Since the deteriorating economic atmosphere may promote more crimes, it may perhaps be a good timing to give this issue some consideration.
The reported number of residences broken into went down to a 60-year low in the previous year. It was under the 866 cases recorded in 2007, based on the police data. This low number of robbery cases was reportedly moderate due to the efforts to get homeowners to fit alarms and lock up. The police authorities are expecting a crime increase this year as the conditions of the economy weaken.
Mister Charles Lim, the country manager of ADT Security Services, said that his firm has recorded more burglar alarm cases lately, even if these burglary attempts were unsuccessful because the intruders fled after the alarms activated.
While the feeble economy can influence the sales of house security or trespasser alarm systems, two top security companies claim that they continue to obtain inquiries.
”Despite the challenging market conditions, inquiries are still coming in the past few months”, according to Mr. Arumugam Balakrishnan, the UTC Fire & Security general manager (South-east Asia).
According to ADT, it perceived a 17 percent increase in inquiries regarding its house security systems during the last year’s second half as compared to the first half. “More people are asking about the systems or about upgrading their systems”, Mr. Lim said.
The companies that were interviewed had declined to give information on the actual business performed.
In the previous years, a large number of HDB households, almost all young families residing in new HDB properties such as Punggol – have subscribed to the security service, Mr. Lim added.
According to companies, these home security systems offer safety and defence against intrusion, fire threat, medical emergency and duress.
Mister Lim also added that some of the clients of ADT use its security systems to keep an eye on the elderly who stays at home. An elderly person holds a water-resistant transmitter, which will give signal to the monitoring centre whenever there is a problem – for instance, if the old person is not capable of getting up after falling down.
When there’s a medical situation or emergency, the elderly individual can also push the transmitter’s button in order to connect to the monitoring centre to get some assistance. There are just a small number of huge players in the monitored house security market here, which includes ADT, Certis Cisco and UTC.
The monitored system is different from a non-monitored system since the former allows the homeowner to make use of an intrusion detection service or 24 hours surveillance, according to Certis Cisco.
ADT noted that the monitored system is connected to an uptime monitoring centre that will receive signal if there is a break-in situation. Security experts will find out the nature of emergency and will call for the attention of owner and authorities right away.
The good news for subscriber is that these security systems are more affordable.
ADT and Chubb will only charge the subscribers for the security monitoring services, but not the systems itself.
Subscribers pay out a little amount of $38 every month for the security service, but are attached to a three-year contract. These charges can increase depending on the needs. For example, a huge house with several entry points will need additional equipments compared to an HDB flat, with just two or three entry points.
Some companies charge other fees for the security system and monitoring services. If the system is without a monitoring service, each can cost from $800-$2,000.
A necessary wireless package includes a magnetic door to detect closing and opening of windows and doors, and a movement detector.
“Some people go to fly-by-night players. They just want the system without the monitoring service. But it is like having a dog that doesn't bark”, said by an unnamed industry source.
However, if homeowners only want to utilise the system to monitor on their maids or neighbours, they should obtain a monitoring system that will protect their houses.
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