On August 31, some 300 teenagers allegedly broke into – and totally trashed – the upstate New York home owned by former New England Patriot Brian Holloway.
Holloway told NEWS10 ABC he was in Florida when he heard about the break-in from his son, who had seen notifications about the bash on social media.
Police called to the scene, said they found the yard full of cars and about 300 teens trying to run away. Investigators documented the damage, including broken windows, spray painted walls, and urine soaked carpets.
A break-in is right at the top of the list of homeowner’s worst nightmares. Imagine you arrive home from a vacation to find your home in utter chaos – your belongings strewn across the floors and your valuables missing. You’re scared and angry. You don’t feel safe in your home any longer – and maybe you never will feel that sense of security again.
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Tips for a Frighteningly Fun and Safe Halloween
/by American Alarm Blogging TeamThe witching season is upon us. A magical time for ghosts and ghoulies – or princes and princesses – to scamper through their neighborhoods in search of Halloween sweets and other treats.
We here at American Alarm love this spookiest day of the year, but before we head out to a local thrift store to put together our perfect costumes – we’re leaning toward superheros or any of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – we want to offer some helpful tips to ensure that you and your children have a spooktacular All Hallow’s Eve.
Some of these tips are brought to you by the police department of the city known throughout the world as Witch City – haunted Salem, Massachusetts.
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5 Steps to Stay Safe While at College
/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging TeamYou’ve seen the headlines. Every year it seems a new act of tragic violence erupts on one of our country’s college campuses, renewing the fears of both parents and students.
But according to national statistics and campus safety experts, campus crime prevention is improving and incidents of major crimes are in decline.
You can help prevent crime as well by taking a few simple precautions.
Watch the video below for our five steps to help you stay safe while at college:
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Home Fire System: Avoid Fall Fire Dangers
/2 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging TeamWe all know that installing smoke detectors in your home fire system is the number one way to prevent fatalities during a fire in your home. That’s why it’s critical to change the batteries in your smoke detector twice a year — at the same time you set your clocks to either “spring forward” or “fall back.”
This year daylight savings time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3. So when you get ready to turn your clocks back an hour, remember to replace the batteries in your smoke detector — as well as your carbon monoxide detector. If you have a monitored fire alarm system make sure you call to have it tested at least once a year. American Alarm is one company that offers free annual wellness inspections to monitored residential customers for this purpose.
Here are a few less obvious steps you can take to reduce the risk of fire in your home.
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The Dangers of Cigarette Smoking at Home
/by American Alarm Blogging TeamNot too long ago we provided some tips on how to prevent smoking-related fires in your home after a Westfield, MA woman died in a fire caused by cigarette smoking near a home oxygen system. Even more recently, an off-duty police officer helped rescue an elderly woman from a blaze in Arlington, Massachusetts that was ignited when someone improperly extinguished a cigarette in a planter filled with mulch on the second-floor deck of a two-story home.
The woman — who was on oxygen — lived on the first floor and after firefighters knocked down the fire, they removed at least five oxygen canisters in danger of exploding. The Arlington woman was very lucky. Every year nearly 1,000 people die in home fires started by cigarettes, according to the U.S. Fire Administration — and one in four of the people killed in those types of home fires was not the smoker whose cigarettes caused the blaze.
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Did Ex-Patriot Fumble the Home Security Ball?
/3 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging TeamHolloway told NEWS10 ABC he was in Florida when he heard about the break-in from his son, who had seen notifications about the bash on social media.
Police called to the scene, said they found the yard full of cars and about 300 teens trying to run away. Investigators documented the damage, including broken windows, spray painted walls, and urine soaked carpets.
A break-in is right at the top of the list of homeowner’s worst nightmares. Imagine you arrive home from a vacation to find your home in utter chaos – your belongings strewn across the floors and your valuables missing. You’re scared and angry. You don’t feel safe in your home any longer – and maybe you never will feel that sense of security again.
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Personal Safety — Urban Legend or Truth?
/3 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging TeamConsider a recent report from the Today show about ‘sliders.’ This unlikely term has been applied to thieves who target women pumping gas into their cars. With the purse on the front seat, and their attention diverted to the act of fueling up, these women are victimized by individuals who emerge from a nearby parked car, stay low to the ground, and snatch the purse through either an open window or an unlocked door. Although it sounds incredible, police are warning women not to leave their purses unattended at gas stations unless all of their doors are locked and their windows are sealed.
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Homeowners: Beware of Unlicensed Security Companies
/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging TeamA recent letter from the Massachusetts Systems Contractors Association warns consumers about the dangers of hiring unlicensed companies to secure your home.
It said security companies in the state are required to be licensed by the State Board of Electrical Examiners and have a public safety license to protect you from people who may have a criminal background and to ensure their system effectively works in an emergency situation.
Watch our video below for this and important tips to consider when selecting your home security company:
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Sun is Setting on 2G Cellular Security Systems
/by American Alarm Blogging TeamIt’s a fact: AT&T has called for 2G cellular networks to go away by Jan. 1, 2017. That means alarm companies must swap out security systems that use 2G networks to ensure the safety of their customers.
About three million cellular alarm system communicators currently use the 2G spectrum with about 80% to 90% of those provided by AT&T, according to Alarm System Report.
Many other service providers are also setting their own schedules so they can use the new bandwidth to increase capacity for 3G/4G services to handle the increased data use. Read more →
Video Surveillance Cameras Keep An Eye On Safer Schools
/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging TeamSchool 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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Westborough Police Announce Check Cashing Scam
/by American Alarm Blogging TeamThere’s an old saying that has never applied more than in the internet age: if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Each of us has probably seen some kind of offer online — a car that’s priced way below its market value, an email informing you that you’ve won a lottery you don’t remember entering, or a stranger detailing a plan to transfer a huge sum of cash into your bank account — that couldn’t possibly be real. Yet, despite all of the warning flags surrounding these types of ‘deals,’ there are still many individuals who find themselves taken in by scams that end up costing them thousands of dollars.
Westborough Police are reminding people to be vigilant when dealing with unusual financial transactions or offers in order to protect themselves from both financial and potential identity theft as well. Offers to transfer money into your bank account — a portion of which you get to keep — are almost always bids from criminals to gain access to your banking details in order to defraud you.
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