Security and Surveillance Industry News

Security-Kits.com recently released an in-depth learning center resource for burglar alarm systems that details the history of alarm systems starting with earliest mercantile alarm systems and it goes right up to modern wireless security systems. This reference should be required reading for anyone interested in security systems.

The following is an excerpt from the History of Alarm Systems:

History of Alarm Systems

In 1874, L.H. McCollough invented the first mercantile alarm system. The first alarms systems utilized a single zone of protection that extended around the perimeter of the facility. The zone was nothing more than an electrical circuit that allowed current to constantly flow from one end to the other. When a door was opened, or a window was broken, the flow of electricity would be interrupted and the panel would cause an alarm. The panels would utilize a McCollough transmitter to send a type of code to the local police or monitoring facility. The McCollough transmitter was a wind-up device that was connected to a dedicated copper circuit. When the alarm was triggered, the McCollough transmitter would unwind and send a series of pulses along the dedicated copper wire.

The signal is best compared to a type of Morse Code or Telegraph Signal. After the alarm went off, the McCollough transmitter would need to be re-wound so that it was ready to send the next alarm.

The McCollough Receiver would tap out holes in stripes of paper. An alarm dispatcher would compare the holes with a list to pinpoint where the alarm had occurred. The earliest McCollough transmitters were utilized for fire alarm pull stations.

Needless to say, this forever changed the way that alarms were responded too. Fire Brigades could now respond much faster to the scene of a fire.

Alarm panels have come a long way since the days of the McCollough transmitter, but as a testament to the technology invented by McCollough, some of the most secure alarm transmission methods available today utilize a very similar technology.

How A Burglar Alarm System Works

In its simplest form, a Burglar Alarm System utilizes a control panel, an arming station and a combination of perimeter and interior protection to provide a deterrent shield to protect your most valuable assets.

When an unauthorized entry is detected by a perimeter or interior sensor, the system will initiate an alarm.

The alarm panel is tied into your telephone line to allow it to send digital signals to a
Central Station Monitoring Facility. The Central Station Alarm Monitoring Facility receives the alarm signals and immediately tries to verify that the alarm is real.

Depending on the type of alarm, the Alarm Dispatcher will first call the premises to try and contact the alarm user. If the user answers the phone, they are asked to provide a pass-code that identifies them as an authorized user. If they can provide the correct pass-code, the alarm is logged, but authorities are not dispatched.

If no one answers the phone, or if the person answering the phone cannot provide the correct password, the authorities are dispatched to the scene immediately. After the authorities are dispatched, the Alarm Dispatcher will attempt to reach a pre designated call list of individuals who can meet the authorities at the site to let them in to investigate the cause of the alarm.

Alarm systems are a valuable resource that can provide you with a strong deterrent to forcible entry and help you to protect your most valuable assets.

Read the rest of the article and learn more about Security Systems at Security-Kits.com.

Much to the delight of Home and Business Owners, Modern Architects are designing buildings with lots of beautiful glass which let in natural lighting. A home or office with large windows and glass openings can provide the feeling of bringing the outdoors in while presenting you with views that will certainly add to the ambiance of any environment.

Unfortunately, burglars love your windows as well. Rather than try and pound through a door or pick a lock, a burglar interested in a quick in-and-out will simply smash your window and grab what they want. With statistics showing that up to 25% of break-ins occur through windows, how do you protect yourself?

Don’t throw up some ugly Wrought Iron Grates or install expensive Roll-down Storm Shutters. There are actually several un-obtrusive ways to protect your glass openings that will still let the light shine through!

If your protection plan includes an Electronic Security Alarm System, you can simply attach a shock or vibration sensor to the glass or the window frame. Shock sensors react to the vibration or bending of the glass that occurs when a window is smashed or broken. Depending on the sensitivity and the technology employed, a shock/vibration sensor can cover up to 10′ of glass. Since they can be seen from the outside, they provide an exceptional visible deterrent and they can offer 24-hour protection for hard to cover skylights, storefront or bathroom windows.

If you are trying to protect multiple panes of glass, each panel should have its own shock/vibration sensor. You should also know that shock/vibration sensors can cause false alarms from loud noises, close lightning strikes, or from the vibration caused by large trucks or machinery rolling past.

