Commercial Alarm - help

Can you see the southern sky? You have access to broadband.

efficient...but

black yard signs? hope youse guys aren't stealing my new yard sign design :-)

| | Jack, I thought ADT was crazy when they decided to kill the low down | lease resi program for 2004. A year later revenues in that channel | are up and the customers keep rolling in. | | The corporate high volume resi program is now an outright sale with a | decent margin on all the products. They've got a custom resi program | rolling out nationwide as well for the higher end market. Look out | for the black yard signs. | | Of course, they've still got the dealer channel doing God knows what. |

If you're concerned about false alarms, I believe one of the biggest problems on the consumer side is the mentality of "price shopping." The cheapest alarm system is not necessarily the best, just as the most expensive may not be the best either.

I would follow Bob Dolph's suggestion, look around your area, talk with your friends and businesses you frquent; find out how many false alarms these folks have had. Find out about their alarm company's response time when they call for service. Then go out and ask a few of the better alarm companies for consultation.

Do not be deceived by "big" as it does not equal "best." Since you are talking corporate security, it might even be wise for you to hire a good security consultant who can provide you with valuable information, advice, the heads-up on area firms, and possibly a written specification by which all bidders must abide.

Al Colombo

Hey there brother Bob. Hope all is well with you. I agree with you, this party should check with others in their locale to see who they are using and to find out what these companies' track records are like before buying. Your idea of suggesting ASIS is also a good one. Perhaps ASIS could also direct him to an ASIS member/security consultant in his area as well.

Take care, chat later.

Al

You can say that again! I've seen people get the "deluxe" super duper systems with all the "whistles and bells". Then they system becomes so complex and unusual, that most of the employees working for the security company can't repair it when it breaks. So you have one guy working for the company who can repair it, then he goes on vacation, then this is when the system breaks of course.

The system I have in my own home is typical - somewhere in the middle - common. And I have removed additional "whistles and bells" where possible. I bought the system used and it came with wireless devices. I installed hard wired devices instead. That is one less component to mal-function, yet I still get the same protection. And with the motion detectors, I did not go the least expensive route. I bought the more expensive dual IR/microwave detectors which are less prone to have false alarms.

I agree on the motion detection. For the little bit more that you'll spend, a dual-technology PIR is usually the better way to go. What is the make of your burglar alarm panel and what kind of PIRs did you get?

Al

My panel is an Ademco Vista 10SE with alpha keypad and dual detectors are "Duet Visonic Dual Tech.".

The Vista has always been a good, reliable panel for Ademco. I started out as an Ademco dealer many, many years ago, in the late 70s, early

80s. I ended up working with Radionics, which has become Bosch now. I used a lot of DS (Detection Systems) motion detectors and did some product reviews on the DS line when I worked at SDM (Workbench Review). Visonic is a good line as I've used a lot of their detectors. They also provided me with some of their detectors throughout the years to play with and give an opinion.

I think one of the most fun items that Visonic ever gave me was one of their voice chips. There's so much you can do with one of them, like in a museum where you use curtain-type motion detectors. When someone gets too close to the display, a voice suddenly comes out of no where asking them to move back.

I use this at the back of the house in conjunction with a Elk stainless steel outdoor box with speaker. I use it in conjunction with an Optex outdoor motion detector. By day the Optex detector has a female voice that announces their presence and when it gets dark an on-board photocell enables a relay that will trip the Visonic voice chip. It works rather well.

Al

C'mon Al, don't leave us hanging here... what does she say when it gets dark?

If I didn't know better, I'd say that your post was made by someone who didn't have a clue about the alarm installation business. Addtionally, I'd guess that you don't have much to do with residential or with the actual installation of systems or actually selling or talking to the end users. No insult intended but it sounds as if you've obtained all of your information about the alarm industry from reading articles in the newspapers.

I'd place that as similar to reading the New York times to decide on your favorite presidential candidate.

Video hmmmm? Yep, I can just see it now.

Yes Mrs Sloud. I'm proposing that we put cameras in your home so that if your alarm trips, we'll be able to look in your house and see if it's an actual break in or not. Annnnd of course, your bedroom is the most likely place that any intruder would go, so we're going to put TWO color cameras with remotely controled PTZ, in there...... OK?

What's that you say? Can't we just turn them on and look in anytime we want to?

WHY OF COURSE NOT! ....... Honest, Mrs Sloud, they only turn on when the alarm trips. Do you really think that ANYONE would do something like that?

Oh ................ you do?

Let's take a look at the false alarm problem from 20,000 feet. I'm of the opinion that almost all residential and the majority of burglar alarm systems are a waste of money. Name another product that has a

99%+ failure rate. It wouldn't be tolerated.

