“Five minute proofing” is the single most effective tactic to reduce your risk of loss in a burglary in either your home or business.
One of the simplest ways to five minute proof is to ensure that the delay time for your alarm system is as short as it can be. Ideally, your delay time should never be longer than 10 seconds.
I was at a client’s office today where we were looking for options for how to secure a back door that the client wants to use as the primary access point for staff. The challenge was that the alarm control panel and telephone lines are located very close to that back door. Any delay time given, even 10 seconds, might be enough for a crook to get to the control panel and disable the alarm before a signal was sent.
The solution we suggested is one that we often use for commercial offices… put the alarm keypad OUTSIDE of the door in the common hallway. This way, users will disarm the alarm BEFORE they unlock and open the door.
Doing so allows the door to be programmed as an instant zone, meaning that the alarm will trip the second that the door is opened.
As we explained to this client, the risk of placing the keypad outside is simply that it might be damaged… requiring replacement. However, unless you have a valid user code, trying to ‘hack’ into the alarm system using the keypad is akin to expecting to copy files from a computer by taking a hammer to the keyboard: it just won’t work.
To increase security, we can limit the number of times that someone can enter an incorrect code on the keypad to discourage tampering. We can also place a contact on the keypad itself so that as soon as someone tries to remove it, an alarm signal will be sent to our 24/7 Operations Centre in Kerrisdale.
Of course, to maximize the level of security we always recommend that a BLINK mesh radio be installed. BLINK offers the fastest possible alarm signal transmission, more than 10 times faster than a telephone line. If your office or home is West of Oak Street, BLINK transmission times are typically less than 1 second.
Click here to view a 2 1/2 minute video that explains how BLINK works.
BLINK ensures that an alarm signal will be sent, and received in our Operations Centre, well before even the fastest crook could make it to the alarm panel or telephone lines.
Coupling BLINK with several “five minute proofing” strategies, such as eliminating your entry delay, will substantially reduce your risk of loss in a burglary.