Acoustical glass break detectors offer another flexible alternative to protect your windows. Acoustical Glass break detectors “listen” for the sound of breaking glass. By breaking thousands of pieces of glass, security engineers have recorded the entire high frequency spectrum of the sound associated with breaking glass.

Whether it is solid plate, wired, laminated or tempered glass that shatters on impact, the sound associated with the glass breaking will fall within a known frequency across the audio band and cause an alarm. Acoustical Glass Break Detectors offer ranges up to a 30′ radius which means a single detector can sometimes protect an entire room, which can make them a cost effective alternative to the Shock/Vibration Sensors.

Since Acoustical Glass Break Detectors are listening devices, the effective range can be greatly reduced by blinds, drapes and other window coverings. Careful placement and full testing should be considered standard installation procedure.

Many manufacturers offer combination glass break, reed switch window contacts to help protect single windows from being opened or broken. If you require 100% perimeter protection, you should consider a combination glass break, window contact for each window that is accessible.

Remember that acoustical glass break alarms are prone to false alarms that can be triggered by sudden loud noises or certain high frequency sounds. Some manufacturers have answered the false alarm problem by creating “dual technology” detectors. These detectors require that a secondary event occurs simultaneously with the sound of breaking glass in order to cause an alarm.

The most common secondary technology is a shock wave sensor. When a pane of glass is broken in its frame, there is a low pressure shock wave that occurs. The low pressure shock wave and the high frequency sound of breaking glass will occur simultaneously. In order to cause and alarm, both events need to occur within milliseconds.

Now, these electronic means of protection can only be utilized if you have a security alarm system installed in your home or business. As they do not prevent the breaking of the window, the sole intention of the glass break detectors is to set off a loud audible alarm in the hopes of scaring off intruders after they have gained entry.

In theory, this works great and glass break detectors have proven to be an invaluable resource in reducing the losses due to theft. But how do I keep the Burglars Out?

According to the FBI, the average burglar will give up trying to forcibly enter your home after 4-minutes.

Modern Security Laminates can turn your ordinary windows into Burglary Resistant Barriers. These polyester laminates are a thin as a piece of paper and they roll onto existing windows like wallpaper, yet they can provide you with an impenetrable barrier to smash and grab burglaries.

In addition to burglary protection, security laminates offer excellent protection from flying glass during hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes, all while blocking up to 99% of the suns harmful ultraviolet rays.

You can have these security laminates professionally installed, or you can order pre-cut do-it yourself kits. It takes about 10-minutes to install the laminate on an average size window, and it will provide a lifetime of protection.

So you are considering the purchase of a Security Alarm System for your home or business. For some, the on-going monthly expense associated with Alarm System Monitoring is one of the major factors taken into consideration when choosing a vendor.

With monitoring fees ranging anywhere from $ 25.00 to well over $ 40.00 per month, what are you getting for your money? Let’s take a closer look at the monitoring services offered by most alarm companies.

In its simplest form, a Burglar Alarm System utilizes a control panel, an arming station and a combination of perimeter and interior protection to provide a deterrent shield to protect your most valuable assets. When an unauthorized entry is detected by a perimeter or interior sensor the system will initiate an alarm.

Similar to a facsimile machine, every Security Alarm Panel that is capable of being monitored uses an industry standard Digital Communication Format. The panel uses this digital language to communicate with an Alarm Receiver at the Central Monitoring Facility using standard or cellular telephone lines.

If an alarm occurs at your premises, the alarm panel will immediately utilize your telephone line to send a digital signal to the Central Station. A unique account number is programmed into your alarm panel to allow it to identify itself to the Alarm Receiver.

The Alarm Panel will transmit the account number and a 3 or 4 digit event code to the Alarm Receiver. The Alarm Receiver will interpret the digital signals and immediately pass the information along to a large network of computers which are manned 24×7 by Central Station Operators.

The Central Station Operator is provided with the call list information that you have provided to the alarm company during the registration process. The Central Station Operator that receives the alarm signals immediately tries to verify that the alarm is real.

Depending on the type of alarm, the Central Station Operator will first call the premises to try and contact the alarm user. If the user answers the phone, they are asked to provide a unique pass-code that identifies them as an authorized user. If they can provide the correct pass-code, the alarm is logged, but authorities are not dispatched.

