ADT Monitored Home Security System or CCTV Surveillance Camera System. Which is More Effective?
The question every security system specialist in the industry is constantly faced with is whether a customer should opt to install a surveillance camera system or go with a monitored home security system. Of course the obvious answer would be that the consumer should see both as a priority and should choose to install both the burglar alarm as well as the CCTV camera system. In fact today Honeywell makes an module which interconnects your CCTV system to your burglar alarm system so that in the event of a burglar alarm activation, the CCTV system would immediately send you an email and images to any Blackberry type phone service. But in the real world we know that not everyone can afford to install both a camera system and a monitored home alarm. So it leaves the question of, if I have to choose one, which should I choose? It is definitely a difficult question because of how highly effective yet very different from each other these two systems are. So in order to make a more educated decision we will look at how each of these security choices can make a difference in providing the sense of security we each need.
The first choice to consider is purchasing a CCTV surveillance camera system. Anyones first reaction might be to conclude that although a CCTV system is great to have it really is an ineffective way to catch anyone breaking into your house. However the opposite is true, and the following true story will prove just how effective a CCTV system. About a year ago a homeowner in the city of Miami was burglarized and through the help of the CCTV system, the police authorities were able to apprehend the intruder. It just so happened that the burglarized home was equipped with a CCTV system that was capable of recording more than a week of activity in its digital recorder. Several days after the burglary took place the homeowner was once again reviewing the recorded incident and noticed that the intruder was wearing a ID necklace which had a logo of a major fitness gym on it. The homeowner advised the police detective handling the case to follow up on the possible lead and shortly after the intruder was apprehended at a nearby gym where he worked as a sales clerk. It turns out that he would approach homes in the neighborhood with the gym ID on pretending to be soliciting people for gym memberships and if no one was home he would go around back and proceed with unlawfully entering the home. This is just one of many examples of how useful having a CCTV system in your home can be. As far as cost effectiveness is concerned, a CCTV system does have a large up front cost, however it has no monthly payment attached to it.
The other and more popular choice in protecting your home is to install an ADT monitored home security system. It is a proven fact that monitored home security systems reduce the probability of a break in by as much as 70%. If your intention is to simply deter a burglar from breaking into your home, then a CCTV system would probably be a better choice, but if your main concern is to prevent anyone from actually entering your home and taking something then a monitored alarm is the way to go. Although it is great to be able to see exactly what happened and be able to possibly identify an intruder who has broken into your home, some would say it is better to scare off the intruder with a loud sounding siren and the knowledge that police authorities are on their way.
So in conclusion, if you can afford to get both , that is the far wiser choice, but if you have to choose one then consider what is more important to you, seeing what is going on or not seeing anything but making it impossible to clean you out. You choose!
