Installing an intruder alarm on your premises is a highly effective way to guarantee a quick response to a break-in.
There are several different types of intruder alarms available, giving you the flexibility to choose the appropriate level of security for your property’s risk profile. For instance, you can choose from a local alarm signal, to 24/7 alarm monitoring services that will alert the authorities whenever required.
In this article, we will address why you should install an intruder alarm on your property, discuss the different types of alarms available, and outline how to ensure an effective response in the event of a break-in.
Why Install An Intruder Alarm?
Deters Crime - Criminals are less likely to target your premises if they see an intruder alarm has been fitted.
By preventing crime from the outset, you will not only stop burglars stealing your property, but also avoid any damage to your buildings from forced entry.
Protects Your Property During A Crime - If you have high-value items or large sums of cash held on your premises, you may be more likely to suffer a break-in.
This is also true if you hold valuable data or other important information that is stored digitally - which is why many businesses don’t just secure their physical assets, but their digital ones (such as IT systems, for example) too.
Since the introduction of the GDPR, this has become even more important, as under the regulations there is a legal obligation to protect sensitive data, which includes ensuring that appropriate security measures have been put in place.
In this instance, installing an intruder alarm will ensure a rapid response to any break-in that does occur, making it more likely that the criminals will be scared off or apprehended, and any stolen items retrieved.
Keeps Your Employees Safe - It's not just your property that could be at risk during a break-in, the health and safety of your staff could be at stake too. Plus, if any of them have valuables on their person, the criminals could decide to rob your staff’s possessions as well as your business’s.
Thankfully, an intruder alarm will ensure a swift response from the emergency services, reducing the risk of staff members being robbed or harmed, and providing rapid support to anyone who may be injured.
Alerts You To Suspicious Activity - Often, professional burglars will ‘case’ a property before attempting a break-in.
If a burglar attempts to test a lock on your premises, your intruder alarm system will go off, alerting you to the suspicious activity. This helps to prevent break-ins before they occur.
Reduces Insurance Premiums - Installing an intruder alarm doesn't just prevent break-ins - it could also save you money!
When you install an intruder alarm on your property, your insurer will likely lower your insurance premium due to the reduced risk level. This money can help cover the cost of installing the system and more!
Save On Security Personnel - Another way that intruder alarms can save you money is by reducing the cost of security personnel.
An intruder alarm may allow you to reduce the number of hours that security staff are required on-site, with no decrease in protection. This can help you save money and ensure more sociable work hours for your security team.
The Types Of Intruder Alarms
There are several types of intruder alarms that you can choose from. Here, we have listed them from the least to the most secure:
Local Intruder Alarm System - This is the most cost-effective type of alarm system.
Local intruder alarm systems set off a loud alarm for at least 20 minutes to alert anyone in the local vicinity that there has been a break-in on your premises. This allows any neighbours or nearby staff to alert the authorities.
However, if your neighbours or others close by cannot be relied upon to report the alarm, it may go unnoticed.
Dialler Intruder Alarm System - Dialler alarm systems notify you, or a person on your contacts list, if your intruder alarm is set off.
This allows you to respond to and investigate an alert quickly, without the risk of sending a false alarm signal to your local emergency services.
Monitored Alarm Systems - The most secure type of alarm system, monitored intruder alarms are observed 24/7 by an outside security company.
If your intruder alarm system is triggered, an operator will call your home or business to identify the cause of the alarm. Then, if they are unable to contact you, they will attempt to call your personal mobile number or contact the local emergency services.
Ensuring An Effective Intruder Alarm Response
While an intruder alarm can raise an alert in the event of a break-in, you will still need to have an effective intruder alarm response in place to ensure the alarm is responded to.
A few ways that you can ensure an effective response include:
Choose A Trusted Responder - Bear in mind that your intruder alarm is only as effective as its response. Therefore, you should ensure that your alarm system is set to contact you and any person(s) that you can trust to reliably investigate a break-in.
Under this process, your central call station will ask you to verify an alarm before they contact the local police station. If their verification phone call to you is not answered, it will be listed as an 'unverified' alarm report, which may receive lower priority than other emergency calls.
In addition, if your local emergency services receive too many false alarms from your address, they may not respond as quickly - or at all - to future alerts. As such, whenever possible it is essential to ensure that you verify any intruder alarm alerts before reporting them to the authorities.
Ensure Your Local Authorities Can Enter Your Property - The local authorities will need a way to enter your property in the event of a break-in.
As such, you should provide your central call station with the details of the best routes into your premises, including information about spare keys, key codes, and the code to disable the alarm system.
Keep Your Contacts List Updated – Choosing trusted persons for your responder list is not a ‘one and done’ thing.
Firstly, as staff turnover occurs and roles and responsibilities change, it is necessary to regularly review your responder list to ensure that any out-of-date contacts are removed and replaced by new, trusted individuals.
In addition, if the contact number for yourself or any of the other responders changes, you must make sure this is reflected in the contact information held by your intruder alarm system, to ensure that the right people are contacted in the event of an alarm being triggered.
Regularly Test Your Alarm – Even the best intruder alarm system is useless if it is not working properly! Therefore, you should test your intruder alarm at least once a month to ensure that it is working as intended.
Want to ensure your security systems are all equipped to perfectly protect your people and property? Contact our expert team!