This suggests that burglar alarms are a useful deterrent for prospective criminals, but before you rush out and buy a brand new alarm system follow a few of our tips on alarms for your home.

The British Security Industry Association recommends that householders use a professional alarm installation company registered with a police recognised "alarms inspectorate" ICU are inspected by the following

SSAIB Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board

There are a few different types of alarm system. The first, is the traditional "bells only" when professionally fitted by us these alarms cost from £299.00 to install plus an optional £6.25 per month for maintenence.

The second and increasingly more popular option is a "monitored alarm" Monitored alarms are connected to an "alarm receiving centre" where someone will alert the police if an intruder is detected. You can expect to pay from £399.00 to have the alarm installed but there is an additional cost for the monitoring which starts from £15.00 per month for monitoring and maintenance.

The big difference between bells-only alarms and monitored burglar alarms is police response. You need to know that the police will not respond to bells only alarms unless they receive confirmation from you, your family, or someone else nearby, that there is a burglary in progress

Top Technology

Police will respond to a monitored alarm when an alarm-receiving centre notifies them. However, from October 2001 newly installed monitored alarms must also use "confirmation" technology to receive a police response. Here, people at the alarm-receiving centre check using either CCTV (to see an intruder), an audio connection (to hear an intruder) or something called "sequential confirmation". Sequential confirmation sounds complicated, but basically this means detecting an intruder using sensors in a number of different places in or around you home - to spot if someone is moving around.