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New Alarm Systems are Cost Effective and High Tech

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Alarm systems used to be clunky and expensive to install, and all they did was set off a siren when a door or window was smashed in. Today, alarms are wireless and can even adjust your thermostat!

The Boston Globe reports, “The era of clunky black-and-white video monitors and recording devices crammed here and there, of blinking lights and keypads galore, has given way to slick, low-cost technology that homeowners control with just a few clicks—from wireless surveillance cameras that are monitored remotely, to door alarms that can be activated hundreds of miles away.”

Systems today have wireless cameras, remote-controlled thermostats, remote-controlled/timed light controls, flood sensors, full web access to the cameras, touchpad controls, and even iPhone/Android apps to control/monitor cameras/thermostat from anywhere. They often have a web dashboard that lets you control every single aspect of each control to inform you of activity or to set up a reaction to an incident.

New home alarm systems are very simple and easy to program. Once you dive into them, they give you a tremendous amount of awareness of the goings-on in and around your home—and they do it automatically.

Further, the article states, “For those who don’t want bells and whistles, there are still basic burglary alarm systems available, and indeed they remain quite popular. These usually include sensors and alarms attached to ground-floor doors and windows, wall-mounted keypads and remote-control devices that can be activated with key fobs.”

Don’t wait for a burglary to get a home alarm system. Be proactive and get one before something bad happens.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures.

Home Security Has Never Been Easier

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Home is where you look forward to towards the end of a vacation. Home is where you rush to at the end of a work day. Home is where you’d rather be when you are somewhere else. After all, as Dorothy said tapping her ruby red slippers, “there’s no place like home”.

Our homes become a place of comfort unlike any other worldly possession. It’s where all our stuff is, in all the places we put it, in the order (or disorder) we create. It’s where our kids sleep, dog naps and where we eat.

Most people take for granted the feeling of safety and security in their home. They expect it as a given. Like a sense of entitlement.

I’ve always believed this is a mistake.  Because when one takes security for granted, they completely have their guard down. This means they are vulnerable to any whacko who jiggles a doorknob looking for the path of least resistance.

If a person’s home is invaded or burglarized, they quickly lose that sense of security and never feel the same way again. Some people even quickly sell below market value just to get out from what has become a perceived black cloud over their property.

Simply locking your doors is a start and taking control like this doesn’t mean you are “paranoid”. Then taking the next steps and installing a home security system is the smartest thing you can do.

Your home is your castle. And it should be treated as such.

Be proactive with the help of ADT Pulse, a new interactive smart home solution that goes beyond traditional home security to provide a new level of control, accessibility and connection with the home.

Connectivity and interactivity are driving the way people live and manage their homes. ADT Pulse provides customers with anywhere, anytime access to their home via smart phones or personal computers, including an iPhone application to:

• Arm and disarm their home security system.

• Get notified of alarms and selected events via email and text messages as well as video clips.

• View their home through cameras and watch secure real-time video or stored video clips of events from monitored areas of the home.

• Access lights and appliances or set schedules to automate them.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston. Disclosures.

Hollywood Burglars Dubbed the “Bling Ring”

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Lots and lots of people are looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Some get on reality TV shows, others rescue someone from being hit by a speeding train. But then there are the ones who break into celebrity homes.

Victims include Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Megan Fox and others. A half dozen teens from a hoity toity suburb of LA fancied the celeb lifestyle and considered themselves part of the “in” crowed. There was only one problem, they weren’t celebrities.

But they lived the celeb lifestyle by hanging out in all the clubs, staying up all night and doing drugs. Their thirst for drugs led to the need for more money to pay for those drugs. So they started to steal. They first started to break into cars. That was their “gateway” felony which led to breaking into homes.

However, celebrity also meant all the material items that go with money. They needed the same designer bags and clothing as their idols. They wanted exactly what the rich and famous owned and wore, what better way to get them than steal from the celebs they admired. So they did just that. They spent time on the celebrity gossip sites looking at celeb pictures and picking out items they wore to steal from them.

Their methods were simple. They tracked their victims by using social media, Facebook and Twitter. They know when they were home and when they were away.  They even used Google Earth to scope out their homes.

They would approach a home and knock on the door and ring the bell. If nobody was home they’d jiggle the door knob. It was reported that Paris Hilton didn’t lock her doors. When a door was locked they looked under the mat for a key and often found one.

Police estimated that from October 2008 to August 2009, the “Bling Ring” stole more than $3 million in jewelry and high-end designer brands.

Lindsey Lohan had a video security camera system installed that caught the thieves on video. It was that film that led the arrest of the “Bling Ring” members. Now they are all famous.

It’s painfully obvious that the victims in these crimes didn’t do enough to protect themselves. Some locked their doors and other didn’t. Some had security cameras and others didn’t. But NONE had an home alarm system that activated when the home was broken into. A home alarm system would have prevented most of these crimes.
 

I’ll bet there were other celebrities targeted who didn’t make the story, because their home wasn’t burgled, because they had alarms.

Robert Siciliano personal security expert to Home Security Source discussing Home Security on NBC Boston.