seamusTX wrote: At this late date, I cannot fathom how anyone who owns anything worth stealing would not have some kind of burglar alarm. This guy is very lucky to be alive and uninjured.
- Jim
I don't think it is a slam dunk case to have a burglar alarm, at least for guarding the house when one is not home. Quite frankly, I think they are not much more useful than car alarms, which I think are largely ignored. Monitored alarms, like ADT, are not inexpensive, by my standards anyway -- the installation and monthly expenses are better put to use paying for a loud dog.
I had an alarm in my last house, came with it when I bought it, but the only reason I kept it was because it was also hooked to the smoke alarms. I knew the fire department would show up in a hurry, as I had occasion to use them. On another occasion I came home to find a deputy in my driveway. He said the alarm company had called. He had just finished walking around the house. We both checked it again, nothing out of order. I happened to ask him when the call came. Turns out it took him 45 minutes to respond, because he worked a traffic accident enroute. House alarms do not rate sending a second officer if the first one gets tied up, they are just not that important. In fact, allegedly because of the number of "false" alarms responded to, Bexar county instituted an annual fee for house alarms, and some penaties I think for having "too many." More fees better spent on dog food. In fairness, I did have some false ones of my own -- there was one door that when the wind blew hard against it, it would trigger the alarm. Could never get it set right. I seemed to be home for all of those, except perhaps for the time the deputy visited.
I now live out in the sticks, and would not consider an alarm. I doubt the response time is any better here for monitored alarms, and no one would hear a standalone, except the burglar.
And I suspect most burglars know all this too...
Here's a another case where the homeowner walked in on a burglar (my summary of several news articles):
Sparta TN - While Mr. Girdley was away from home, his daughter notified him that a strange man was banging on windows in the neighborhood. Arriving home Mr. Girdley encountered an unknown man coming out the front door. When the man attempted to draw a gun (unfortunately stolen from Mr. Girdley's house), Mr. Girdley warned him to not do it. The man persisted and Mr. Girdley fired several times, killing the man. Police discovered the dead assailant was wanted in several counties for burglary. Mr. Girdley, who has a license to carry a concealed handgun, was not harmed. “He had a permit and was on his own property,” said [White County Sheriff] Shoupe. “He is an upstanding citizen of White County, and this has been very hard on him.”