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Subject:  Re: Brinks — is it worth it? Date:  1/22/2004  10:09 PM
Author:  PosNetWorth Number:  45054 of 129287

I said: A home alarm for an in-progress burglary would bring one cop [I think]. It wasn't until someone got there and confirmed that it was real that they'd send out the response level that the first telephone call from a human being would bring.

And Goofyhoofy replied: And since most people use the alarms when they are not home, how would you say they are going to make that call?

And if it is the neighbor who is going to make that call, why would the neighbor not make that call anyway?

I guess I would rather have one cop show up than none, and two firefighters than zero.

You do have a point here, which is that with an alarm system, at least someone finds out that something is going on, and will call for the people they need. The fire alarm would, indeed, probably vastly reduce the amount of damage to your house if you weren't home at the time, because it could be caught before there were flames going out the windows or the acrid fumes of house-fire in the air. It just seems that, if the police saw evidence of a break-in and called for backup, they'd be entering the house just in time to dust for prints.

-- Laura