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Do you have a home alarm system?

I love my Alarm.com system. All controlled through my phone with remote monitoring and wireless technology, no phone line needed. If you want to get a system I can get you a discount, and I get a free month of service. Not an employee, just a happy customer for more than 5 years.

I have a pointer too but unless you are a pheasant or squirrel, you have nothing to worry about.
 
Probably 60-75% of the homes in my jurisdiction have home security systems. The crooks know how long it takes for the alarm company to be notified and then for the police to be notified and then arrive on scene.

Most of our residential burglaries are door kick/window smash, ransack the house looking for personal electronics, jewelry, and guns/safes, and then bail out in about 5-10 minutes.

By the time we arrive on scene, the crooks are long gone.
 
Nick said:
Probably 60-75% of the homes in my jurisdiction have home security systems. The crooks know how long it takes for the alarm company to be notified and then for the police to be notified and then arrive on scene.

Most of our residential burglaries are door kick/window smash, ransack the house looking for personal electronics, jewelry, and guns/safes, and then bail out in about 5-10 minutes.

By the time we arrive on scene, the crooks are long gone.
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That is why I also invested in security doors (that open out) with bump-proof locks. I don't have to have a burglar proof house, I just have to have a house that is harder to break into than my neighbor's.
 
SyndicatedDeath said:
To the best of my knowledge the policy hasn't changed. I'm sure eddy here can verify this no? nevermind, here ya go!

http://www.sjpd.org/records/Verified_Response.html

Also, the new policy came into effect on jan 1st of 2012. With an article date of dec 28 that makes plenty of sense.
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Just got off the phone with pd and seems you are correct, I'll have to email my client and see if I can get some further details. But really the point of all this is that the alarm (130 bds) sounding is what scared the would be burglar off from entering her home.
 
We have an alarm and use it all the time, even though we're in a decent neighborhood. We were on vacation a few months ago when we got a call from ADT saying the alarm went off and if we knew about it... Of course, we didn't (since we were on vacation), so we had a friend go over and luckily, it was just super windy and our door going from the house to the garage had opened (we must not have *fully* closed it when we left, which has happened in the past).

But man, even though it was a false alarm, it's nice to have that peace of mind...
 
If it was easy to arm and disarm like a car I'd use it all the time. As is, I don't even remember how to set it.
 
weasel said:
If it was easy to arm and disarm like a car I'd use it all the time. As is, I don't even remember how to set it.
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Ours has a key fob to arm/disarm/panic... We don't use it, but it came with the system... As far as setting it, it's 1 button. 2 if you don't want to hear the beeping countdown.

They even have new systems that you can use your phone!
 
SyndicatedDeath said:
It's possible the neighbor called verifying the alarm.

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/12/28/cash-strapped-sjpd-wont-respond-to-all-burglar-alarms/
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Not one of our arrests were a result of a verified alarm call. In fact, none of those houses had an alarm. The homeowners were lucky enough to have retired or unemployed neighbors notice the guy jumping the fence or entering the side yard. Just about all of them are serial burglars and go from neighborhood to neighborhood. The State of California has been forced to release tens of thousands of "low level" offenders and will be forced to release tens of thousands more. I just thought I would throw this topic out there because we are now being inundated with calls involving violence, which prevents us from patrolling neighborhoods and respond to burglaries in progress.
 
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Mine's like 20 years old. It's nothing like locking my doors. :laughing
 
p

weasel said:
If it was easy to arm and disarm like a car I'd use it all the time. As is, I don't even remember how to set it.
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We got two car key alarm fobs with the alarm system we installed. If all the doors/windows are closed we get a green light on the panal and as we hit the button for the garge door we hit the away icon on the alarm fob and it's on. When we come home we hit the unlock icon on the alarm key fob and the alarm is disarmed. They have come a long way since you had to punch a bunch of numbers in the key pad.
 
sidewazzz said:
Today you can control your alarm from computer, smart phone, tablet, key fob and key pad.
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Between the key fob and the smart phone, I have never used nor know how to use the keypad.
 
I'd like to get an alarm on our house and have been considering the Comcast system. Just don't know how good it is. Any one have experience with it?
 
RightCoastBias said:
I'd like to get an alarm on our house and have been considering the Comcast system. Just don't know how good it is. Any one have experience with it?
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It's not good at all.... kidding. Here is my advise... any alarm that operates only on the keypad, don't bother. These burglaries are not dumb they know cheap alarms when they see one. Plus they sign you to a 3 year contract. They are brand new at it and I can tell you from how they rolled it out (I worked there when they did) I wouldn't trust them even if they put an armed guard at my front door.

Alarms like ADT or Bay Alarm do 2 year contracts. Their systems are much better the keypad is nothing but an instrument to control the system and the control box is locked and hidden like in the house.
 
sidewazzz said:
It's not good at all.... kidding. Here is my advise... any alarm that operates only on the keypad, don't bother. These burglaries are not dumb they know cheap alarms when they see one. Plus they sign you to a 3 year contract. They are brand new at it and I can tell you from how they rolled it out (I worked there when they did) I wouldn't trust them even if they put an armed guard at my front door.

Alarms like ADT or Bay Alarm do 2 year contracts. Their systems are much better the keypad is nothing but an instrument to control the system and the control box is locked and hidden like in the house.
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Thing is, I am a renter and don't know if I'll be here in 2 years. Might be better if I just make sure my renters ins stays current.
 
eddiet204 said:
I'm still punching key. I like the smart phone option.
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Not sure what provider you have but if you have ADT you can get it. It's called Pulse, you can arm, disarm, see detailed info when sensor is triggered. If you have cameras you can watch them live. It is an "extra" feature and will increase your monthly.
 
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