Folks, I’ve mentioned before, this is your front line of home defense. Everything else is behind this. I’ve seen them for as little as $.65 cents a day.
Today’s Guest Author:
Henry L. Homrighaus Jr.
Residential Security and Burglaries Today
A burglar breaks into a residence looking for valuables to steal to support his habits or vices. It used to be televisions and electronics that were the primary targets but today many are so large and getting rid of them profitably has changed the primary targets for thieves.
So what are thieves looking for today? Unfortunately these is no single answer but there are several items that are attractive to today’s criminal element and here are a few. Guns, particularly handguns, checks, credit cards and credit card information found in mail or statements, cash, prescription drugs, jewelry and computers. Guns can be easily turned into cash and are frequently sold no questions asked in truck stops, bars, and flea markets. Checks can be easily used especially if they have a duplicating check register showing your signature and in many cases your driver’s license number written by you on a check. Increasingly thieves search for credit cards, credit card bills and information in your files. Many of us are in the habit of keeping a cash reserve in the house in which we are sure is the most creative hiding place ever only to discover that a burglar who was only there five minutes found our stash. Prescription drugs are commanding an ever increasing street price because of the public pressure exerted by news reporting on several high profile individuals accused of prescription shopping. Pain killers, diet drugs, and anti-depressants are the most popular and given the time thieves will go through the medicine cabinets, bathroom and bed stand drawers and purses looking for them. Jewelry that can’t be sold is often given to girl friends, used to solicit sex or traded for drugs or booze. Stealing computers, lap tops or even hard drives out of PC’s can put a computer literate thieve in possession of a lot of information which doesn’t bode well for the victim. Many of these items can be used in identity theft and has become an ever increasing problem. If they aren’t smart enough to use the information themselves there are a host of unscrupulous individuals willing to buy or trade for this information. They are just as dishonest but aren’t burglars.
What these things have in common is that they can be small and easily concealable which is highly desirable especially in high rise or multi-tenant theft. They can be carried without vehicular transportation essential in a major cosmopolitan setting where subways and public transportation or the norms of inner city travel. They can be stowed in a briefcase or backpack and not nearly conspicuous as a car full of electronics, television sets and appliances.
As a life time member of the National Rifle Association and the Texas State Rifle Association and it has been my unpleasant experience in dealing with like minded second amendment rights advocates, firearm collectors and hunters who have been burglarized losing irreplaceable or sentimental firearms given them by family members often deceased. A single shot shotgun or .22 left to you by your father, grandfather or a favorite uncle is just as valuable to you as a extremely rare single action colt is to a collector.
How do we protect ourselves insuring that we are getting the protection we require consistent with our risk without getting ripped off? Is any one equipment manufacturer better than all of the rest? How much protection do I need? How do I start finding the answers to my question without subjecting myself to an endless procession of security service providers? How do I select a security company without playing “Yellow page bingo”?
Here are some simple and easy steps to get started. Every city and area is different but these steps seem to work well across the nation.
The first thing to do is to call your insurance company and ask if there is a premium discount for having a security system, how much it is and what are the requirements?
Typically many insurers offer as much as a twenty (20%) percent reduction on basic home insurance for a monitored UL (Underwriter’s Laboratory) listed security system. This is a system that is monitored either by the installing company or more likely a third party central station which monitors accounts for several security dealers. Note that in many states this is a voluntary discount and not required by law which means that if you don’t ask for it you may not get it.
The second step is to call the Better Business Bureau, if available in your area, to automatically rule out companies that have less that stellar service and customer satisfaction histories. Sometime it is helpful to know whom we don’t want to do business with because of service issues, trade practice or not honoring commitments made to customers.
The third step is to ask friends and neighbors who have security systems about the companies that they are using and solicit their recommendations.
Be careful of accepting professional recommendations from locksmiths, realtors, home inspectors or insurance agents as not all but many have prearranged referral agreements with security systems and other service providers like glass replacement companies, HVAC companies, lawn service and lawn sprinkler contractors on a fee basis.
Security equipment is fairly standard in the way it works, protects, and reports emergency conditions as all are listed with the Underwriter’s Laboratories to the same UL standards. Control panels, keypads, motion detectors, glass break detectors and even magnetic contacts have to be tested and meet certain standards of performance before they can be used in the security systems industry. Problems are rarely caused by equipment but by poor installation, faulty system design, inappropriate use of certain detectors and human error.
