You’ve spent a significant amount of money on installing a good home security system with armed response in and around your home. You’re vigilant about activating and de-activating your alarm at the appropriate times, and you make sure to maintain your home security system’s equipment at all times. But, if you’re like most people, you don’t really know what to except if, despite all your precautions, your burglar alarm actually goes off and the armed response team is alerted. What follows is a brief explanation of a home security company’s general procedure in the event of an alert.
First of all, it’s important to remember that if you’re in your home when your burglar alarm goes off, never confront the burglar, or burglars, yourself, and if you have access to a phone, call 911 immediately. It usually takes the police between one to four hours to respond to a break-in alert, which is why it is so important to know your monitoring company will react without delay. When a breach of security is registered by the monitoring company, it immediately dispatches a security officer to your home to investigate. This trained security officer is armed and is licensed to detain suspects while awaiting the arrival of the police. Once the security officer arrives at your home, he will inspect the entire perimeter of your home. The home security system will provide details about where the breach of security occurred, which is in most cases the starting point for the investigation. If he finds evidence of a break-in, the security officer will secure the premises so nobody can enter or leave, call the police and, in the case that he encounters the suspects, detain them and turn them over to the authorities once they arrive. Next, he will check in with the monitoring company to inform them the alert has been handled and the area is secured. The final step in the procedure is providing the homeowner and the police with a full incident report.
In addition to your home security system company’s report, the police will make an official report of the burglary. If any suspect has been detained, or is detained at a later time, you’ll be informed of any actions you will need to take to press charges. It’s always recommended to include copies of both the police report and that of the armed response team when you file an insurance claim for any damages or loss of property.
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