I had some crack heads break into my office a couple weeks ago. They threw a rock through my sliding glass window and then stole my desktop and my laptop. Man my whole life was on that laptop(and no I didn’t have a backup). Anyway I decided to go with burglar bars instead of alarm for these reasons:
Burglar bars are definetely work as a detterent and crack heads are kinda lazy in the first place so they will see them and just go to the next building that doesn’t have them.
Burglar bars are a one time expense where those alarm companies charge you 20 to 40 bucks a month. Plus if the cops come out more than once or twice, they charge you $50 bucks for false alarms. This really sucks because how do they know that someone wasn’t trying to bust in or not.
It is a office building so fire isn’t a issue because all my staff is awake(at least I hope they are). So if a fire started, you could put it out with the fire extinguishers.
False alarms ruins the quality of your life. Having to go to the office at three o’clock in the morning because a rat set off the alarm.
Even if the alarm did go off, the crack heads would know it would it least take the cops 10 to 15 minutes to respond leaving ample time to take my computers again.
I guess I am posting this to see if my reasoning sounded sound. Because if anybody can poke holes through things, ya’ll can.
My company has had an alarm system in place for about 15 years. It’s gone off 4 times in the past 8 years. Twice, it went off due to a break in. Because the alarm went off, the first break in netted the theif zip. And, on the second, they nearly got caught (since the cop was only a few blocks away), but again, because of the alarm, they were unable to get away with much - specifically, they tried for a computer, but didn’t risk it. Only got an out dated fax machine (ok, and busted my door, too, which meant I had to stay there until daylight when some one could come in and fix the damn thing).
The two other alarms happened, the first we didn’t know why, the second answered that - a bat set off the motion detector (we’ve now fixed that problem).
So, false alarms aren’t a big occurance, if it’s set up correctly ( my dad also had an alarm system, which was ultra sensative and he did in fact have quite a few false alarms, mostly due to wind etc. - but I think it had a noise detector, too maybe)
RE: difference. Bars on the windows, steel doors etc. make me feel “jail” (wonder why?) - as a matter of fact, I insisted on a wooden door again although they kept on telling me ‘steel door’. As a consumer, I’m not thrilled to walk into a place where I feel that way. YMMV.
Bottom line, if some one really wants in to your place, it’s going to happen. Things to think about include: don’t have attractive stuff to steel sitting in the window where folks can walk by and see it. The alarm in my case meant they ran before they had a chance to get anything really good.
Thieves can get in anywhere they want. But the difference is the amount of effort and reward. For a few computers they probably wouldn’t grind off burglar bars. So I saw burglar bars are a better preventive measure than an alarm.
And wring with your job it seems like you would be getting use to those “bars” by now. And it really isn’t like jail you can still get up and get a coke if you want. That really bothered me my senior year when I was thrown in for chopping down the school band stand.
well, we sort of disagree, though, Bill. you see, with the alarm, even tho’ they still got in, the amount of disruption to my office was minimal (in one case, merely had to replace a broken window, and the other, $100 deductable w/insurance). But, that’s because with the alarm going on, they know they have a short amount of time before the cops show up (and, also that sucker is loud it’s difficult to maintain your composure and think rationally while that’s going off).
With the bars on the windows, they may decide there’s really something very worthwhile inside to take, and w/o the alarm, they wouldn’t necessarily worry about the police coming real soon and knowing there was a problem.
RE: getting used to the bars etc. - nope, never do - everytime I hear that clang of the door behind me, I’m happy to remind myself that I get to walk out again in a short amount of time. Last time I was there, they wouldn’t let me take me keys with me. I have to leave my coat in the car (or run the risk like the last time I used one of their lockers, I lost the key and almost had to stay there while they called a locksmith [mini rant]: as if they didn’t have a whole boatload of ‘professional’ locksmiths available [/mini rant]
anyhow, we spend less than $300 per year on the alarm and get a break on our insurance 'cause of it. Check it out with your insurance agent.
It depends on how far away you are from the poliece station I guess, and the type of thief. A good thief would break in so the door only looks like its worn down and would steal something you are unlikely to miss.
Speaking as the condo association president, we have bars only on the ground floor units (of which mine is one). We have an alarm system with sensors on the front & rear main entrances. When you come in, you have to punch in a code within 60 seconds (I suppose this would not be relevent for a business, but I guess you can think of a condo as a business that is always closed). There are motion sensors on the roof (cuz you can hop from roof to roof in my area) and on the fire escape. The only real inconvenience is when the wind blows something onto the fire escape and we get a false alarm (the police charge us $50 a pop for those unless somebody has the presence of mind to look out their window, realize what caused the alarm & go to the alarm panel to punch in the cancel code.)
This is the best of both I think. Keep the ugly bars on the lowest level, and use electronics on the upper levels where it’s harder to break in so thieves are less likely to try (unless they just happen to be carrying a ladder around with them).
The bars make me feel totally safe. In fact I often keep the inside front & back door open in the summer to get cross ventilation. I figure that if somebody is so determined to get into my place that they are willing to hacksaw through heavy iron bars, a glass pane door isn’t going to stop them either.
And it really isn’t like jail you can still get up and get a coke if you want. That really bothered me my senior year when I was thrown in for chopping down the school band stand.