Alarm Monitoring: What it Can – and Can’t – Do for Your Business
Alarm monitoring is a service that many security and alarm companies offer, both in Fresno and across the country. While most of us are familiar with the idea of security monitoring – who doesn’t remember “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” – many don’t understand the details of business alarm monitoring and what it can, and can’t, do for your business.
Someone breaks into the backdoor or smashes a window at your business and the police are automatically on their way, right? Not exactly. Unfortunately, as good as the technology is, there are still false alarms. A lot of false alarms are an employee who was too slow in turning off the alarm on their way out. Or, one of our “favorites,” bunches of balloons that start moving when the AC or heater comes on, triggering motion detectors.
In most cities, a false alarm will cost you money. Fresno PD will charge about $150 per false alarm.
While that might seem harsh, look at it from their perspective. They get dispatched to more than 1,200 calls each day. Nearly half of those are in-progress (meaning something dangerous is happening right then or are downright life-threatening crimes.
The police want to focus on stopping those crimes. Wouldn’t you want that to be a priority if you were being assaulted or your car was stolen in front of your eyes? So they’ve put that “fee” in place to try to reduce the number of false alarms which time and manpower away from serious crimes.
The annual cost of crime against businesses is in the billions. As a business owner, this will hit you directly in the bottom line when you’ve got to replace broken windows or stolen computers. It also hurts consumers and the clients of those businesses in higher costs. There’s also a risk of identity theft because stolen (or lost) computer equipment is one of the major causes of data breaches.
But burglary isn’t the only thing that alarm monitoring is good for. Our commercial alarm monitoring systems can monitor fire sprinklers, evacuation panels, pump hoses, duct detectors, manual pull stations, and other aspects of your fire protection system.
We recently were able to prevent a small fire at a large business client facility from spreading. Our monitoring station noticed a small blaze start up and called the fire department right away. A nearby car patrol guard was then able to open the gate and let the fire trucks in long before an employee would have been able to drive to the business.
A lot of businesses don’t consider a fire to be a threat to their business, but in light of the recent devastation of the Initiative Foods plant in Sanger, it should be a serious consideration. Alarm monitoring can get help to stop fires before they get too large.
Alarm monitoring can’t stop criminals from targeting businesses. But it can make your business a less tempting target when you clearly mark your business as being protected by Turner Security Systems, both inside with alarm monitoring and outside with visible and effective security patrol.<br>If you have questions about what alarm monitoring can do for your business, call us at (559) 486-3466 for a free evaluation and quote.
Sources:
http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article26671756.html