When a company invests in a commercial security system, what is the goal?
Obviously to protect the property of the business in the event of a burglary! What if the burglar didn’t have to “break in”? What if an outdoor gate was left unlocked and someone walked right in? Take a look at the following motion viewer footage:
The gate was left unlocked and the would-be thief walked right in the fenced area. Since this was outside, this person could have walked away with a nice chunk of merchandise which could be sold or pawned later. And in most cases, the police would have not been notified until the next day. Even with camera footage of the area, the perpetrator of this crime may never have never been identified. However, in this case, the Evansville Police Department can be seen in the video, securing the area. So what made this company’s commercial security system different?
Verified Video Alarms
- Continual monitoring – Cameras are a very useful tool in commercial security systems. Business owners are able to record footage and view cameras live on their phone, tablet or iPad. However, a business owner cannot watch his shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A verified system employing motion viewers provide 24 hour monitoring through a central station. They are designed to detect movement and activate to show what caused the movement. If it is an animal, or inanimate object, the alarm can be disregarded. However a true activation can show location, number of intruders and other important details to help law enforcement.
- Increased police response time – A major misconception about commercial security systems is that police will respond to every alarm within a couple of minutes. While this may be possible if the officer is around the corner and/or not on another call, in most cases the wait will be a little longer. In fact, the average police response time for a conventional commercial security system is 45 minutes. By that time, the burglar is long gone with any property. With a verified security system, operators can see or hear criminal activity in progress. Because of this enhanced verification system, this type of alarm becomes a police priority and they will respond with the possibility of an arrest while the crime is in progress. If fact, the average police response time to a verified alarm is 7 minutes and they will respond to this alarm before a conventional alarm. This 38 minutes can mean the difference between keeping the owners property on-sight and trying to find it later in a recycling center or pawn shop.
- Economical – HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Of course, it depends on what will be secured. But lets say you wanted the system shown in the video and you were quoted right around $1500.00 for the first year, equipment, installed and monitoring. Sound like a lot? Well let’s look back at the video. Parked outside are several lawn mowers and other merchandise. Riding lawn mowers are pretty expensive. If the 5 lawn mowers were ONLY $500 each, the system would have more than paid for itself by the property remaining in the owners hands. And this owner doesn’t have the hassle of confirming the cost to replace the missing merchandise with an insurance company. And in this particular case, the police were on scene before entry was made into the building, saving the company even more money. Of course, there are variety of variances that need to be accounted for when building your system. Call your provider for an exact cost to install and monitor.
In the end, this owner can rest at ease, knowing his property is safe with a reputable provider, even when his building was not secured properly by his employees. Contact us for a free assessment.