If no one answers the phone, or if the person answering the phone cannot provide the correct password, the authorities are dispatched to the scene immediately. After the authorities are dispatched, the Central Station Operator will attempt to reach a call list of individuals who can meet the authorities at the site to let them in to investigate the cause of the alarm.

There are a couple of circumstances, where the Central Station Operator will not call your premises and try to verify the alarm. The special circumstances include Fire Alarms and Panic Alarms.

A fire can quickly get out of control and completely consume your home or business in a matter of minutes. Therefore, if your Fire Alarm is going off, the 1st order of business for the Operator is to dispatch the Fire Department. You cannot call and ask the dispatcher stop the Fire Department. Once the trucks roll, they will not stop.

If your panic alarm goes off, be forewarned, the police department takes panic alarms very seriously. No one from the central station will call your house to try and verify the alarm. Usually a 911 dispatcher will call your house after there is a large posse of Police Officers outside your door. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to come out with your hands up and you find several guns in your face.

Now, that is what you can expect from your $ 29.00 monthly fee, although many Central Stations will charge more for “optional” services such as Code Changes, Opening & Closing Reports, Alarm System Partitioning and Fire, Panic or Medical Alarm Monitoring Services.

Before you make that purchasing decision, have each alarm company that you are getting bids from outline exactly which monitoring services are included in the base price and which services are optional. Then you can factor in the monthly monitoring and management fees into any purchasing decision.

It’s that time of year again, and in Utah the snow is beginning to fly. Dreams of pristine and untouched vertical powder runs begin to fill my mind. The change in seasons always stimulates me.

To kill the seemingly endless time between the 1st snow and opening day, I have no choice but give in to an overwhelming urge to start planning an annual ski pilgrimage to some remote and magnificent location.

Like an avalanche, my urges are somewhat unpredictable and once they start, they are always unstoppable. Last year it was the wilds of Wyoming’s Grand Teton Mountains. This year, the ranges of southern Colorado might just do the trick. I really enjoy living in the Intermountain West.

You might be asking yourself, what does all of this have to do with security systems? To put it simply, I can go skiing for a week without worry because I enjoy the piece of mind and freedom that my security systems provide.

I am confident and assured because I know that my security systems are on-guard and I am free to go on vacation completely liberated from the anxiety or worry. I appreciate the fact that my office and its contents are safe from intrusions and I am comforted to know that I can use my laptop computer to check in on my employees or my home from just about anywhere on the planet.

I tell you, living the connected life in 2008 is pretty darn cool. I can arm or disarm my home alarm from anywhere. If I am out of town and my kids are not home on time, my security system will call me to alert me that they are late. Our teenage children wouldn’t exactly throw a wild party knowing that we could be watching them on live cameras from our hotel room.

My home security system even allows me to turn on or off lights and appliances through a telephone interface. Last year on my way back from Wyoming, I called the house and turned on the Jacuzzi so that it was all toasty and warmed up when we arrived. Pretty nice after a week of hard skiing and a long 6 hour drive.

As for my business; since I have a comprehensive security system at the office I don’t need to worry that a preoccupied employee hurriedly planning his Friday night, is going to walk away and leave the security system un-armed. It automatically arms itself.

Wondering if that large shipment arrived in time to restock your inventory? Got that covered with the warehouse camera. Concerned if the sidewalks got cleared after the last big snow? Call up the outside pan tilt camera and have a look. Want to know if you employees arrived on time or left early. It is as simple as checking the entry logs from the access control system.

After reading this, you probably think that I have some enormous state of the art security system that costs tens of thousands of dollars. The truth is that every one of the features I described is available as a low cost option on just about every security system offered on the market.

Security systems these days are extremely sophisticated, yet simple to use. Although the basic features of modern security alarm systems meet most people’s needs, there are some simple options and upgrades that can make your system really cool and much more useful than a simple burglar alarm.

Many of these advanced features are built right into the control panel and only require some programming changes to enable them. Other options might require the addition of some hardware, software, wiring, relays or even an increase in your monthly monitoring fees.

