The Art of Good Burglar Alarm System Design

Security should be one of the most important considerations for your home; why fill your home with your personal effects and decorate if the home can be so easily burgled?  It makes more sense to have a security system fitted that will deter any burglar and send them elsewhere.

This page is designed to give you an idea of the sort of burglar alarm protection you'll need in a private house and not to replace the role of a professional Security Surveyor/System Designer from a reputable security installer.

Residential property, Christie Intruder Alarms feel, is best protected with a burglar alarm using 'trap protection'.  Trap protection is a strategy for protecting a property without fitting sensors in every room, for example, because statistics show burglars rarely break-in through windows at the front of a house (and are even less likely to stay in one room and leave through the same front window - they are likely to want to go straight to the master bed room), fitting a sensor in the rear rooms of the house along with the hallway is often considered sufficient for the ground floor, additionally, kitchens have heat sources (boilers, fridges, ovens, washing machines and such), hard surfaces and are generally considered unstable areas and because they rarely contain items of steal able or sentimental value, and as a rule, should not be protected with PIR either.

Sometimes it is necessary to protect a kitchen with a motion sensor.  For these instances we would normally recommend using a dual technology sensor.  Dual technology detectors combine two motion sensing technologies, commonly PIR with Microwave, and both must detect movement to cause the device to 'trip'.

However, although dual technology detectors are better suited to unstable environments, they are not immune from false alarms; the microwave motion sensor will detect movement through glass, thin walls and can even be triggered by water moving in pipes, and this can occur at the same time that the PIR is detecting the travelling of heat or other interference.  Be sure that your system designer is not trying to oversell or looking for the easy option; be sure to challenge them!

There are various reasons for adopting a trap protection strategy.  The first is to limiting the false alarm potential of an alarm system.  All detectors (even the top of the range ones that we use) sometimes false alarm.  This is becoming an increasing problem due to the new hard line Police forces are taking regarding attendance.  False alarms result in withdrawn Police attendance and the more detectors a property has the higher the false alarm potential.  Another important reason is cost - if using a good quality sensor it would be expensive to protect each room.

As the alarm boxes are a good deterrent just having an alarm system installed by a recognized intruder alarm installer should deter most villains, whether they are opportunists or professionals, after all your system could be monitored by an ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre formerly referred to as a central station) to alert the Police in the instants of an alarm - it's just easier to go next door or somewhere that doesn't have an alarm system.

Private Residences (or other Domestic Properties)

Burglars and indeed any intruders, are overwhelmingly deterred by a burglar alarm more than any other form of home security.  Preventative measures should be taken as opposed to the 'shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted' approach, as you are far more likely to be burgled if you have been burgled before.  Villains are renowned for returning to the same properties.

Break-in's are a unwanted fact of life.  Being broken into in a residential property is obviously more distressing than to a burglary to the work place and although vandalism is rare, the loss of sentimental artifacts can be most upsetting.

As the number one security installer on the South Coast, we use a combination of detection devices.  The most popular devices being the PIR (Passive Infra-Red) detectors, magnetic reed contacts, breaking glass detectors, infra-red beams, pressure pads (although rarely used these days), case-wiring, vibration detectors, Microwave and dual technology sensors.

CIA was the very first company to be awarded the prestigious NSI NACOSS Gold Medal in recognition of outstanding performance in security management.

NSI is an acronym of the National Security Inspectorate.  Formerly known as NACOSS, the NSI is an independent, not-for-profit approvals body providing inspection services for the security and fire industries.

Communicating with an Alarm Receiving Centre

Monitored burglar alarms (alarms that send a signal and receive automatic Police response) are now expected to 'confirm' alarm activations.

Confirmation is received when a second detection device is triggered in the same activation, therefore, something is definitely on site and moving around.

If an intruder is detected a signal is sent from the alarm system using either a standard digital communicator, RedCare or DualComm, via the phone line and or cellular network.

The signal is received at our Alarm Receiving Centre (these used to be referred to as Central Stations or Monitoring Stations) and a keyholder is duly notified. If a second signal can confirm that an intruder is present then the confirmed alarm is given to the police.

We cover the majority of the South Coast and Southern Home Counties including Hampshire (Hants), West Sussex, Surrey, Dorset, East Sussex, Wiltshire (Wilts), Berkshire (Berks) and the Isle of Wight.

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