It is important to have all exterior openings protected by some detection device. Both the first floor as well as the basement and second stories.

Windows and doors should have “contacts” on them. There are two types, hard-wired or wireless. As it a sounds a hard-wired contact is connected to the master control panel by a wire. The wireless contact sends a signal to the master control panel by radio waves. They cause the system to go into alarm if they are violated. When the alarm sounds it makes a loud noise which most of the time scares the robber away and alerts your neighbors and your monitoring center of a possible intrusion into your home. The center will then contact your home and if they get no response or the wrong pass word they contact the police.

Basement windows can be secured by “Barglar Bars”. It is a bar stretched across the window and if it gets dislogged it will cause an alarm. Don’t forget these windows.

Casement windows sometimes are best protected by “glass-break detectors. The best kind are the ones it takes three (3) signals to activate before it sets off the alarm. When a window is broken there are three phases that occur. First the vibration of the breaking window, then the breaking window puts off a certain frequency that is detected, and some glass-breaks also have a motion sensor built into them as well. Having a multiple action glassbreak helps to keep the false alarms to a minimum.

Don’t be a penny wise and a pound foolish when getting an alarm system installed. Don’t cut corners because the device you omit might be the exact spot of entry into your home. Think as if you were the burglar and how YOU would gain entry into your home.