New Boston Surveillance Surfaces: Who Watches the Watchers?

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

New Boston Surveillance Surfaces Who Watches the WatchersBoston is getting a next generation closed-circuit television (CCTV) network to help monitor for public threats. As noted by a recent Daily Caller article, the system designed by Texas-based Behavioral Recognition Systems (BRS) will feature a kind of artificial intelligence (AI) which allows it to “recognize, learn and permanently register abnormal behavior.”

While the system has real potential, it also comes with risk: Who’s watching these watchers?

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6 Reasons To Test & Inspect Your Business Fire Alarm System Regularly

/2 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging Team

6 Reasons To Test & Inspect Your Business Fire Alarm System RegularlyBusiness fire alarm systems are designed to protect your business and employees from fire and smoke, but you can’t count on them if they’re not tested and inspected on a routine basis. Having your fire alarm system regularly serviced is critical to the safety of your building’s occupants.

The best way to discover whether your system is in need of maintenance is to have it professionally tested. Inspection and maintenance by licensed technicians can also help you cut down on expenses by preventing emergency repairs and costly false alarms that you haven’t included in your budget.

Testing your business fire alarm system on a regular basis ensures that it’s in compliance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 72 standards, as well as the local fire safety requirements and your insurance company’s fire alarm requirements.

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Top Ten Ways to Prevent Shoplifting

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Shoplifting. It may seem like an innocent crime, but it’s costing retailers nearly 11 billion dollars in loss every year. Some of the most common items include clothing, books, music, jewelry, and pretty much anything you can fit in your pocket or purse.

A good video surveillance system can help identify and prosecute a suspect after a theft occurs — but, wouldn’t you like to stop it from happening altogether?

In this video, American Alarm Blogging Team’s Sunny Gault will give you the top 10 ways to help you prevent shoplifting.

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Top 5 Home and Business Security Posts of 2013

/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging Team

top5_american_alarmIt’s the end of the year and time for a look back at the Top 5 Home and Business Security Posts of 2013. This year we saw a focus on keeping homes and valuables safe in the most-read content from our blog. Each post below offers some great tips to add to your calendar as we start a new year. Here’s a look at our top five posts of 2012.

Number 5: Is a Dialer Delay in Your Home Putting You at Risk?

The all-in-one security system is attractive, but many systems include a four-minute notification delay to avoid false alarms. This post explores how thieves can rob you blind in four minutes and why you need to question your alarm company about such a delay.

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4 Tips to Protect Your Retail Business During the Holidays

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

4 Tips to Protect Your Retail Business During the HolidaysThe period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is often the most profitable time of the year for retailers. Unfortunately, it’s also a profitable time for thieves as well.

Of course, you should always pay attention to your business security and thwarting shoplifters, but you need to be extra vigilant during the busiest time of the year.

To help you protect your retail business, we want to offer you four tips courtesy of the Business2Community website to help you protect your business against some of the most common holiday scams.

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Prepare Your Business for Natural Disasters

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Can your business survive a major fire or other natural disaster?

Business Security: Prepare Your Business for Natural Disasters

Unfortunately many companies never open for business again after a hurricane, tornado, fire, flood or other weather-related catastrophe shuts them down — but that doesn’t have to happen to your business.

The key is putting a disaster recovery plan in place – and reviewing it once a year – to protect your employees, customers, your physical assets and your investments.

Here are some tips to help you get started with keeping your business secure in a disaster situation:

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Local Police and American Alarm Working Together to Educate

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

As we move toward a time where safety emergencies are becoming more prevalent, preparing for these events is becoming more important. Coming off the heels of the Boston Marathon bombings, American Alarm teamed with Winchester, MA law enforcement to review precautionary measures that can be taken to help prevent and handle these situations.

LibraryOn Friday, May 17, 2013, American Alarm and the Winchester Police and Fire departments assisted in training the employees at the Winchester library how to react to emergency situations. Among the topics covered were missing children, aggressive and inappropriate behavior of patrons, unattended bags, sexual predators, employee roles and how to better utilize the previously installed security systems.

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Keep your Business Safe and Protected from Premise Liability

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

If you own a business, you know that it’s just not possible to protect everyone’s safety all the time. You also know that for your business to survive and thrive, you have to do everything possible to protect your customers, tenants and employees, as well as reduce the risk of liability on your premises — including installing a business alarm system.

Premise LiabiltyWithout the right security measures in place, if someone gets hurt on your property and sues you, not only will you suffer financial loss, your reputation will also suffer.

There are any number of reasons business owners can be liable for injuries suffered on their premises. For example, if someone slips and falls on wet floors, down stairs, or on ice and snow you neglected to clear off a walkway or driveway — you may be held responsible for any of these injuries.

So what’s a business owner do to to reduce the risk of premises liability?

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Business Security: Common Ploys Used by Shoplifters

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

The fact is that every year businesses lose tens of billions of dollars to shoplifting, and if you’re retailer you’re all too well aware of that painful fact.

Ploys used by ShoplifersFor example, just recently police in Dedham, Mass. were called to a local supermarket by the store’s loss prevention employee who witnessed a woman putting items in her purse and in her cart. Then she tried to leave the store without paying for the merchandise.

Although it’s not possible for you to completely do away with shoplifting, there are ways to prevent shoplifters from taking advantage of a five-finger discount. Read more →

Hotel Security: Safety Tips You May Not Know

/2 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging Team

So if you’re one of the lucky ones going down to New Orleans to cheer on your team in the Super Bowl, or just traveling with the family, choosing a hotel is serious business. This is not the time to be lazy about safety.

hotel-securitySo before you fall into your cozy hotel room bed, take heed of these safety tips from the Independent Traveler and Detective Kevin Coffey, founder of Corporate Travel Safety. Read more →