A few years ago I worked for a security monitoring company. We monitored both home security systems and corporate security systems along the east coast, and in a few other places in the United States as well. While we didn’t work directly with the systems themselves, we had to know a lot about them, since we routinely had false alarms and customer call-ins relating to arming and disarming systems. Troubleshooting systems was another big part of our job. Did you know that fresh paint or wood chips can trigger certain alarm systems that monitor for fires?
I’d say half of our monitoring was for residential security systems. I can’t tell you how many false alarms we had in terms of home construction, painting or even pets triggering false alarms, as well as relatives without the correct pin codes and pass codes. But we had a lot of legitimate calls as well — for break-ins, vandalized windows and doors, electrical outages (these were crucial for those homes who relied on medical equipment), and of course, fires.
One cool use for a home security system that I discovered through my job was the monitoring of elderly, sick or disabled residents. If they needed help, they could contact us using a special device that they carried in their pocket or wore around their neck. We would be on a special speaker system that was wired in their house, so they could easily communicate with us. We could then call family, or send out fire, ambulance or police services.
We don’t have a security system for our home, but it’s something I have considered on and off, especially since I am home alone with Alyssa and Ryan a lot of nights. Do you have a security system?
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3 Comments
, on December 12 2008 at 2:20pm:
You are right, false alarms are a huge problem for the home owner as well as the responding authorities. A security system that provides guarantees for intrusion detection where they will share in your losss if they don’t detect an intrusion should also provide false alarm guarantees where they will pay the fines if they dispatch and a fine is incurred by the home owner. Other guarantees should provide for free service for as long as you are paying for monthly monitoring and an uncoditional six month money back satisfaction guarantee.
, on December 12 2008 at 3:55pm:
Family safety is critical. Home security is often overlooked in favor of business security, but you can have both. A new product called Archerfish is an easy way to monitor your loved ones, and allows you to be more intelligent in your decisions to protect your home. It’s Mobile Video Intelligence in the palm of your hand.
- Debbie Shuey, Cernium Corporation
http://www.myarcherfish.com
As the domain name suggests, my name is Jenn, and I own this blog. I'm 26 years old and married to my one true ♥, Daniel. And while I have two kids (Alyssa is five, and Ryan is three), you won't find "mommy" in my username or email address, nor does my blog revolve around them. I'm a mother, but most importantly I am me, with a passion for love, blogging, reading, and photography. I'm also a busy freelance writer, web designer & SEO goddess, and a blogger relations person for an adult toy company.
I had one that got struck by lighting, well Florida is the lightning capital of the world, and we haven’t had the money to get it fixed or get a new one. I miss having it though.