an outdoor motion sensor, an indoor sounder (alarm), and connecting them all together as an integrated system, a master control unit.

I highly recommend additional options: a monitored alarm system with a wireless keychain remote, monitored smoke detectors, medical alert remote, an outdoor sounder, surveillance cameras and a TV monitor. They provide home security as well as help you with fire and medical emergencies. These security products help protect you only if you use them at all times and follow all the strategies taught throughout Home Security.

Also included are yard signs and window signs to deter burglars. 76 percent of burglars, even though they know many security products signs are phony, will move on to an easier target just in case.

Sensors to activate an alarm system may include the following security products:
• Magnetic Contacts, the most common components of alarm systems, are located where doors, windows, and drawers meet their frames. Opening the door breaks the contact and activates an alarm.
• Plunger Contacts, like magnetic contacts, are located where doors, windows and drawers meet their frames. Opening the door breaks the contact and activates an alarm. (Plunger contacts, for example, are used on car and refrigerator doors to control the interior light.)
• Foiling, the metallic ribbon you’ve often seen snaking around the edges of a store’s window glass, activates an alarm if the glass is broken. Its easy visibility might deter burglars – or cause them to try another way in.
• Photoelectric or Infrared Beams detect anyone entering a given space and activate an alarm. However, pets, mice, dust, or wind-blown leaves may cause false alarms. (These beams, for example, are used to control elevator doors closing safely.)
• Motion Detectors use ultrasonic waves to detect anyone entering a given space and activate an alarm. However, pets, mice, or wind-blown leaves may cause false alarms.
• Vibration Detectors on doors, walls, and windows activate an alarm when disturbed. However, heavy footsteps, thunder, and loud cars passing by may cause false alarms.
• Passive InfraRed (or PIR) Detectors sense infrared heat (body heat) within an indoor area and activate an alarm. However, pets and mice may cause false alarms.

A wide variety of additional devices can be integrated with the basics above to cover all aspects of your security.

Unmonitored systems sound an alarm to alert you when detecting intruders (an additional outdoor sounder also alerts your neighbors). Some also have an auto-dialer to call the police or fire department. See different versions at www.smarthome.com, and www.smarthome.com.

A do-it-yourself (DIY) security products system can be either hard-wired into your home’s wiring or wireless/battery-powered. A wireless system needs new batteries periodically and has more possible signal interference, but installs much more easily - and can be taken with you if you relocate to another home.

Seclusion greatly benefits a criminal. Secluded homes should use all the security products described in this section, including a monitored alarm system with cameras.

See
• Security Products - Overview
• Home Security - Product Buying Guide - Intro
• Safe Room
• Door Reinforcement
• Window Reinforcement
• Garage & Yard Reinforcement
• Simple Home Electronics
• Alarm Systems (YOU’RE NOW ON THIS PAGE)
• Flaws in Electronic Security
• Apartment & Dormitory Security
• Pepper Spray & Devices

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