How to Keep your Business Secure and Prevent Employee Theft

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Preventing employee theft used to only involve stopping a worker from walking out with your goods or helping himself to the money in the cash register. Take, for example, a recent incident at the Home Depot in Watertown, Mass., as reported in the Watertown Patch.

Employee Theft

Home Depot security officers, who suspected an employee of stealing, caught him allegedly grabbing a $100 bill from the register and putting it in his apron. After he was arrested, the suspect admitted to taking approximately $5,000 in cash over five or six weeks.

While this type of theft still clearly occurs, times have changed, and employees have turned to more sophisticated ways to steal everything from merchandise to data from their employers.

Here are a few old school and cutting-edge ways to prevent your employees from stealing from your business;

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Home Security: Protect Your Car While It’s Parked in Your Driveway

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

If you think your car is safe parked in your own driveway – think again.

Recently, a man in Waltham, Massachusetts was arrested for allegedly trying to steal another car and its contents, according to the Waltham Patch.

car-thiefPolice arrested the man after they caught him fiddling around under the dashboard of a car while it was parked in the driveway of a home — and this car was allegedly not his only target. Waltham Police Sgt. Joseph Guigno credits “good old fashioned police work” in apprehending this man — but what steps could have been taken to catch this criminal sooner?
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Home Security: Safety Tips while On Vacation

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Spring vacation is just around the corner, and keeping your home safe and secure is a full-time job no matter how far away your travels might take you. Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean that local thieves and burglars have also decided to take some time off — in fact, a significant number of houses are targeted because their owners are out of the area and they have been marked as an easy score.

Spring Vacation

Don’t worry — there are a number of ways you can make your home a less appealing choice for burglars even when you can’t be around. Let’s take a look at a few easy ways to keep thieves from ruining your relaxed state of mind after you’ve come home from vacation.

Below we outline our top 3 tips to keep your home safe while on vacation:

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Home Video Security: UPS Driver Caught Stealing FedEx Package

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

The importance of installing a home video security system was highlighted recently as a UPS driver was caught stealing a package from a customer’s door step. The driver made his delivery and left with a package sent earlier by another carrier. Luckily, the front and back doors were secured with video surveillance systems, catching the thief in the act.

As you watch the video proof below, know that the front and back doors are crucial places to set up residential video surveillance systems. With cameras positioned in these high-traffic areas, thieves are deterred and any intruders will be visible and captured on the surveillance system as evidence. With modern technology, video security systems can be accessed remotely, ensuring you’re always in the loop. Stay tuned for a follow-up blog post on how you can further protect yourself when packages are delivered by a carrier.

Holiday Home Security and Safety Series: Thanksgiving Away-From-Home Safety

/6 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Crime doesn’t take a break for the holidays.

In fact, statistics show most burglaries are residential (74.5% of all burglaries in 2011, according to the FBI), and incidences of these crimes spike during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. The fact that people are away from home, coupled with a struggling economy and the desire for money for holiday shopping, contribute to the increase in property crimes.

That’s why we at American Alarm encourage you to take extra steps to ensure your home is secure during the holiday season, particularly if you’re traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday. Read more →

What to Do After a Break-In Occurs at Your Home

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

A break-in is one of a homeowner’s worst nightmares. Arriving home to find your belongings strewn across the floor and your valuables missing can leave you feeling afraid and angry. It shatters your sense of security. Also, it might take a long time – if at all – before you ever feel safe in your home again.

As we mention in our previous post, “10 Tips to Prevent Home Break-Ins,” 73.9% of the 2,159,878 burglaries committed in 2010 were residential property burglaries, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

While the first line of defense is prevention, not every break-in is avoidable. That’s why you should have a plan in place in case one does occur. If you are the victim of a home break-in, you’ll probably go into shock and be unable to make clear decisions. Having a plan at hand can help you and your family members through this frightening time. Read more →

10 Tips to Help Prevent Home Break-Ins

/1 Comment/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Take a look at recent police incident reports. Including ones right in your town. They are featured on the Police and Fire Logs posted in many places including Patch.com. You’ll see many reports of home break-ins.

In just one week, police in Easton, MA received calls about an individual who broke into a garage and stole a wallet from a vehicle as well as another thief who broke into a house and stole a video game system. In late August, three separate break-ins were reported, two occurred in the afternoon and the third in the early evening.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2010 there were approximately 2,159,878 burglaries – 60.5% of those burglaries involved forcible entry. Residential property burglaries accounted for 73.9% of all offenses. Read more →

Untested Alarm System Costs Siskiyou County $3 Million

/2 Comments/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Is your burglar alarm system programmed with a communication timer test?

