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In many environments, home alarm systems make good sense and provide reasonable protection at a relatively low cost. All alarm systems can be circumvented by those few truly experienced professionals, but not by the typical burglar. In most cases, even the professionals will bypass a residence with an alarm system preferring an easier, more vulnerable target.
We believe that installing a silent alarm in a home is foolish. The objective of an alarm system is not for the police or alarm company response personnel to apprehend a thief in the commission of a crime--an unlikely event in most communities. Rather, the goal of an alarm is to encourage the thief to depart the premises without delay.
Although we always recommend local annunciation in addition to central station annunciation, many homeowners decide not to bother installing a siren, alarm bell or other local audible or visible signal (such as flashing exterior lights) fearing false alarms will occur and disturb neighbors. In past years, most alarm systems were monitored by a central station utilizing a supervised telephone line--that is if the line were cut, the alarm company would immediately be notified the system went off line and follow up in the manner specified by the client. However, as the costs of alarm systems have dropped substantially in recent years, these dedicated supervised lines have been eliminated in all but the higher priced systems with fairly pricey monitoring charges.
Today, most alarm systems contact the central station in the event of an alarm by means of a digital dialer or similar mechanism. With these systems, should an intruder cut the telephone lines and then break in, no alarm is annunciated at the central station and no one is aware the system is off line.
Like everything in security, with alarm systems there is a tradeoff between protection, convenience and economics. In most cases, a basic alarm system utilizing a digital dialer is sufficient as long as an intrusion would be annunciated locally, regardless of the status of the telephone line. For higher profile targets, however, upgrading these somewhat vulnerable systems might make sense. In addition to the traditional dedicated, supervised line designs, many alarm contractors can adequately back up an alarm system using radio transmitters or even cellular devices.
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