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Writer's pictureOrlando "Andy" Wilson

Considerations for using dogs and alarms for home security!


Considerations for using dogs and alarms for home security!

Books on Amazon

Home & Office Security: Protection of Residencies & Businesses

This book provides simple plans & procedures to secure your home & office.

Many people have alarms systems and panic buttons in their residences and it amuses me that a lot of people believe that installing an alarm is all they require to protect their families. We have all seen the adverts on TV where a woman is home alone, the alarm goes off, the bad guy runs away and the alarm company phones here to make sure she is OK; if only the world was that perfect. What if the bad guys aren't worried and expect an alarm to go off because know they have at least 15 minutes before the will police respond. If you have an alarm system you need to know what the response to time will be for those responding. In some places the response can take hours, even in the U.S. if the responding police believe there is a serious incident taking place with shots fire they will usually back off, call for support, cordon the area and assemble a SWAT team which can take hours even in Metro areas.

Another criminal tactic to counter an alarm system on a residence is to keep setting them off until the owner turns the system off. Think about it, if over a period of two weeks the alarm on your back door keeps going off between 1am to 4am what would you do? Initially for the first few alarm activation's the police will respond, but in a lot of places after 3 false alarm activation's the police will no longer respond, if you have an armed response company they will be charging you for every alarm they respond to. So, I am sure you will call out the alarm company to fix the alarm but they will find nothing wrong with it. Would you keep putting up cost and aggravation of the apparently false alarms or just turn the alarm off? Take nothing at face value, if you have an alarm that starts going off for no apparent reason, look deeper!

A lot of people ask me about using guard dogs, something which I tend to dissuade people from doing. Dogs can be weapons and must be keep under control, when I was working in South Africa in the mid 90’s I had two German Sheppard’s attack me; they did not die because the client was screaming at me not to shoot them. The dogs had been let out of their cage, as they usually were in the evening, by a staff member who did not know I was working there. OK, it was only me, so no problems but what it was a child or woman and dog's owner was not there to take control of them?

If you use dogs they must be properly trained, if I was in a high risk area would I consider having trained dogs in my garden, sure but they would need to be properly trained. Dogs can be targeted as same as security personnel, if they are not trained properly they are easy to poison. Guard dogs that bark a lot are easy to counter, same as an alarm system, we have used this in numerous times in parts of Latin America where every house seems to have a pack of dogs, you just need to get the dogs barking and keep them barking, the owner will soon get fed up with it or the dog will get tired

Anyway, why should the criminals try to break into a residence when in a lot of cases they can get the occupants to easily open the doors and come to them? As you read this now what would you do if someone crashed into your car; go outside and see what had happened, now you can be kidnapped and the bad guys have access to your house. A lot of houses have their electric mains outside, so if the criminal cuts the power what will most people do; go out and investigate. Sever the connecting to most people's satellite TV and what will they do, go outside and check the dish. See the pattern, so do the criminals!

Orlando Wilson - Risks Incorporated - www.risks-incorporated.com

"Stay low and keep moving"

Books on Amazon

Home & Office Security: Protection of Residencies & Businesses

This book provides simple plans & procedures to secure your home & office.


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