How An Alarm System Works

One of the most commonly asked questions when it comes to home alarm systems is “How Does An Alarm System Work?”

Some may think of screeching horns, flashing lights and swat teams surrounding intruders from all angles.  Well, perhaps we’re stretching it with the swat team, but you get the point.  While home alarm companies don’t run around with high powered weapons and flack jackets it’s sort of like having your own personal team of home protectors.

Before being fully protected, of course, you must first get an alarm system with the best technology and reliability.  A look at our reviews will give you great insight in to the best alarm companies and technology.  Once you have your new home alarm installed you might wonder, what happens next?

While we hope that you never have a break in, there is a reason alarm systems are often a necessity.  A home is burglarized in the United States every 14 seconds and home burglaries make up 75% of the crime in the country.  The worst part is, many people who are burglarized DO have home alarm systems.  However, nearly 50% of break ins occurred when the home security system was OFF!  This is an important lesson:  Not only do you need a great alarm system but you need to use it.  An alarm is no good if it’s not turned on.

So, let’s explore the chain of events when your home alarm goes off.

First, one of your alarm sensors around the home must be triggered.  This can happen when a burglar attempts to come through a door (35% of burglaries happen through a door), a window (23% of burglaries), or other entry points in the home like a garage or basement.  If your security system is turned on then one of your sensors will trigger and set off the alarm.  With most home alarm systems the first thing you will notice is the alarm siren.  The siren will begin to sound in your home.

During this time an “alarm signal” is sent out to the monitoring station either through a built in cellular device, phone line or internet connection depending on how the alarm system is monitored.  The alarm monitoring station receives the alarm signal and immediately begins to get in touch with you over the phone.

The alarm company will attempt to contact you and verify that the alarm is real.  This method helps to curb false alarms and gives you an opportunity to tell the monitoring station if in fact the alarm was triggered accidentally.  How will you know?  Well you can bet that if you’re away from the home and you get a call from the monitoring center, and you aren’t expecting any visitors, that the alarm is real.  If you get home, open your door and forget to disarm your system and it goes off – well you can simply pick up the phone and tell the monitoring station all is well.  Most monitoring centers will ask for a “password” of some kind to verify your identity.  This way an intruder can’t pick up the phone and pretend to be you.

Now depending on the circumstance there are a couple things that can happen next.  If your home alarm is triggered accidentally you simply tell the monitoring station and that’s that.  If the alarm is real you advise the alarm monitoring station to dispatch the local police to your home.

Hopefully by this time the intruder has been scared off – but on many occasions intruders will stick around and be captured by police.  We’ve heard many stories of intruders attempting to disrupt the alarm or staying on the property despite the alarm only to be picked up by the cops after dispatch from the alarm monitoring center.

In the end your home alarm system is designed to do one thing – deter home intrusions.  If the siren doesn’t scare off the intruders hopefully the thought of jail will.  We know home alarm systems cannot completely stop home intrusions, however, being prepared with a state of the art home alarm system from one of the companies on our list is a great start.

So Let’s Recap What Happens When Your Alarm System Is Triggered: