Help them, they need it !!

T

Tommy.Gun

New member
My two friends are building a new house of which they plan to install a security system .It seems - then the wife will have piece of mind. I was also told this alarm system will use a cell phone as a back up to cut phone lines.

Now what do you guys think? Are they now safe? I told them only they can protect them selves , the wife is not an anti but is not confortable with guns around.

How can I set them strait, HELP ! :eek:
 
The great auto racer, Mickey Thompson and his wife, come to mind. Their house had lots of security alarms because he had received death threats. They were shot to death in their driveway. The killers have yet to be identified.
 
I would say they were safer with than without, but nothing is 100% foolproof.
I like mine, it beeps pretty loud if the power goes out, and STILL works for three days. If the wind blows a leaf the outside floodlights come on, and it has several other nifty options.
But I STILL sleep with my .44 on my side of the bed, and my girlfriend sleeps with her 9mm on her side. ;)

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"Rise like lions after slumber in invanquishable number - Shake your chains to earth like dew which in sleep had fallen on you - Ye are many - They are few."
-Percy Bysshe Shelly (1792-1822)
 
Point out that they are depending on A response to a 911 call or equivalent and the response time may be 20 to 30 minutes. A lot of very bad things can happen while they wait.
 
The supreme court has ruled on several occasions that the police aren't responsible for protecting the public. These poor women who were basically raped in NYC are suing because the police didn't help them. I have news for these women....THEY WILL LOSE!

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"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

--Ayn Rand, in "The Nature of Government"
 
At least tell them that they should not rely on their alarm system to notify the police. If the have a problem, they must call 9-1-1, even if the alarm has already gone off and notified the alarm company. It takes about 3 minutes from the time the alarm is activated until the phone call from the alarm company is answered by the police dispatcher.

Even then, the police dispatcher will treat the alarm with a low priority absent other information.

I've talked to several people who've assumed their alarm rang right to the police department, and the cops were on the way within seconds of the alarm sounding (probably because that's what the alarm companies tell them.)

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"Anyone feel like saluting the flag which the strutting ATF and FBI gleefully raised over the smoldering crematorium of Waco, back in April of ‘93?" -Vin Suprynowicz
 
As a police officer, I have to say that in the event of an in home assault, alarms are great for documenting what time the attack started. I guess they might assist the Coroner in establishing a time of death, maybe. There is simply too much time delay between activation and officer notification/arrival to expect much more than a clean-up and an incident report.

Also, police generally do not respond "code 3" (lights/siren) to a residential alarm due to the number of false alarms that are recieved. They respond "with traffic" because it is not worth the risk and/or liability that comes with emergency response driving. Just something to think about.

In my opinion, any piece of mind that an alarm provides is a false sense of security. The best reason I can think of to have an alarm is to alert the homeowner to an unauthorized entry during the night. An alarm in this scenario might give the homeowner a few more seconds to wake up and get himself together before facing the intruder/attacker.

I don't recommend against alarms, I just wish people would understand their strengths and their weaknesses and not rely on them totally for "security". They still need to have a means of self defense to increase their chances of surviving long enough for the cops to get the call and get there.

Also, here's a tip for any of you that do have alarms. Keep it set properly and do whatever you have to do to avoid false alarms. A high number of false alarms will stick in officers' minds and will cause even longer delays in response, or even no response. Some agencies even issue citations and assess fines on homeowners with alarms that go off X number of times in x number of hours.

Lastly, if you are walking out the door or just coming in and set the alarm off, take the few seconds it takes to call the alarm company and cancel the alarm. There are few things more frustrating than to respond to an alarm only to find out that the homeowner set it off leaving/coming in and simply didn't have enough consideration to call to cancel it. This type of false alarm will also slow down the response the next time the same address is dispatched in reference to an alarm.

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The Glock freak formerly known as Chris...
 
Rainbow Six has pretty well covered it.
If these people still have doubts have them go and review the video tapes of the 1992 LA riots......the police were not responding...period.
I think of an alarm as a device to alert me so I can get my gun.

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"Lead, follow or get the HELL out of the way."
 
They are still relying on a gun for protection. It's just not one under their control. There are enough things in my life I have no control over already. My protection will not be one of them.
Eric

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Formerly Puddle Pirate.
Teach a kid to shoot.
It annoys the antis.
 
