To have or not to have; that is the question. My personal opinion is to have the loudest siren/sounder you can have with your security system.

The idea of a loud sounder is two fold: 1. let the criminal know he has been detected and 2. let your neighbors know someone may have broken into your home or business.

Some people tell me, “I want a silent alarm so I can catch the burglar.” The fact is that even with an alarm system, the chances of catching the criminal is slim to none. They are not in your home long enough to be caught. They want to jump and grab and be gone in less than five minutes. A loud siren is likely to deter them.

So why have an alarm system? Because you want to limit the time they have in your home and if a burglar sees you have an alarm system he may very well bypass your home. He doesn’t want the hassel of the system or the chances he may be detected and caught.

Almost all of the burglars that were interviewed in prison said if the home had an alarm system they would bypass that home.

Another device I recommend are strobe lights. Imagine if you violated my home and this loud noise is going off and this bright strobe light is flashing, what would you do? Most likely you would get out of dodge in a hurry. Here again, this bright flashing light directs the police to your home easily even in the darkest of nights.

Some communities have noise ordinances them. So before you install a siren, check your local police or city hall to see what ordinances they have in your community.

Remember that a steady sounding siren means a break-in and short bursts of the siren mean fire.

Write down anything you see to tell the police when they get there. Vehicle descriptions, license plate numbers, description of the person fleeing the home, time the alarm went off, etc. Do not put yourself in danger. Let the police do their job.

THINK ABOUT IT!!!!