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Excaliber wrote:As always, everyone should always do what works best for them and their situation.

One school of thought supports programming the panic button to send a silent alarm. The thought here is that it can be used in a duress situation where someone is forced to turn off their alarm without notifying the bad guy about what you've done, because he might take offense at that. It also doesn't interfere with communications between residents or residents and police during the police response. For those reasons I subscribe to that approach.

With my background in interacting with the folks that commit home invasions, I wouldn't count on them being scared off by noise. It might happen, but it quite likely won't. I'll get the point across with a verbal warning if there is time and a tactical situation that allows it, but I want to maintain an environment that allows me to communicate readily and clearly with police, and that allows everything that happens to be recorded accurately on the 911 tape to eliminate he said / she said discussions during the after incident investigation.

Absolutely. The audible alarm is just one of many layers of security. And it's something that can be done even when someone is attempting entry (I'm planning on reinforcing my strike plate). It's obviously not something I'm completely relying on. In fact, if I didn't press the panic button, the alarm would sound anyways due to the door opening.

If I were forced to disable the alarm under duress, my alarm system also has a duress PIN that will disable the alarm and indicate to the monitoring company that police need to be dispatched. Also any "safe word" other than the correct one will cause them to dispatch.

Another layer of my security would be the fact that I'm on the 3rd floor of an apartment building. There are so many "easier" targets that I'm less likely to be the subject of a random break-in. That also means that there is only one way in and one way out, so an intruder has fewer options, and I only have to focus on the front door when it comes to fortification.

My most likely break-in scenario would probably be targeted and during the day-time. Although I don't bring over a lot of guests. I really need to find a few good spots to put cameras though.

Excaliber wrote:

carlson1 wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

mr1337 wrote:For me, I'd grab my Glock 19 that is staged on a holster attached to the bed while my wife pushes the panic button for the monitored alarm system. Then, we close the bedroom door (if able) and hunker down in the walk-in closet. The door frame of the closet provides cover that I can peek out from. The floor plan is situated that in order to get to the bedroom door, they will be putting themselves at considerable risk because there's a hallway. There's nowhere for them to hide if they decide to open the door.

It's just me and the wife, so no reason to go out looking for any invaders.

It's best to only use the panic button if there's no time to do anything else. It doesn't provide any info other than someone is calling for help, and introduces the extra delay of the alarm company dispatcher calling 911 with no detailed info.

It's far better to call 911, take the phone with you into the closet, and stay on the line with the dispatcher to give real time updates like your position in the home, what you're hearing or seeing, details on the offenders, etc.. You'll get a much faster and more targeted response and you'll have much less chance of being mistaken for the bad guy.

I am not for sure what my company does if you push the "panic button" which is actually 4 buttons. I have accidently and it takes them several minutes to even respond to ask if everything is alright. I have had them call my cell to see if I knew my alarm went off after I had been home 15 minutes. As soon as this contract is up (2 1/2 months) I will be looking for new monitoring service.

As far as the home invasion (if no children or grandchildren spending the night) we will call 911 and stay in the bedroom and pray hard for them that they do kick in that door.

Even if the alarm company calls within 15 seconds (time is dependent on activity level at that moment):

- You've lost 15 seconds, as well as the time it takes them to relay the call to 911 - that's a lot of time that would better have been used getting help on the way with a direct call to 911

- The alarm company will only relay their understanding of what you told them, and even that is only a snapshot in time. Things change quickly during home invasions.

- The alarm company can't answer a dispatcher's questions about your situation. You can.

A direct call to 911 is still the way to go. You need to be in direct and continuous contact with the 911 dispatcher during the police response. The panic button is for use when you can't reach a phone or talk.

Your alarm company should also be instructed to call 911 immediately without a confirming call to you when the panic button is pressed. These are rarely false alarms, particularly in the case of equipment that requires pushing two buttons at once.

The panic button is primarily to get the alarm sounding as quickly as possible to try to deter the criminal while we get in a safer position that will allow us to call 911 ourselves. If the alarm doesn't scare the guy away, there's not much that 911 is going to do to help the immediate situation. It allows us to delegate the task of dispatching police while we set ourselves up in a less compromising position, where we would no doubt call 911 so we can have better access to the dispatched units.

I think pressing the panic button is just as important as calling 911 ourselves. It tells the guy that he needs to get out of there quickly, or things are going to be bad for him. And I'd rather him leave as quickly as possible than lie in wait until police show up to force him out. It would also wake up many of my adjacent apartment dweller neighbors.

Also, this panic button is within reaching distance of both myself and my wife while we are in bed. It's not like we have to go out of our way to set the alarm off.

carlson1 wrote:

Excaliber wrote:

mr1337 wrote:For me, I'd grab my Glock 19 that is staged on a holster attached to the bed while my wife pushes the panic button for the monitored alarm system. Then, we close the bedroom door (if able) and hunker down in the walk-in closet. The door frame of the closet provides cover that I can peek out from. The floor plan is situated that in order to get to the bedroom door, they will be putting themselves at considerable risk because there's a hallway. There's nowhere for them to hide if they decide to open the door.

It's just me and the wife, so no reason to go out looking for any invaders.

It's best to only use the panic button if there's no time to do anything else. It doesn't provide any info other than someone is calling for help, and introduces the extra delay of the alarm company dispatcher calling 911 with no detailed info.

It's far better to call 911, take the phone with you into the closet, and stay on the line with the dispatcher to give real time updates like your position in the home, what you're hearing or seeing, details on the offenders, etc.. You'll get a much faster and more targeted response and you'll have much less chance of being mistaken for the bad guy.

I am not for sure what my company does if you push the "panic button" which is actually 4 buttons. I have accidently and it takes them several minutes to even respond to ask if everything is alright. I have had them call my cell to see if I knew my alarm went off after I had been home 15 minutes. As soon as this contract is up (2 1/2 months) I will be looking for new monitoring service.

As far as the home invasion (if no children or grandchildren spending the night) we will call 911 and stay in the bedroom and pray hard for them that they do kick in that door.

With mine, you have to hold it for 3 seconds. My alarm company is pretty good on calling within about 15 seconds of the alarm sounding. Being that our "safe room" is the walk-in closet, I suppose I should put one in there as well.

For me, I'd grab my Glock 19 that is staged on a holster attached to the bed while my wife pushes the panic button for the monitored alarm system. Then, we close the bedroom door (if able) and hunker down in the walk-in closet. The door frame of the closet provides cover that I can peek out from. The floor plan is situated that in order to get to the bedroom door, they will be putting themselves at considerable risk because there's a hallway. There's nowhere for them to hide if they decide to open the door.

It's just me and the wife, so no reason to go out looking for any invaders.