1) Replace Ionization with Photoelectric Smoke Detectors
Most residential fire fatalities are due to smoke inhalation. In smoldering fires, ionization smoke detectors respond an average of 15 to 50 minutes slower than photoelectric smoke detectors. Several studies show that ionization smoke detectors will fail to activate 20-25% of the time, compared to photoelectric smoke detectors that activate 100% of the time. Most homes have ionization smoke detectors. If you’re not sure what kind of smoke detector you have, better to be safe and replace it with a photoelectric unit.
2) Check Your Door and Window Contact Break Gap
If you have the chime enabled on your alarm system, check how many inches you have to open your door or window before the alarm system activates with keypad beeps. Opening your door or window should cause the keypad to beep right away, or the break gap (minimum distance between the alarm contact and magnet for your alarm system to see the door or window as open) should be under 6 inches for optimal security. If your door or window opens more than 6 inches before activating your alarm system, have the door or window contacts replaced.
3) Add Motion Detecting Cameras that Alert You in the Daytime
Contrary to popular belief, most home burglaries take place during the daytime between 10:00 am to 3:00 pm when people are at work or school. Adding security cameras that have motion or line crossing detection can keep you alerted at all hours if there’s any suspicious activities at home. You can check on your home through the day and react immediately if there’s trespassing and an attempted break in.
4) Add Guard Service to Your Alarm Monitoring Plan
The Vancouver bylaw states before an alarm company can request a police dispatch, it must get a hold of their client or emergency contact. When the police is dispatched, an alarm signal can often take up to 2 hours or more for response. If the monitoring station is not able to reach someone, instead of relying on police to be called, with guard service certified and trained guards can provide verification if an alarm is false and alert police if there’s a true alarm. Guard service reduces response time, gives you peace of mind when you’re away and saves on costs incurred if police are dispatched to a false alarm.
5) Add Construction Cameras if You’re Building a Home
Construction site theft can cause thousands of dollars in damages as well add up remedial expenses and delay projects. With construction site video verification surveillance, your motion activated site cameras can automatically send video clips of site intruders to the monitoring station and alert you via your phone, tablet or laptop. The monitoring station will send the video-verified alarm to police that’ll be seen as a crime in progress, police will respond immediately to make arrests and prevent further damage.
Blog written by Anima Integration Corp