We hear a lot about false alarms today and the burden on police departments. Where the facts are correctly reported and accurate records available there is an annual reduction virtually across the nation because of the security industries innovations in design, anti-false alarm training, CP-01 and the Model Cities Ordinance advocated by the security industry and referenced in most municipal alarm ordinances.
It is very important to find out if a alarm permit is required in your city or county to insure police response to emergency signals from your security system. Does your state require security systems dealers to be licensed? In Texas, and many other states as well, anyone wishing to become a security systems dealer, installer, repairman or central station monitor must submit a request for licensing to the Texas Department of Public Safety and be subject to a state and national (FBI) criminal history search. To open a company you must demonstrate that you have been licensed for two years by a legally licensed security company and make application. There are additional educational requirements to be fulfilled to acquire and renew a security license as well as providing proof of insurance in an amount established by the Texas Board of Private Security.
Many of the nation’s largest providers offer security systems consisting of a control panel, keypad, three doors protected by magnetic contacts and one motion detector frequently installed for a single low price provided you agree to have the system monitored for three (3) years. This will be adequate for many home owners and has proven to be a popular offering. In the typical home this would be the front door, glass sliding or French door and the door to the attached garage. The motion detector is usually placed in the living room where the traditional targets of burglars past are located, the TV and electronics. There is an inside siren, a keypad to indicate system status and to enter a for or five digit code to turn the system on & off. Most keypad will have additional buttons designated for reporting fire or panic (duress) conditions.
Only you can determine if you require more protection but some obvious indicators would be additional perimeter doors, a home office with computers, a special hobby room with expensive tools or equipment, a gun cabinet, safe or gun safe. In many instances people store money, jewelry, cash and guns in their master bedroom closets thereby making them excellent candidate for added protection.
There are many conditions to be considered in planning a security system. How big is the home, do you have children living in the home, are there extreme valuables kept in the home, large sums of cash, collections, art, etc. Where any of these conditions exist a more comprehensive system is required for adequate protection.
Think of your system in terms of a perimeter (the doors and windows) and the interior (the inside of our home) each requiring protection. The perimeter is our first line of defense which we protect with magnetic contacts so that if a door or window is forced open we activate the perimeter alarm system. We realize that a window or sliding glass patio door could be broken out and our home entered without opening the door or window effective bypassing the perimeter protection. This is where a well place motion detector designed to detect human motion through the protection pattern or glass break detector designed to detect breaking glass come in to play as part of our second line of defense the interior sounding the siren and transmitting a call for help to our central station where the signal is received and the police dispatched to our home.
An interior siren alone is not enough local sound volume to penetrate our neighbor’s homes because of insulation, HVAC, televisions or stereos playing and construction.
By Henry L. Homrighaus Jr. CHS-V
Henry L. Homrighaus, Jr. CHS-V is a career security industry veteran with a wealth of experience derived from military, law enforcement and security industry involvement. Mr. Homrighaus has led some of the largest and most successful of America’s security companies to a position of prominence in their respective marketplaces. He is an acknowledged leader and frequently consulted in areas of research, legislation, and litigation.
With a career spanning 40 years he is experienced in all areas of the security spectrum. He is a pivotal individual in area of legislation involving the security industry and co-founded the Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, The Greater San Antonio Alarm Association, The Capital Area Association, and The West Texas Alarm Association.
Mr. Homrighaus has been published in many of the security trade journals and is an acknowledge authority in marketing and sales. He is a paid consultant to schools, universities, and institutions in the design and deployment of large scale security integration projects.
Mr. Homrighaus recently retired as the Senior Vice President of Security General International LTD to pursue his latest venture and founded Professional Security Consulting, a dba of his corporation ProSecCon, Inc. In this enterprise he will consult with security companies, industry manufacturers, school districts, universities, and private enterprise using his considerable experience to guide them to appropriate solutions by addressing their particular concerns.
Mr. Homrighaus is an expert witnessing resource to several insurance companies, attorney’s, security companies and is a licensed security consultant.
Mr. Homrighaus is a member of the American Society of Industrial Security, the National Fire Prevention Association, and the American College of Forensic Examiners International earning their coveted CHS-V designation in Homeland Security.
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