The great Benjamin Franklin once said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of”. It seems that the closer we get to the end of this race we call life, time becomes increasingly valuable. If you are like me, somewhere in the middle of the race with very little free time, you probably don’t want to spend your vacation time worrying about things at home or in the office.

Especially if you would rather be dreaming of first tracks……..

America, the land of the free; many generations have often used this statement to describe the United States and the all of the freedoms provided to its citizens. Freedoms that we largely have the benefit of due to the greatest document ever created, The Constitution of the United States.

Afforded to us by the 2nd amendment, one of the basic freedoms that we currently enjoy is the right to bear Arms. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.

In the post 9-11 period, how many of our civil liberties have been eroded in the name of national security? Are Americans completely willing to trade warrant-less phone taps, illegal searches and state sponsored torture for a little homeland security?

Answer the questions truthfully and then think about how unalienable our rights and freedoms actually are. I mention this because there is a growing contingent of people and government agencies that would like nothing more than to take away your right to bear Arms.

One of the tools that these organizations use to justify their desire to take away your guns is to publish statistics. Of course statistics that show a direct correlation between gun ownership and accidental shootings of children can be very powerful lobbying tool.

According to researchers in a study conducted by RAND-UCLA, over 35% of homes in America with school age children have at least one firearm. Over 60% report that those firearms are kept unlocked and about 10% keep them loaded with ammunition.

According the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the rate of firearm deaths among American children under age 15 is almost 12 times higher than in 25 other industrialized countries combined!

Between 1979 and 1997 there were over 30,000 accidental gun deaths in this Country and it is estimated that for every person killed by a handgun, four more are injured. This is equivalent to 36 accidental shootings and 9 deaths every day.

Since all of the findings indicate that accidental death by shooting is directly associated with gun availability, these are pretty strong statistics to help support the anti-gun lobbies stance.

We all know that children are intensely curious and most of them are fascinated by handguns. Sometimes even kids who have been raised around guns cannot resist the temptation of playing with a firearm or showing it off to friends.

The late George Bernard Shaw once said “Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” He meant that Liberty and freedom come at a cost. That cost is responsibility.

If we want to keep our right to bear arms, then we must all become responsible gun owners. Lock up your handguns with trigger guards or one of the innovative new Biometric Fingerprint Safes so kids can’t get to them. There are models to suite any application and most of them open within 1-second to allow quick access to your handgun when you need it.

If you don’t have a secure gun storage safe, never keep a loaded gun and always store your ammunition separately from your guns. Do not let your child become a statistic.

Let me just preface this article by pointing out the fact that Professional Grade Security Equipment is not inexpensive. Never has been, probably never will be.

It can cost a lot of money to properly secure a home or business. It is not at all unusual for homeowners to invest thousands of dollars in their Security Systems. So just how do companies afford to give them away? I can tell you how it happened in my little slice of the world.

Many years ago, some associates and I were on the forefront of a new and emerging business model in the Security Industry. We discovered that there were companies willing to pay really good money for alarm system monitoring contracts.

At that point in time, we were in the business of selling Security Alarm Systems to homeowners and small businesses. We were charging about $ 1,000.00 for equipment and installation for the average sized home.

Without giving away my age, we are speaking in 1990 dollars, so you might need to adjust for inflation to get the real picture. I will say it again, Security Systems are not cheap.

In addition to the cost of the installation, our customers were required to sign a 3-year contract for our alarm monitoring service. At that time, we were offering the monitoring service at $ 19.95 a month.

A now defunct company out of Texas approached us with a proposition. If we sent our monitored accounts to their central station and had our customers sign their 36-month monitoring contract, they were willing to pay us 30 times the monthly fee.

The proverbial light went off! We were in a highly competitive market in which about a dozen companies struggled for market share. All of our competitors were charging fees that were pretty close to the same, which made it difficult to gain a competitive advantage.

We reasoned that with our new found Texas connection, we could offer our basic Security System Package at $ 299.00 for installation and $ 24.95 a month for monitoring and still earn the same amount of money on each system. Affordable Security!

Suddenly we were 1/3 the price of our competition and of course being young, assertive and totally oblivious to the future, we immediately embarked on an aggressive new marketing strategy. Radio and television ads, mass marketing campaigns, bulk mailers, boiler rooms and door knockers replaced our phone book advertising.

