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What You Need to Know About Alarm Systems

To get the right equipment and service from an alarm installer-or a monitoring service-it is useful to know how the systems work and what your equipment options are. 

Home alarm systems provide protection in several ways. They will notify you if doors or windows have inadvertently been left open. Evidence of their presence—even the possibility of their presence—will deter some intruders. The sounding of an alarm will cause most intruders to flee. The alarm will notify occupants of a present danger. The sounding of an outside siren will notify your neighbors to call the police, while systems hooked up to a central monitoring station will notify police even if neighbors are not at home. 

Burglar alarm systems should not be confused with portable self-contained alarm devices that are placed on a single door or detect motion in one room. These devices can be found in some electronics and hardware stores, ranging in price from about $10 to $100. They may be suitable for high-rise apartments with inaccessible windows, or for hotel rooms when traveling, but they will not provide much protection for houses. 

The amount of protection provided by a burglar alarm system will depend on the extent to which you have secured the physical perimeter of the house, the design of the alarm system, the quality of the installation, and how often you leave the system in operation. 

Basic alarm protection for a house should cover all exterior doors (including sliding glass doors) and any windows that are easily reached by intruders. The system should activate an external siren or notify a central monitoring station. Professional installation of a system meeting these criteria will usually cost $1,000 to $2,000. 

Moderately heavy alarm protection will cover other points of potential entry including second story windows, attic doors, and skylights. It will also use motion detectors, pressure pads, or sensors on cabinets and bureaus to detect successful intrusions past the perimeter when the family is asleep or away. Such a system will usually cost from $1,500 to over $3,000. 

The more often an alarm is left in operation, the more protection it provides, but homeowners continually turn their systems off to preclude false alarms. Every time a person opens a monitored door or window, a code number has to be entered into the system, and motion detectors have to be turned off when any occupant or pet is likely to enter their view. Living with an alarm system is at best an inconvenience; at worst it is such a hassle that a family will leave it off much of the time. 

False alarms are not merely an inconvenience. They cause heart-thumping fear, they quickly erode the goodwill of neighbors, and in many jurisdictions false alarms can result in fines. It is variously estimated that 80 to 98 percent of all alarm alerts are false. These have become a serious problem for police departments. The common practice is to consider an alarm false if there is no evidence of illegal entry or attempted forced entry. 

Several local jurisdictions have passed ordinances designed to minimize false alarms. The ordinances generally prohibit having the alarm system directly dial the police. It must dial a third party, usually at a central monitoring station, which is supposed to verify the emergency before calling the police. Other provisions vary depending on local ordinances, but often include fines for each false alarm, beginning after two or three false alarms from the same house have been received by the police within a six- or 12-month period. Fines often start at around $50 per occurrence and can increase to more than $200 per occurrence. Some jurisdictions do not levy fines, but send a warning letter after the second or third alarm and then terminate response after another false alarm. To regain police response, the homeowner usually has to provide proof that the alarm system has been inspected and repaired.