By Steve Burns
Community Awareness Committee Chair
In Desert Ridge we approach crime prevention through several programs; The Phoenix Police Off-Duty Patrol Program, Neighborhood Block Watch programs, and by doubling the rewards offered by anonymous crime reporting programs such as Silent Witness and Graffiti Busters. The statistics show that these methods are helping to reduce crime in our community.
However, you can take a big step toward protecting your personal property and loved ones through the installation and monitoring of a home alarm system. A study by the FBI found that a home with the security system was actually 15 times less likely to be burglarized. A few years back, a study done by the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University found that residential break-ins decreased as the density of alarms in a particular area increased.
Although an alarm system does not guarantee that your home won’t be burglarized, studies show that when a home with an alarm system gets broken into, the owners lose only half as many valuables as a home with no alarm system.
Besides being a deterrent to burglars, alarm systems can perform other important and potentially life saving functions. They can also give peace of mind to you and your family as well as having some added convenience features. Here are five additional benefits of having an alarm system:
Protecting your Home from a Fire
Three out of five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes without working smoke detectors. Smoke detector failures usually result from missing, disconnected or dead batteries. A monitored smoke detector is typically hardwired to the alarm box and has continuous power. Also, unlike a battery operated and unmonitored smoke detector, an alarm system smoke detector can alert a monitoring station that will then quickly dispatch fire and emergency vehicles, possibly reducing damage from the fire.
Protection from Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Carbon Monoxide is a byproduct of incomplete combustion. The gas can come from a stove, water heater, furnace, fireplace, etc. Because Carbon Monoxide is odorless and tasteless, it can poison you before you even know it’s there. A Carbon Monoxide detector can sound an audible alarm and send an alert the monitoring station, possibly saving you or a loved one.
Remote Monitoring
Depending on the level of system that you have installed, an alarm system can alert you via text when someone has entered or left your home. You can also monitor if someone opens a liquor or gun cabinet. If your system includes security cameras you can even monitor the feed on your smart phone, tablet or computer. These features can help keep track of your kids when you’re at work, traveling, or just out shopping.
Home Automation
If you have a system with all the bells and whistles, you can remotely turn lights and appliances off and on, adjust thermostats and even lock and unlock doors.
Insurance Discounts
Not only can an alarm system give you and your loved ones peace of mind, but most insurance companies give a discount for having a monitored system in your home. In my case the discount was actually more than I pay annually for monitoring.
If you already have an alarm system in your home, I recommend that you get it updated and keep it monitored. If you’re looking to get a new system installed, make sure that you do your homework. You should look closely at the total cost of the long-term contracts that some of the bigger name alarm companies try to lock you into. A smaller locally monitored alarm company may require only a one or two year contract. Just make sure that the company you choose is bonded and insured.
The more steps we take to protect our homes, neighborhoods, and community, the more crime free Desert Ridge will be.
Remember, Phoenix police officers do a fantastic job but they can’t be everywhere all the time. That is why it is so important to know and communicate with your neighbors and to keep looking for things that are out of place in your neighborhood. You can help make Desert Ridge a safer and better place to live by starting or participating in a neighborhood block watch program.
If you’re interested in learning how to start a neighborhood block watch program, please contact the Desert Ridge Community Association office at 480-551-4553 or contact Community Action Officer Tim Mitten from the Phoenix Police Department at 602-495-5238.