Just ask officials at the Siskiyou County Courthouse in California, who were shocked to discover that the failure of the security system protecting $3 million in gold resulted in a clean getaway for the thieves who simply smashed a hole in the glass case protecting the historical artifacts and grabbed everything they could.

The gold nuggets had been a theft target once before in 1979, when the silent alarm functioned as intended and the would-be marauders were apprehended roughly a block away from the courthouse with the illicit wares in their possession. This time, however, the vibration alarm that was meant to protect the irreplaceable gold nuggets – some of which date back to the town’s founding – did not respond at all. A town spokesperson stated that the system had been properly armed, and that the county was working with its security provider to get to the bottom of the glitch.

Perhaps the most telling aspect of the sad story surrounding the Siskiyou gold is a footnote at the bottom of the article that mentions an annual security alarm test schedule. According to the Courthouse, the last test occurred in August of 2011, nearly seven months before the February theft.

There is an important lesson that business and property owners can learn from the tragic tale of the Siskiyou theft, and that is that it’s not enough to rely on a single alarm system test every 12 months. So much can happen within a year’s time, especially in a heavily-trafficked space such as a courthouse or a retail space, that it really becomes necessary to perform an alarm system test at least once per quarter, if not once per month.

American Alarm programs a timer test with its business security systems that can send communications weekly or daily, depending on the type of signals being monitored. If our central station operators do not receive a signal, we contact the owner immediately to determine the cause of the missed communication, and find a solution to the issue.

It costs nothing to make sure that your alarm system is functioning up to spec – what’s  the price tag of not knowing? In the case of Siskiyou County, the figure would seem to be $3 million.

Business Security Tips to Prevent Robbery at Your Place of Work

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Robbery, as other crimes against business, is most often a crime of opportunity. But, according to the Boston Police Department, there are extra precautions you can take to keep the bad guys at bay.

To prevent a robbery:

  • Don’t put any signs or posters on your front doors and windows to ensure you have good two-way visibility. That way your employees can see any people who are acting suspiciously outside and passers-by can see what’s going on inside;
  • Be sure the outside of your business is well lit at night;
  • Use video surveillance and post a sign letting people know you use it. Use cameras and/or mirrors so you can observe your entire store;
  • Greet everyone who enters your business. Pay close attention to people pretending to be customers. These individuals will be loitering or glancing around your store while they pretend to shop or browse through magazines;
  • If you see something suspicious report it to the police. Your local police department may have knowledge of other robberies that are similar to what you’re reporting;
  • Be sure to lock your side and back doors. If it’s possible, ask your employees to use the main entrance;
  • Place markers at the entrance that employees can use to help determine the height of a robber as he leaves;
  • Make bank deposits as often as possible, but at least once a day.


The Boston Police Department also has some tips to keep you safe during a robbery:

  • Try to stay calm;
  • Don’t make any sudden movements to upset the robber;
  • Do as exactly what the robber tells you to do. Don’t resist;
  • Try to get a good look at the robber so that you can describe him to police later;
  • Notice the direction the robber traveled when he left your store;
  • If you can do it without putting yourself in danger, try and get a description of the robber’s vehicle.


After the robbery:

  • Call the police immediately after the robbery, even if you’ve already activated your alarm;
  • Go outside when the police arrive so they’ll know the robber has left and you’re safe;
  • Don’t touch anything that the robber may have touched so police can identify his fingerprints;
  • Ask any witnesses to stay or get their names and telephone numbers so police can contact them;
  • Don’t tell anyone except the police how much money was taken.

Remember, no business is too small for a business security system. Today, a good business security system should include a business video surveillance system, which can send out digital alerts to automatically notify the authorities as soon as suspicious behavior is detected in or around your business. And that means police officers and private security guards are often able to catch those bad guys before they do any damage.

In the words of Ben Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Break-ins Pile Up In Newton and Carlisle

/by American Alarm Blogging Team

Two Massachusetts municipalities have suffered through a recent spike in break-ins and robberies – and thieves have made off with items ranging from laptops and iPods all the way up to professional business equipment. Even more worrisome are cases where break-ins are reported but no theft has occurred, causing residents to fear the true intentions of those involved.

The incidents, which have been piling up in Newton and Carlisle, should remind homeowners and business proprietors of the importance of protecting their properties – and families – from intrusions by installing high quality burglar alarm systems that can serve as deterrents to potential thieves. Read more →