Police Monitoring for Home Intruder Alarm

yaz2010

Hi members,

I would like your opinion on whats the best option for a intruder alarm.
1) Bells only
2) Auto Dialler which calls keyholders.
3) Monitoring by an Alarm Receiving Centre who ring keyholders.
4) Police Monitoring

I am not concerned about the cost of the installation , however there is a annual fee for options 3 and 4.

I feel that the police cant attend the property and catch the burglar in action. Is that a correct thought? So should I opt for a auto dialler and save the annual charges?

What makes more sense. I live in a suburban area.

phill99

None of it makes. People rely on burglar alarms, when often they have very poor physical security.

Before you have a BA fitted, you need to ensure you have high quality and BS rated locks on all exit doors, good pocks on all windows, strong exit doors, security lighting, removal of high hedges etc, prickly bushes etc in flower beds near fences etc.

Other wise the BA is pointless.

giraffe69

We had option 1 in an urban area. It went off twice in quite a few years. On one of those occasions some people had forced the back door but seemed to be frightened off by the noise breaking out.
By the time it has dialled a friend and they have taken action if they are in whatever has happened has happened so I wouldn't do that or the police option.
Although you do need adequate locks and other security I believe an alarm is a visible and useful deterrent. You get a modest amount off your insurance premium also.

JournalGirl

We have option 3.5 :-)

The Alarm company send a car and a dog round when the alarm goes off.

firefox1956

JournalGirl wrote: »

We have option 3.5 :-)

The Alarm company send a car and a dog round when the alarm goes off.

Ha....by the time the car & dog get there your best gear has long gone !!
Waste of money in my opinion.
I would go with phill99 far cheaper & far far more effective.

nicke20

Good lighting and good cameras, police dont attend house alarms or respond in time to comercial alarms but well lit hd camera footage will scare off most would be burgalars. Just make sure the hd recorder is well secure

Lorian

They see the footage before they break in?

nobulljusttruth

2-4 Police will stop coming after 3 false alarms
Monitoring companies charge daft money.
I call service is OK bit if you are 40 miles away..... what you gonna do ?
Bell whistles and correct security with CCTV in my humble opinion

yaz2010

After getting few quotes and reading about ADT, I have decided to get a Risco Agility 3 wireless alarm.
Just wanted to know if anyone is using GSM Module and if someone could tell me how much is the running cost of the sim card. I asked the security companies who came to do the survey and did not get an actual running cost. I got answers like it depends oon 3g or 4g and mobile company.
I am looking at an approximate figure.

smifffy1989

I have option 2 which I quite like except when a spider set it off and it called me when I was in Oz

Mgman

What a palava for a police monitored alarm,

alarm has to be of an approved type,

monitored by an approved monitoring centre (police don't actually monitor alarms)

and "serviced" twice a year by the alarm company,

also has to be registered with the local authority

All of the above with ongoing costs and no gaurentee the police will actually attend if they're busy.