One of the main selling points of electronic home security is around-the-clock professional monitoring. It is often said that professional monitoring reduces response times during an emergency. But is that really true? Though actual study data remains elusive, the consensus among experts is that professional monitoring does reduce response times in most cases.
It must be made clear that response time does not refer to when first responders arrive on the scene. It refers to the amount of time it takes to make a decision and contact local authorities. In other words, the time it takes to assess a situation and make contact. As for when first responders arrive on scene, everything from traffic to distance impacts it. There is not much monitoring can do to change that.
Professional Monitoring: The Basic Premise
The premise of professional home security monitoring is pretty simple. According to Vivint Home Security, a customer’s system is connected to a remote monitoring center via the internet or cellular signals. Whenever the system sends an alert, monitoring personnel are notified within seconds. It is up to the person handling the alert to assess the situation in real time.
Monitoring personnel utilize a variety of tools and training protocols to figure out what is going on. They need to determine whether they are looking at a genuine emergency or a false alarm. Thanks to their training, it doesn’t take long. Most assessments take less than a minute. Then what?
The monitoring professional will always try to contact the homeowner. If no genuine emergency exists, no call will be made to the local authorities. But if the assessment reveals a true emergency in progress, monitoring personnel will contact local authorities irrespective of whether they can reach the homeowner. This part is critical.
The sooner local authorities are notified, the sooner they can begin their response. So imagine an alert that is assessed and acted upon in 30 seconds. That means half-a-minute after the alert is generated, local first responders are springing to action. Do homeowners who choose to self-monitor get such quick responses?
Why Quick Responses Matter
If your home isn’t equipped with a security system, maybe none of this matters to you. But it is critically important to homeowners whose properties are protected with electronic home security. Response times matter because seconds can mean the difference between minimizing the damage and looking at a total loss.
A burglar’s goal is to get in and out of the house as quickly as possible. The best among them need only a few minutes. That means local police do not have a lot of time to get there. Firefighters are in a similar position. A fire can remain small enough to control within the first few minutes. But once it begins to spread, it spreads very quickly. Seconds are precious when it comes to fighting fires.
Average Response Times Are Pretty Impressive
So how fast are response times when professionally monitored? Though I couldn’t find any concrete numbers, I did run across some interesting estimates:
- Burglary – 5-30 seconds
- Fire Alarm – 10-30 seconds
- Medical Alert – 5-20 seconds
- Environmental Alert – 30-60 seconds
An environmental alert relates to something like carbon monoxide or flood. Not everyone monitors for these things, though they really should. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer that claims too many lives every year. As for flood, it only takes a little bit of water to completely devastate a home.
Professional home security monitoring does reduce response times. The reason is clear enough: professionally trained monitoring personnel are always paying attention. They act on alerts within seconds. It’s just that simple.