Police in Boston may soon be sporting new technology. A proposal from the citizen group, Boston Police Camera Action Team, would require all on-duty officers to wear a video camera on their shirt collars. This proposal comes after major cities across the country have participated in pilot programs to test the effectiveness of body cameras. These programs have emerged in response to public outcry over police-involved shootings nationwide.
As an integrated part of your home security system, affordable video surveillance cameras offer you another line of defense against crime.
Security/surveillance cameras let you to monitor the interior and/or exterior of your home–in real-time, day or night. You may choose to access video feed from any computer in your home, or opt for the convenience of remote video access. This feature allows you to securely log-in and view your cameras video feed from your smartphone or tablet.
The proper placement of security cameras is essential to your home protection. Here are five of the best places to install cameras on your property: Read more →
Birthdays are supposed to be happy occasions: cake, balloons, and the company of close friends. However, for one Stamford man late last year, $100 in birthday cash led to a very strange series of events.
According to Lohud, it all started when the autistic man received $100 for his birthday. He was quickly befriended by 27 year-old Steven St. Jacques, also of Stamford, who played a “game” with the victim, which involved taking the money and then pretending to put it back into the man’s pocket. Police posted security footage of the event on YouTube and later arrested St. Jacques at his home, where they recovered clothing matching that worn by the suspect in the video. The victim was presented with a new gift: $1300 collected by the police union.
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.
As a leading provider of home alarm systems, we’ve written a lot about things you can do to ensure the safety and security anyone living with you – and, of course, yourself. Everything we do is focused on helping you protect your family and your home in the event of an emergency or natural disaster — but what about your furry, four-legged family members? Don’t forget to take them into consideration when you develop your family’s emergency preparedness plan.
We offer you five tips, some of which are courtesy of The Humane Society of The United States, to protect your pets in emergencies and natural disasters:
The business security system market will show strong growth in 2014, driven by access management and video, according to James Cook, sales manager for American Alarm.
The Boston Marathon bombings demonstrated the importance of video cameras, as we mention in a recent blog post. Investigators used video from a number of businesses in the Copley Square area to identify Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who are suspected of the bombings.
The need to manage access to buildings via video surveillance systems and alarm systems that include enhanced access control is being driven in large part by the school shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut as well as other schools across the country, Cook says.
Video surveillance systems are quickly becoming key components of both business and home security strategies — a trend that will expand into 2014.
For business owners, incorporating IP video surveillance into your business security system can play multiple roles when it comes to protecting your company’s assets.
With a high-quality business video surveillance system, you can see what’s happening inside your store at any given time, and trained personnel can keep and eye out for potential shoplifters. If you catch a criminal, your video surveillance system can give you evidence you need to hand over to police.
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.
What goes on inside the mind of a burglar? For many of us, the thought process of someone willing to break into our homes are a dark place that we would prefer to avoid dwelling on — but for those in the security and law enforcement sectors, understanding a burglar’s motivations are a key component of protecting individuals and businesses from being victimized. A recent report from the Alarm Industry Research & Educational Foundation (AIREF) sheds some light on why criminals chose specific locations to rob, what keeps them away from others, and the techniques that they employ while breaking the law.
One of the key findings of the study is one that shouldn’t surprise any home or business owner who has invested in a high quality alarm system: a full 83 percent of the roughly 400 incarcerated burglars made sure to check for the presence of a security system before they broke into a building. In fact, more than half elected to move on to a ‘softer’ target once they realized that they were dealing with an alarm, underscoring the deterrent power of this form of precaution. Even among those who discovered a location was protected by an alarm in the midst of their break-in, its presence was enough to cause 50 percent to immediately cease and desist their crime.
The last thing you want to worry about when you put your home up for sale is whether some thief is going to rip you off while you’re showing your home.
Although protecting your home and your valuables is something that you have to consider when you list your home for sale, there are some common-sense steps you can take to keep from being burglarized when you put it on the market.
