Conventional vs. Verified Alarm Systems: Which is Better?
If you’re moving into a new home or considering making changes to yours, one of the first things you should look into is an alarm system. Studies show that approximately 83% of burglars will attempt to determine whether or not an alarm was present before attempting a robbery, and of those, more than 50% said they would abandon the burglary if an alarm was discovered.
Home and business alarm systems are incredibly important, but there are countless automated systems to look into before investing. All home and business owners are aware of the importance of their security, but what some people fail to learn about is the difference between conventional and verified alarm systems.
A conventional home or business security system will include the use of motion sensors and glass break detectors only. What that means is that if your alarm is activated, the monitoring operator knows the alarm has been triggered but has no way of knowing what is happening on site. They have no way of knowing whether or not the alarm is real. Is it an employee? Cat knock something over? The operator has to call you to verify and ask what you’d like to do about it.
Not only does this place extra stress on you, it’s a hindrance on law enforcement as well. Police respond to 38 million alarm activation calls annually, and 98% of them end up being false. Not only that, but each false alarm costs an average of $60. These systems are wasting valuable time and money.
So what can you do to prevent your time and money being wasted? Invest in video or sound-based verified alarms. The difference between conventional and verified, high quality alarm systems is in what happens when an alarm signal is received. Verified systems have video cameras or audio detectors integrated into the system. With verification, if an alarm is triggered, video or audio is automatically transmitted and operators have instant knowledge of what is happening at the scene.
Once the video or sound-based verified alarms are confirmed by the operator, law enforcement is notified and on their way. The response is incredibly more efficient than a conventional alarm system. If you’re considering investing in a security system, choose the option that will protect your belongings, your time, and your money.