Everything you need to know about securing your home, family or business.
Recent Postings from the Provident Blog
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a selection of the most popular posts from the Provident blog
- Provident vs. Alarmforce
- A recap of a CKNW radio show where I was on a panel with the National Sales Manager from Alarmforce... safe to say that I probably didn't make any new friends at Alarmforce as a result of the show.
- Shaw Digital Telephone's Affect on Home Alarms
- Shaw Digital Telephone Service may not work as well with your alarm system as you might have thought (or been told)...
- Five minute proofing
- The goal is to ensure that you "five minute proof" your most precious belongings in order to ensure that they do not get stolen in a burglary... here's how to do it and why.
- Analog Cellular Back-Up Phase Out
- The analog network that all cellular back-up systems rely on is being phased out...
- January 2006 Burglary Stats
- Burlary stats for January 2006 on teh Westside by neighbourhood as well as an analysis since 2004
- Burglary set-up during renovations
- A home in Point Grey was set-up for a burglary during recent renovations while the clients were out of town and the main control panel and alarm wiring was exposed.
- Don't disarm your alarm too soon!
- Unless you know exactly why your alarm has tripped, do not turn it off...
- Securing your Plasma TV
- A quick an easy way to help reduce the risk of theft of a plasma TV
Relevant Links
- the Provident story
- Here is how it all started...
- Provident Security homepage
- Here is a link to our current website... the new, and much, much improved site is slated for launch in late November 2006
- 5 minute alarm response
- Find out about the fastest alarm response service in North America
- community security blog
- Here is a link to our home security blog which is intended to keep you up to date on both crime trends on Vancouver's Westside as well as on Provident in general.
- Securing your security
- a link to a recent post on our blog about how Provident continued monitoring through a power failure that affected most of the Westside
Is your alarm system of any value?
Your burglar alarm may not be the deterrent you think it is
A burglar alarm is, in and of itself, no longer an effective deterrent to burglary.
Fifteen years ago, if you were the only person on the block with an alarm, chances were, if someone was choosing which home to break into they would not choose yours. What has happened since? When you walk down any street, particularly on the Westside of Vancouver, just about everyone has an alarm. That same potential burglar is now faced with almost every home having an alarm. Do burglaries stop? No.
The only real measurable difference between now and fifteen years ago in terms of alarms is that Police response has become almost non-existent. Market saturation has defeated the deterrent value that alarms once offered.
More than 95% of all alarms are false. As more and more people get alarms installed, the number of false alarms that occur everyday also increase. The result? Alarms have become little more than a nuisance for Police departments throughout North America. The net result is that most security companies have come to assume that all alarms are false until proven otherwise. Case in fact,in most cities, by-laws are in place which stipulate that in the event of an alarm, no alarm company may call the Police until an effort is made to determine if the alarm is actually real. Most often this means an alarm company telephoning the clients premises and asking if everything is ok.
The real result is that alarms do not offer the deterrent value that they once did. If anything, they have made it easier to commit crime in that an educated thief can use the system to help time his crime. So long as the phone is ringing, the thief knows that no response agency has been told of the alarm yet, let alone is on the way to respond.
That's where Provident comes in. The fundamental difference between Provident and any other company is that we believe very strongly that the most important reason for owning an alarm is to generate an immediate response. How do we do that? First by limiting our geographic boundaries (we currently only serve the Westside of Vancouver). Second, we do it by making no attempt to verify any alarm. If a signal is received, we assume that it is the real thing and that you need immediate attention. If it's a false alarm, chances are you caused it - so you call us and let us know that all is well. Otherwise, we'll be there in five minutes or less guaranteed.
Fifteen years ago, if you were the only person on the block with an alarm, chances were, if someone was choosing which home to break into they would not choose yours. What has happened since? When you walk down any street, particularly on the Westside of Vancouver, just about everyone has an alarm. That same potential burglar is now faced with almost every home having an alarm. Do burglaries stop? No.
The only real measurable difference between now and fifteen years ago in terms of alarms is that Police response has become almost non-existent. Market saturation has defeated the deterrent value that alarms once offered.
More than 95% of all alarms are false. As more and more people get alarms installed, the number of false alarms that occur everyday also increase. The result? Alarms have become little more than a nuisance for Police departments throughout North America. The net result is that most security companies have come to assume that all alarms are false until proven otherwise. Case in fact,in most cities, by-laws are in place which stipulate that in the event of an alarm, no alarm company may call the Police until an effort is made to determine if the alarm is actually real. Most often this means an alarm company telephoning the clients premises and asking if everything is ok.
The real result is that alarms do not offer the deterrent value that they once did. If anything, they have made it easier to commit crime in that an educated thief can use the system to help time his crime. So long as the phone is ringing, the thief knows that no response agency has been told of the alarm yet, let alone is on the way to respond.
That's where Provident comes in. The fundamental difference between Provident and any other company is that we believe very strongly that the most important reason for owning an alarm is to generate an immediate response. How do we do that? First by limiting our geographic boundaries (we currently only serve the Westside of Vancouver). Second, we do it by making no attempt to verify any alarm. If a signal is received, we assume that it is the real thing and that you need immediate attention. If it's a false alarm, chances are you caused it - so you call us and let us know that all is well. Otherwise, we'll be there in five minutes or less guaranteed.
by mjagger
Michael Jagger is the founder and President of Provident Security and Event Management Corp. ("Provident") in Vancouver, British Columbia. Provident w... (more)
