Many studies indicated that burglars are 3 times more likely to break into a house without an alarm. That is why police advocate the installation of an alarm system to help deter crime. Understand your burglar alarm system design and work with professionals to implement an alarm system that works.
So in designing your burglar alarm system, what are the consideration and how do one go about doing this. Let us help you through this design stage and give you some useful tips.
Scope of Protection
Should you protect every window and door on every floor? Or is protecting the first floor enough?
Here we recommend that you contact our qualified burglar alarm professional. We will perform a Threat and Vulnerability Risk Assessment. This is to help you audit and assess the risks, and we will suggest the appropriate measures to take.
We will consider the probable risk and likelihood of an intrusion. And the lifestyle and convenience of the end-users.
For example, if you prefer to sleep with an open window, we may look for other ways to protect that window. Invisible grills or curtain motion sensors could be a better alternative.
Alarm Zones Numbering
Alarm zoning follows the natural division of the house such as living, dining or kitchen. In designing the security system, we will first divide the premises into these Alarm Zones. This is to enable the police to locate the area should a security breach occur.
On your layout plan, we will mark out the area of concern and assign zone numbers to them. We numbered them from the front to the back, and from outside to inside. Where possible, we want to maintain a natural flow and the zone numbering should be intuitive. So starting from the front, the front door maybe Zone 1. The Living Room maybe Zone 2 etc.
Alarm Zone Types
Once we have zoned the premises, we need to decide how the burglar alarm should respond when there is a breach. Should a breach of the zone always sound like a siren and alert the police? Should there be different priorities assigned for different zones?
We take into consideration the users’ preference in programming the burglar alarm system. And we grouped the alarm zones into different zone types.
There are 3 types of Alarm Zones. They are
- Perimeter Zone Type
- Interior Zone Type
- Emergency Zone Type
Perimeter Zone Type
Perimeter Zones covers all those areas where an intruder can enter. This would include any windows, doors, or perimeter walls. When you activate and arm the alarm system, any breach of the windows or doors will generate an alarm.
Interior Zone Type
Interior Zones covers areas inside the premises. These areas use Motion Sensor to detect burglary. Areas would include the living room, dining room, kitchen, stairways or passageways. Interior zones can also include internal doors.
Interior Zones are only armed and active when the user selects full system arming. This is for the situation where no one is in such as when everyone leaves for work or holidays.
If the user is in the house and he wants to move around without tripping the alarm, he can select partial arming. All the Interior Zones remain unarmed.
Emergency Zone Type
Emergency Zones include sensors like Panic buttons and Fire Detectors. These devices will generate an alarm whether the alarm system is armed or not.
Alarm Zone Response
Different zone types elicit different responses from Monitoring companies. Emergency Zone types are “Top Priority” Alarms. Monitoring Companies will activate the Police for Fire, Medical and Panic Alarms. Unless the users have given a different prior instruction.
Perimeter Zone type is “Second Priority” Alarms. Monitoring Companies may verify with the user before activating the Police.
Interior Zone types are “Third Priority” Alarms. Monitoring Companies will seek users to verify before activating the Police.
Note that these are generalisation and monitoring companies may have different operational procedures. Do check with them to understand better.