If the average consumer knew the astronomical false alarm percentages, the ridicuously low police apprehension rate, and the general perception of law enforcement about electronic burglar alarms, nobody would be buying this stuff. This entire industry is based on a false sense of security.

It doesn't have to be this way, but until false alarm ordanances and no response policies force change, there will be none.

For those who have real security needs, the intelligent video products are starting to show real promise. Even for basic systems, video verficiation may fix half of the problem.

Alarms don't have a 99% failure rate, the end-users do... I believe the problem is with the people that purchase the systems, they don't take their alarms serious, it's just another neat gadget to show off to friends and neighbors... That's why the low-end crap is soooo popular, anyone that's serious about security is going to spend a lot more than $99, and will operate their system responsibly... You'll loose all of the ding dongs when FREE Police response disappears in most major metro areas. We all know how great free response is, usually takes 30 minutes to three hours for someone to show up and leave a False Alarm notice on the customer's door...

Holy Shit! Someone else has discovered reality... Well said John.

While your numbers are off, alarm systems actually do have a 99% failure rate. Real world numbers (2002) from the USDOJ annual report:

76% Human error (mostly user defined) 15% Monitoring Station error 8% System/Malfunction error 1% Valid Crimes

I don't believe the problem is the people who purchase the alarms though. The residential security business, IMO, is no longer considered a professional trade, and it's been that way for years.... But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out; you have to able to break through your personal denial barriers and read the FACTS. Facts are J. Sloud is right on the money. Facts are the USDOJ receives this information Nationwide from responding authorities, and publishes this collected data to the American Public. Fact is, few care! And even fewer care to get involved.

I can understand that way of thinking when your options are limited. I'm not bashing you here Jim, but there are options, and many scenarios to every install. You know that as well as anyone. The problem is, as one professional to the other; let's just say we're in the future here, and verification is in effect. What are the options? What are the options, not based on what you know, but what's available, today, right now? I'm not being a smart ass either, and there is no wrong answer.

I've been in this business for a long time. I've worked in the field as a resi installer, a sales rep, a first line manager, etc. Part of my job is to do market analysis and determine where opportunities are for product development. I've been involved in ADT's False Alarm Dispatch Elimination (FADE) initiative, which is the largest effort currently underway by any company to actual do something about the problem. I've spoken to focus groups and hundreds of individual customers from our smallest BA customer to multisite national accounts.

Bottom line is you can blame the consumer because it's easy. The problem is that most of you guys make a living selling and installing residential burglar alarms. It's tough for you to look at the big picture. Looking at the entire electronic security industry, growth lies outside of the residential intrusion detection segment. It would be wise to consider the big picture. The AHJ's are figuring out that

99% failure is costing them big money. No response and third party verification is coming to an area near you.

No that's Sonitrol's gig with their microphones. In many areas, residential electronic security is going to require third party verification. Consumers will have to pay for this service. Obviously, the video solution is better suited to business/ government apps. The point of intelligent video is to eliminate false positives before they are reported as alarms. This technology could eventually make it to the resi market. Video verification is something else entirely. Don't confuse the two.

Ah, she talks dirty in the dark. :-) Something like that. :-)

Well, although false alarms are common (quite often caused by the end user) and police apprehension rates are low, the primary value of having one in a home is 1) to let the homeowner know that someone's inside the house, and 2) to hopefully frighten the perp off.

Intelligent video is great when the homeowner is away, as they will detect motion, record video, send a frame or two to the homeowner's office e-mail box, but it will do very little to warn the homeowner in the middle of the night when a perp has compromised a lock and is now headed into the living on the first floor below.

Al

I think that most people do not realize that each one of us is pretty much on our own in a home invasion situation. The police are almost entirely reactive instead of proactive. Although alarm systems do fail, they also do keep people on the know when someone has entered their home--someone who shouldn't be there.

I don't know what kind of alarm system you have in your home, but I've had the same hybrid wireless/hardwire alarm system in my home for the past 10 years. It's not a high-end system by any means, but if I have one false alarm per year, I'm lucky. Although the police will take 15 min. or more to get here, if I'm home at 3 a.m. and someone breaks into this home, I know it. My handy 12 ga. will be ready to greet them.

I also have cameras, which can do nothing whatsoever to warn me of an incoming perp. In this case, the police can view my killer after I'm gone. That's all they'll do for me. Now, that's putting yourself in a client's shoes.

I think most of us in the alarm industry fail to realize that the first order of business is "Crime Prevention," and that means alerting 1) the homeowner that someone's in the house who should not be there, 2) to frighten the perp off, and 3) to alert as many other people as possible of the pending situation, and that includes the neighbors and the PD via the central station.

Al