The Quiet Power of Your Sign
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) keeps statistics on people arrested and accused of burglary. One of the interview questions asked is what persuades them to choose one house over the other.
A security provider’s signage was one of the main reasons listed as why a burglar didn’t attempt to enter a property. Other deterrents were barking dogs, gated driveways, and a house full of people with an inconsistent schedule.
Of course, it does make sense that a person would avoid burglarizing a home with an alarm. Since not every home has an intrusion system, entering one that did not have a system would be preferable. But what if everyone on the block has a security system ... then what?
Not all security systems are the same, and savvy thieves know this. In today’s market of security, there are two categories of security providers. The first is mass marketers that sell a “cookie cutter” (one size fits all) system at a lower rate to reach as many consumers as possible; the other group of security providers takes a more traditional approach of designing a customized system. This type of system is personalized to the user and their lifestyle, making it much more difficult to determine the level of security that is in the home.
Another difference is that the custom provider often offers a more sophisticated system that may have multi-level options, such as telephone backup. Telephone backup is a cellular or radio device that sends signals to a central monitoring station, even if the telephone lines are cut by the thief, or go down due to a storm.
Burglars are getting smarter. According to statistics, many are young males in their twenties. These individuals have grown up in the technology era with cell phones, pagers, the Internet … they have enough information available to them to be able to do their homework before they target a home with a security system.
So what is the power of a sign? The reputation of the security provider is the power of a sign. If the sign is from a well-known security provider that is known for selling custom security, unique to every home, and offers the option of telephone backup, then who do you think a “bad guy” is going to pick on last?
The bottom line? Make sure your signs and stickers are visible from the street and that there is at least one sticker visible on each side of the property.
Atronic Alarms, Inc.
