Tuesday, September 18, 2012

How safe is your home or business....maybe you should ask your friends who thought the same thing.


I truly am amazed at how many people I talk to on a daily basis have just NEVER really considered protecting their home/business against intruders.  It must be the whole mindset of "out of sight, out of mind" .  It's never happened to me, so it probably with never happen down the road....right?  Ummm....think again.  I spoke of the family that lived in the nice neighborhood that "never thought it (break -in) could happen to them".  I know so many customers that have called our office and said "wow, I used to leave all my doors unlocked and we just got broken into!  I can't believe it...what is this world coming to???....can you help us please?!" 

Well, of course we can help you....NOW....but unfortunately, what we can't help is the feeling of being violated, the fact that your belongings are gone and everything else that goes along with being broken into.  Welcome to 2012 people!  Break-ins are happening EVERYWHERE and they are probably happening more than you would even think.

Let me take Rochester, NY for example.  On a scale of 1 to 100 (100 being the safest), Rochester ranks a 3 (I wish I could capitalize a number here!).  That's right, Rochester is only safer than 3% of US cities.   Now yes, you can look at demographics and make claims for inner city vs suburbs, but the fact is I guarantee if you're from Rochester you probably didn't think it was THIS bad.   Also, if your thinking this way, once again you are trying to convince yourself that you are immune to being a victim of this type of crime ever happening to you.....so STOP IT...I have thousands of customers who thought the same way and will now tell you differently!  Your chance of being part of a violent crime is 1 out of every 94 people.  Check this out too,  a lot of the crime that takes place in Rochester is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked by our source (NeighborhoodScout.com)  are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Rochester, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 17, which is a rate of 56 per one thousand population.  And you thought it couldn't happen to you? 

I have a problem where I tend to want to trust the population and human kind in general.  I often get burned by that mindset.  It's just my personality to continue to give people the benefit of the doubt that when given the choice, they will choose wisely and pick Good vs. Evil.  However, when it comes to my home and family and also business, where the consequences for this trust being broken can lead to some major life issues, I without question would rather take the simple precautionary measures to eliminate the probability and possibility of encountering one of these crimes.  Maybe you should reconsider too?  You don't get a medal at the end of your life if you were able to leave your door unlocked for 85 years (at least I don't know of one).  But you do get an unbelievable amount of peace of mind when you know you're coming home to a house how you last left it because you had it protected.

Security Alarm Systems can't prevent someone from breaking into your house, but what they will do is (1) notify you if someone has broken in so that you can be prepared and not taken by surprise, and (2) only allow for a small amount of time for someone to enter the home before they have to flee so the police don't catch them.  Every second longer someone stays in a house where the alarm is going off is one more second the police have to arrive and arrest.  Trust me....the criminals know this too.  That's why they tend to go to those homes they know don't have a monitored alarm.

Just some food for thought.  Don't be reactive....be proactive and you'll never regret it.