So your holiday is over and your return home relaxed and rested. You finally remember where you stashed your keys a fortnight ago and you open the front door. You are seized with horror at the scene in front of you. Contents of drawers strewn everywhere, gaps in rooms where there used to be electronic equipment, cupboard doors flung open and glass everywhere.
How safe is your home? Reducing the risk and fear of crime is a task for the home owner. The police and your insurance company are there for you after the event but the trick is of course prevention.
So what can we do?
Victims of home burglaries will tell you that the trauma doesn’t end when the burglars have taken your treasured possessions and left a trail of devastation in your home. The long lasting emotional impact goes on for weeks or months when they try to claim actual values from insurers and pay for repairs to make good the damage.
This is especially the case where the victims did not have a home burglar alarm systems.
Insurers and the police view burglary as an opportunistic crime. A burglar will select his target because it offers him the best opportunity to carry his crime undetected and with the fewest number of obstacles in his way. A building that presents itself as insecure is far more likely to be targeted than one which is properly secured with a home burglar alarm system.
To stop a burglar, you need to think like one. By installing a home burglar alarm system burglars will avoid breaking into a property.
So how much will a home burglar alarm systems set you back? Well, how long is a piece of string?
There are many alarm systems available but broadly it boils down to “bells only” and “monitored alarm”
Home burglar alarm systems make a very loud noise, deters intruders and alerts your neighbours. They range in price from fairly cheap alarms to more sophisticated systems but a set package would typically include a control panel, pet safe passive infrared movement detectors (PIRs), door contacts, internal or external sirens and bell box.
They won’t however generate a police response directly from the system. A monitored home burglar alarm system is a system connected via telephone line or radio network to a "receiving centre", which typically monitors signals received from your alarm 24 hours a day. A monitored alarm will incur monthly or annual service charges on top of the installation costs however it will provide 24 hours a day all year around protection and peace of mind.
Whatever type of home you live in there is an array of home burglar alarm systems to choose from that will suit your needs and the Company you deal with can tailor a specific system to meet those needs or supply a set package.
Even a low cost DIY home burglar alarm system is certainly better than nothing at all. Don't just do nothing and say “it won’t happen to me!”