We go from 6 or 7 installations a week to well over 40. The money was great and the closing ratio was phenomenal. Orders were rolling in as quickly as we could set appointments.

Our competitors catch on quickly and get their own Texas connection. They call us out and drop their price to $ 199.00; we fire back and drop ours to $ 99.00. The war is on.

We rent a display booth at the local Parade of Homes. A giant sign coaxes visitors to sign up for a drawing for a free home security system. Hard candy and cold water to close the deal and we received over a thousand entry forms in a little over a week.

Well let me tell you, that was one heck of a drawing. All the winner had to do to claim their prize was commit to a 3-year monitoring agreement at $ 29.95 per month.

Over the next few weeks, we discovered that we could give away a free “basic” security system to everyone who entered our drawing and still make money.

The rest as they say, Is History.

So you are considering the purchase of a Security Alarm System for your home or business. For some, the on-going monthly expense associated with Alarm System Monitoring is one of the major factors taken into consideration when choosing a vendor.

With monitoring fees ranging anywhere from $ 25.00 to well over $ 40.00 per month, what are you getting for your money? Let’s take a closer look at the monitoring services offered by most alarm companies.

In its simplest form, a Burglar Alarm System utilizes a control panel, an arming station and a combination of perimeter and interior protection to provide a deterrent shield to protect your most valuable assets. When an unauthorized entry is detected by a perimeter or interior sensor the system will initiate an alarm.

Similar to a facsimile machine, every Security Alarm Panel that is capable of being monitored uses an industry standard Digital Communication Format. The panel uses this digital language to communicate with an Alarm Receiver at the Central Monitoring Facility using standard or cellular telephone lines.

If an alarm occurs at your premises, the alarm panel will immediately utilize your telephone line to send a digital signal to the Central Station. A unique account number is programmed into your alarm panel to allow it to identify itself to the Alarm Receiver.

The Alarm Panel will transmit the account number and a 3 or 4 digit event code to the Alarm Receiver. The Alarm Receiver will interpret the digital signals and immediately pass the information along to a large network of computers which are manned 24×7 by Central Station Operators.

The Central Station Operator is provided with the call list information that you have provided to the alarm company during the registration process. The Central Station Operator that receives the alarm signals immediately tries to verify that the alarm is real.

Depending on the type of alarm, the Central Station Operator will first call the premises to try and contact the alarm user. If the user answers the phone, they are asked to provide a unique pass-code that identifies them as an authorized user. If they can provide the correct pass-code, the alarm is logged, but authorities are not dispatched.

If no one answers the phone, or if the person answering the phone cannot provide the correct password, the authorities are dispatched to the scene immediately. After the authorities are dispatched, the Central Station Operator will attempt to reach a call list of individuals who can meet the authorities at the site to let them in to investigate the cause of the alarm.

There are a couple of circumstances, where the Central Station Operator will not call your premises and try to verify the alarm. The special circumstances include Fire Alarms and Panic Alarms.

A fire can quickly get out of control and completely consume your home or business in a matter of minutes. Therefore, if your Fire Alarm is going off, the 1st order of business for the Operator is to dispatch the Fire Department. You cannot call and ask the dispatcher stop the Fire Department. Once the trucks roll, they will not stop.

If your panic alarm goes off, be forewarned, the police department takes panic alarms very seriously. No one from the central station will call your house to try and verify the alarm. Usually a 911 dispatcher will call your house after there is a large posse of Police Officers outside your door. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to come out with your hands up and you find several guns in your face.

Now, that is what you can expect from your $ 29.00 monthly fee, although many Central Stations will charge more for “optional” services such as Code Changes, Opening & Closing Reports, Alarm System Partitioning and Fire, Panic or Medical Alarm Monitoring Services.

Before you make that purchasing decision, have each alarm company that you are getting bids from outline exactly which monitoring services are included in the base price and which services are optional. Then you can factor in the monthly monitoring and management fees into any purchasing decision.

How a Security Alarm System can raise your appraisal

As an off shoot of reality based television, home improvement and remodeling shows are all the rage these days. Several television channels are completely dedicated to designers who refashion entire homes in a weekend. Little did Bob Villa know that he was years ahead of the trend.

