Burglar alarms - useful, or a complete ****ing nuisance?
Discussion
An old codger across the street has a burglar alarm has been ringing for half an hour. The old duffers in the house are probably so deaf they cannot hear it, or perhaps have expired within. Despite the alarm ringing incessantly, no one has been over to check their house, the police have not arrived to see what is going on.
I can see the use of a burglar alarm in a commercial property, where it could be connected to CCTV, and activating the alarm immediately flags up to the monitoring client, who can then view the cameras and alert the necessary authorities - this is also possible for home security but few outside the mega rich would spent their money on such a system.
In day to day, residential use, when was the last time you actually investigated the cause of a burglar alarm, other than to tell the owner of the house to shut the f
king thing up? I'm not looking with concern for potential intruders to their property, I'm just wondering why at 10:15pm, everyone in a half-mile radius of their house has to go deaf with this horrendous wailing.
On a brighter outlook, the heap of st has started to warble like it's battery is dying. How long do these things last? I can't see the alarm box surviving the night if this continues!
I can see the use of a burglar alarm in a commercial property, where it could be connected to CCTV, and activating the alarm immediately flags up to the monitoring client, who can then view the cameras and alert the necessary authorities - this is also possible for home security but few outside the mega rich would spent their money on such a system.
In day to day, residential use, when was the last time you actually investigated the cause of a burglar alarm, other than to tell the owner of the house to shut the f
king thing up? I'm not looking with concern for potential intruders to their property, I'm just wondering why at 10:15pm, everyone in a half-mile radius of their house has to go deaf with this horrendous wailing.On a brighter outlook, the heap of s
t has started to warble like it's battery is dying. How long do these things last? I can't see the alarm box surviving the night if this continues!I've never heard it go off before, but I've stuck my head out of the window to see what is going on. Not sure how the oldies would respond to a random bloke turning up on their doorstep late at night, if they are not injured and just can't hear it. It scarcely seems credible that they could not hear it. Also, I thought those help alarm systems were client based, not annoy apathetic neighbour based.
The Apprentice has so far proven too irresistable to leave the house for, I've just turned the volume up. Doesn't look like anyone else has gone out yet.
I wonder when last a burglar was caught in a residential property in the UK due to someone hearing a burglar alarm.
The Apprentice has so far proven too irresistable to leave the house for, I've just turned the volume up. Doesn't look like anyone else has gone out yet.
I wonder when last a burglar was caught in a residential property in the UK due to someone hearing a burglar alarm.
Tried ringing the local nick - I'd bet the bobbies down there in a quiet rural town have turned off a few house alarms in their time, no answer at the front desk. Didn't think it was worth ringing 999 or 101 until I'd tried the door. However, I had my concerns about going on my own, I'm not particularly powerfully built, but I'd understand old folks having reservations about opening their front door at half 10 at night.
However, when I noticed her blinds were open I thought something might be amiss, so I went down and got her neighbour, who is an old bloke himself, and knocked on her door. Turns out the old dear was sitting watching the F1 and didn't even realise it was going off, while everyone else was probably bleeding out of their ears. The code was not working consistently, though I did manage briefly to silence it, before she set it off again by going to check another alarm panel in the house. At this point, I considered shutting it up and gaffer taping the sensors so she couldn't set it off again, but she phoned her daughter and son-in-law to come round. She was keen to cut the wires, but I suspected there'd be a battery backup that would put the unit into a permanent alarm until the batteries ran out (turns out there was, according to google, so I'm glad we didn't do that). However, after consulting the manual for the thing and looking at a wiring diagram, we did manage to disconnect the mains and hopefully quiet the beast forever. Turns out she had set it off 10 years ago and couldn't stop it, so never bothered setting it, and it was alarming tonight due to a fault or a battery on it's way out.
While I agree that monitoring client based alarms, or alarms which alert you by phone immediately, rather than wailing on in the street. The Apprentice was also really good, I'll be catching up on the last 20 minutes shortly.
45 minute job, was offered a chocolate cake but politely declined. The pays not that bad being an on-call alarm deactivator I suppose.
However, when I noticed her blinds were open I thought something might be amiss, so I went down and got her neighbour, who is an old bloke himself, and knocked on her door. Turns out the old dear was sitting watching the F1 and didn't even realise it was going off, while everyone else was probably bleeding out of their ears. The code was not working consistently, though I did manage briefly to silence it, before she set it off again by going to check another alarm panel in the house. At this point, I considered shutting it up and gaffer taping the sensors so she couldn't set it off again, but she phoned her daughter and son-in-law to come round. She was keen to cut the wires, but I suspected there'd be a battery backup that would put the unit into a permanent alarm until the batteries ran out (turns out there was, according to google, so I'm glad we didn't do that). However, after consulting the manual for the thing and looking at a wiring diagram, we did manage to disconnect the mains and hopefully quiet the beast forever. Turns out she had set it off 10 years ago and couldn't stop it, so never bothered setting it, and it was alarming tonight due to a fault or a battery on it's way out.
While I agree that monitoring client based alarms, or alarms which alert you by phone immediately, rather than wailing on in the street. The Apprentice was also really good, I'll be catching up on the last 20 minutes shortly.
45 minute job, was offered a chocolate cake but politely declined. The pays not that bad being an on-call alarm deactivator I suppose.
If you're on a beach in the Maldives and someone breaks into your house, I doubt you'll be 4G'ing a connection to your CCTV and then placing an international call to your local police to sort the matter. In that situation, a fancy security system linked to your phone would, at best, let you watch grainy, stuttery images of people carting your gear out the door. Unless of course, you had a direct alarm set up with the police.
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