As was said, nothing is fool proof, but multiple layers of security make it tougher for the bad guy. Alarms are nice, but given the false-alarm problems, cut wires and the pitiful response time by PDs, their main function is to scare off amateurs. You can do almost as well by just buying the window stickers.

Anyone really concerned about their home security should consider fencing their yard, getting one or more big ugly dogs, and posting signs that say "Danger! Guard Dogs!" (down here, you ought to add, "Peligro! Perros Bravos!" and maybe a picture of a barking dog for illiterates). Bad guys hate big ugly dogs. The most secure home I ever saw was a guy in Texas who bred Rottweilers and Mastiffs. There were about 20 dogs inside the chain link at any time. Even Jehovah's Witnesses passed him by.

For when I'm not home, I like the "hurricane shutters" on my house. They roll down like little garage doors over the windows. A window is the most common means of nefarious entry.

I also have motion-sensitive floodlights. Twice they have come on late at night and alerted me to a prowler. If you want to get fancy you can rig a bell next to the bed that comes on if a perimiter light is activated.

For those who don't like guns, I suggest a secure room with no windows and a stout steel door. If invaded, get in there with a cell phone, call 911 and wait them out. These also make good hurricane/tornado rooms.
 
David,

I like the "safe room" idea. To add a bit of advice to that suggestion, try using the cell phone you plan to use during emergencies from that room, and under different weather conditions, before you have an emergency. Some cell phones are piss poor from indoors, some work ok during fair weather and some work good regardless. I think that one would be far ahead of the game to find out whether or not they will have cell service before they need it.

Even if you don't have a designated safe room you should call someone from home using yor cell phone and walk through your house to see if you have any "dead rooms" (no pun intended) that you should avoid should you need to use the cell phone during an emergency.

Just food for thought. :)

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The Glock freak formerly known as Chris...

[This message has been edited by Rainbow Six (edited June 23, 2000).]
 
Along the same lines, what do you think of bars on the windows and doors (with proper quick-escape models on the bedroom windows, of course)?
 
Well boys, 10 days without the Internet and TFL, and it's been HELL (family emergency).

Getting back in the saddle . . .

There are a couple of Rainbow Six's comments that are great verbal 2x4s between the eyes. When taking the gun-ownership-for-self-defense tack, you can plant pro-RKBA seeds without being politicial or paranoid. Consider - "Yes alarm systems are excellent. A police officer told me that . . . "

". . . in the event of an in home assault, alarms are great for documenting what time the attack started. I guess they might assist the Coroner in establishing a time of death, maybe. There is simply too much time delay between activation and officer notification/arrival to expect much more than a clean-up and an incident report.
"

". . . police generally do not respond "code 3" (lights/siren) to a residential alarm due to the number of false alarms that are recieved. They respond "with traffic" because it is not worth the risk and/or liability that comes with emergency response driving."

If either of those two statements don't get the homeowner thinking, he is a Darwin candidate.




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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
 
I found out this week why I had never been contacted by the Census. Seems the Lady assigned to my area was afraid of our two sweet little lab puppy's. Would not get out of her car to even leave a note that she had stopped by. Her supervisor finally came by to see for himself and to get the information. I could tell right off he was a good guy, as the two puppies took to him right off. He was laughing because from the stories from his counter he was expecting to meet Cujo instead of a couple of love puppies.

To me any security system must start with an early warning system.... Nothing better than a couple of watch dogs.

To convince them of how effective their alarm system is.... set up a little demo. You play the bad guy.... walk them through the steps of what could happen... have them in the bedroom, you outside. Ok the alarm goes off... your now in the house... make your way to the bedroom... Have them time the events from when the alarm should go off until you can get in the bedroom... Let them see first hand how long it would take a criminal to do harm... Then have them drive an average route that the police would have to use to get to their house and time it. Compare the two times. Having them see this first hand should get them to thinking.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
Eric in In, that's a great way of putting the argument against relying on police:
"You're still relying on a gun for protection, you just don't get to control it."

I'm going to start using this one. Followed closely by asking why the person in question doesn't want to control his/her safety tools himself--are you too violent, too dumb, or what?
 
I like alarm systems. As part of a multi-layer security plan, however, not as the total-and-complete plan.

The good thing about an alarm system, is the siren/horn/lights/whatever, going off at full-blast will scare off 99.44% of the critters out there.

The remaining stubborn 0.56% is what the dogs, the shotgun and the pistols are for. :)

LawDog

[This message has been edited by LawDog (edited June 24, 2000).]
 
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