Protecting Your Home with Your Car Alarm

Crime is, and always has been, a fact of life. In some ways dealing with crime is similar to an escalating arms race between the the criminals and their potential victims. We employ better and better security and they develop new techniques to overcome our security systems and break into our homes. Things like strong doors, good locks, outdoor lighting at night are simple, cost effective and fairly effective for protecting against the garden variety criminal.

However, as we deploy ever more sophisticated security systems the cost, in both dollars and freedom, increases. Bars on windows, help keep crooks out but, in addition to the financial cost, make it more difficult to escape ourselves in case of fire. And so it goes.

I recently received an email from a friend - one of those advice emails that people are encouraged to forward on indefinitely with some practical advice.

Car theft being a problem, more and more cars are coming equipped with an alarm system. In a many places they are so common and are set off accidentally so frequently that I sometimes doubt their effectiveness as a good deterrent. However, regardless of whether most people pay attention to them when they go off in shopping mall parking lots, it has to be unnerving for the average car thief, who is nervous to begin with, to have this going off while he is trying to do his work. Since there are probably more run of the mill thief who are easily spooked than professionals, I suppose the alarm systems do provide an acceptable level of protection. The suggestion in this email was that for people who park their cars in a garage or carport attached to the home or in the driveway next to the house to keep their car keys near by and at night, keep them on the night stand next to the bed. In this way if you hear someone trying to break in, you can press the panic button on the electronic door key to set off the car alarm. Of course to be effective, the car has to be close enough to the house to be within range of the electronic key.

In a residential area, a car alarm going off in the middle of the night is bound to attract attention, if only to bring out angry neighbors upset over having their sleep disturbed. It is also sure to spook most thief's when an alarm starts blaring, breaking the silence of the night which the thief is counting on as part of his cover. The beauty of this idea is that, since the car alarm is already paid for, you, in effect, get nighttime alarm coverage at no extra cost beyond having to remember to place your car keys on your nightstand before going to bed. Of course, day time coverage is limited to the times you and the car are at home so this idea does nothing to protect your possessions while you are away from home. However, the system does give you an added layer of protection when you and your family are at home and your personal safety is at stake.