Since I am a self declared handy-man, I myself have gotten hooked on some of these television shows with one in particular catching my attention. The premise of the show deals with people who buy run down houses, fix them up and then resell them for a profit.

The key to turning a profit on most of the properties is to make changes in paint, floor coverings and landscaping which make the home more appealing to today’s discerning buyers. Major upgrades are usually focused in the Kitchens and Bathrooms as they are areas of the home that provide the largest return on investment.

For most people, buying a home is probably the biggest single investment they will ever make. Homes normally appreciate over time and any upgrades and additions made to the home will typically add value.

Having spent over half of my life in the security industry, I cannot count the number of times I have been asked if a Security Alarm System will add to the value of a Home.

The answer is simply and emphatically, yes!

How much value a security system adds to the appraised value of a home depends on many factors. When calculating in the added value of a security system, one must consider the size and complexity of the system and the type of technology it employs.

An older system installed in a smaller home whose only protection is perimeter door positions switches will not be worth nearly as much as a brand new, state of the art system with complete perimeter and interior protection, that has been installed in a larger home.

Home Appraisals are calculated largely on the appraiser’s opinion as to what your home is worth based on what similarly sized and outfitted homes in your neighborhood have sold for.

If two nearly identical homes are appraised in the same neighborhood, with the only difference being one has a security system and the other does not. The appraised value of the home with the security system should be more. Depending on the size of the home, the added value can reach into the thousands of dollars.

With today’s technically savvy homebuyers trying to get the most value for their dollar, having that state of the art security system installed just might make the difference between keeping out that For Sale Sign or hanging up a Sold Sign.

Security Alarm Monitoring. Is it worth the cost?

A gigantic industry has grown up around the off-site central station monitoring of burglary and fire alarm systems. In fact, many security dealers dedicate 100% of their available resources to installing as many monitored accounts as they can. Many of these systems are put-in with little or no upfront costs even though the total costs for parts and labor for the average home alarm system are well over $ 400.00.

Why would a dealer dedicate so much of his time giving away and then installing monitored security systems? The answer is Monthly Re-Occurring Revenue (MRR), which is simply the fee that is associated with monitoring your security system.

The contract that they make you sign is worth money. Just like the cellular phone industry, your contractual obligation with the provider allows them to subsidize the upfront costs of the installation. You really did not think that new cell phone cost $ 29.00 did you?

You see, there is really no such thing as a free security system. With monthly fees reaching upwards of $ 35.00 or more with a 3-year contractual obligation, you are committing to pay the dealer $ 1,260.00 for that free security system.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, most towns of any size had a few locally owned Central Stations. These Central Stations were usually the heart of a thriving alarm company that had a dedicated sales and service force that created and maintained their customer base.

The value of alarm companies is at least partly based on the total amount of Monthly Re-Occurring Revenue that they are able to generate. Imagine a medium sized company that charges $ 25.00 for alarm monitoring every month. Now imagine that company has 5,000 customers. That company is now generating $ 125,000.00 per month which is equal to 1.5 Million Dollars in Annual Re-Occurring Revenue.

The purchase price of most companies is roughly based on 3-½ times their annual revenue, which would make our example company worth over 5-Million Dollars. As you can guess, with alarm monitoring worth so much, many of the family run alarm companies cashed out long ago.

Through a series of acquisitions and mergers, most of the Security and Fire Alarm Systems in the United States are now monitored by a handful of Super-Sized Central Stations. Many of these Mega-Stations have hundreds of highly trained alarm dispatchers that handle thousands of alarms from all over the country.

Now, let’s go back to that local installer toiling day in and day out to give away and Install Security Systems. He can afford to give you that alarm system because he is selling the contract to one of these Super-Sized Central Stations. Depending on your credit score and the term of the contract, he will collect anywhere from 25 to 40 times the monthly fee for turning over the contract. If it cost him $ 300.00 for the equipment and another $ 100.00 for the labor and you singed a 3-year contract at $ 30.00 a month, he will probably make about $ 650.00 for giving you that free security system.

So what is that security monitoring really worth? If you consider that an army of well equipped and trained dispatchers are standing by to dispatch the appropriate authorities to your home or business and it costs less than the price of a soda every day, it really can be worth every penny.