Professional technician installing home security camera, related to the topic of professional vs DIY security camera installation

Professional vs DIY Security Cameras

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Professional technician installing home security camera, related to the topic of professional vs DIY security camera installationIt’s been shown that the presence of a security camera or alarm system on your property will deter up to 60% of burglars. If you want to install a security system, you have the option of going the DIY home security route or hiring a professional security company to install your system for you. 

There are upsides and downsides to each strategy—the important thing is to choose the option that best aligns with your safety goals. Let’s take a look at the benefits and drawbacks of each option.

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Image of someone using a car remote / keyless entry to unlock a car

How Your Car’s Keyless Entry System Makes Auto Theft Easier Than Ever

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Image of someone using a car remote / keyless entry to unlock a car2020 brought 873,080 car thefts—the highest number in a decade. The previous few years leading up to 2020 actually saw a decrease in car thefts before this 9.2% upward jump. The reason? Keyless entry systems and push-button ignitions.

These technological advancements have at once made our lives more convenient and our cars more at risk for theft. This is due to a combination of readily-available technology found on popular online shopping mega-sites and our very own key fobs, which provide for easy access and quick getaways.

Problems with Spare Key Fobs

Gone are the days of slow, manual hotwiring practices. Now, all a car thief has to do is spot a spare key fob in your cup holder to gain instant access to your car. This is because most keyless entry systems won’t completely lock if your key fob is still in your vehicle. That means anyone can walk up, open the door, and drive away.

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Hand using security key card scanning to open the door to entering private building. Home and building security system.

How Access Control Systems Protect Businesses with a Semi-Remote Workforce

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Hand using security key card scanning to open the door to entering private building. Home and building security system.Most companies had to pivot to an entirely remote workforce when the COVID pandemic hit. Many businesses are now able to open their offices again, but they may have elected to maintain at least a partially remote workforce. Before, employees came into the office on a regular schedule. Now some employees only come a couple days a week. The rest of the workweek is carried out at home.

While this has allowed employees and employers greater flexibility in terms of hiring and operating practices, a partially remote workforce comes with several potential security risks. When you don’t know where and when employees are in the building, you can lose equipment, experience theft, or inadvertently give access to parts of the office to those who do not need it, and should not have it.

An Access Control System can help you mitigate these risks. Here’s how. 

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Woman Stealing Clothes From Store

Shoplifting Rises During April School Vacation

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Woman Stealing Clothes From Store

New England store owners lose billions of dollars annually in stolen merchandise. In Massachusetts alone, shrinkage due to shoplifting reached approximately one billion dollars last year. While the largest spike in shoplifting occurs during the holiday season, April is also a month in which shoplifting is more common, as youth are usually on spring break during this time.

The majority of shoplifting crimes are committed by people ages 35-54. However, approximately 25% of all shoplifters are under the age of 18. This means that your store needs to take extra precautions during the month of April, when teens are out of school and therefore have more opportunity to shop – and potentially shoplift.

If you want to protect your business from an increase in shoplifting, or if you’d like to work to eliminate instances of shoplifting, take a look at the following tips. These actionable pieces of advice can ensure that your business remains as profitable as possible this April and beyond.

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A Hanging Birdhouse

How to Disguise Hidden Home Security Cameras Indoors and Outdoors

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

How to Disguise Home Security Cameras

A Hanging BirdhouseApproximately 67% of all burglaries occurring in the United States target residential properties. This results in nearly 3.5 billion dollars in homeowner property losses each year. Of those burglaries, 15% occur in homes in the Northeast, and nearly half of those take place while the resident is at home.  

This makes security cameras a very important tool for both the safety of the home and the homeowner. Yet, an effective camera isn’t enough. You also need effective camera placement. 

In some cases you may not want your cameras right out in the open where they can be tampered with. Instead, you want to ensure that they are well hidden, yet still placed in prime position to capture any would-be intruder.

Here are a few great places to hide your indoor and outdoor cameras to ensure that they are as useful as possible while remaining undamaged by potential burglars.

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A businessman is giving a presentation in a modern co-working space.

Four Tips to Improve Productivity by Leveraging Commercial Security

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

A businessman is giving a presentation in a modern co-working space.New England boasts the most well-educated workforce in the nation, yet productivity is still an issue – as it is everywhere in the United States. It is imperative for companies to find a way to increase employee engagement, and decrease stressors, pressures, and distractions that lead to a lack of productivity.

One of the best ways to do this is by implementing a stronger commercial security infrastructure. These added measures will fortify your business against wasted hours, employee distrust, and other productivity stealers. The following four tips show you how to use commercial security to increase productivity among your employees – across all areas of your business.

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video surveillance camera

Reopening Your Business During the Pandemic: Considering High Tech Protection

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Businesses Reopen: Consider High Tech Protection 

Idling New England business owners and managers look forward to opening up to the public once again, but COVID-19 regulations bring challenges and risks.video surveillance camera

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has imposed a variety of restrictions on how businesses must operate to ensure workers and customers are protected from infection. Violations could result in fines and closure.

More customer-facing businesses, such as retail or restaurant operations, face special new challenges. There are rules around social distancing and the need for everyone on the premises to work masks, and so on. This requires completely new processes for security and safety.

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5 Ways to Enhance School Entrance Security

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

officer fist bumps studentEvery student deserves to feel safe in his or her school. Unfortunately, we have all seen the news stories about what can happen when an intruder enters. The good news is technology is continuously improving to help stop these trespassers, and there are some strategies to help you as a school administrator to better secure your school’s entrances.

The goal of these best practices is to limit the ways people can enter your building. This will delay intruders, give the police time to respond, and allow you to communicate with teachers and staff. During this time, you can lock down the school and/or evacuate students and faculty, depending on the situation. Read more →

Battery Crimes? Video Surveillance Captures Criminal

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Battery Crimes? Video Surveillance Captures CriminalIt was a beautiful August day in New Haven, sunny and breezy, with walkers and cyclists out enjoying the weather. In one neighborhood a man was looking for more than good exercise — after checking to see if anyone is watching, he pedaled onto the front yard of a home and started to poke around.

According to WFSB, he was after car batteries, hot items on the scrap metal that sell at 40 cents a pound or more thanks to the precious metals inside.

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Video Surveillance Cameras Keep An Eye On Safer Schools

/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging Team

School security is a subject that strikes close to home for millions of Americans. Each and every day parents send their children to school hoping their experience isn’t interrupted by the kind of violence or chaos that all too often makes national headlines. It is more than just keeping an eye out for potentially tragic situations; it also means keeping the educational environment and students safe from the perils of theft, accidents, and harassment.

A significant portion of the effort to keep kids safe at school involves keeping a watchful eye all of the activities that take place on campus. Security systems that monitor a school’s entry points, the perimeter of its grounds, classrooms and other shared spaces are crucial in helping law enforcement and other emergency personnel respond quickly to an incident. It also allows for less obvious threats, such as patterns of theft or vandalism, to be dealt with using a firm chain of evidence.

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