I've never had a false alarm (or a positive alarm for that matter). But I would like to think about what to do if my alarm were to go off in the middle of the night sometime. Sure, it's easy to say call 911 (USA), but something in me still says I need more verification. I would hate to call the police out to my house because a bottle fell off the top of my refrigerator in my garage and broke, setting off the glass break. Or maybe I forget to deadbolt a door and it swings open in the middle of the night. OK, it's better to be safe than sorry, so I guess I should just call 911, but the male in me isn't sure that's the complete answer. How many of you are green berets/navy seals and you actually look through the house first? I'm neither of those. I'm a middle aged, overweight computer geek with a wife and five year old daughter. So, should I just get over myself and tell everyone in the house that if the alarm ever goes off, the first thing to do is call the police?
What do you do when your alarm goes off in the middle of the night?
- Thread starter MrGibbage
- Start date
I think my first inclination would be to just listen. I've never had a break in while I was home, but it seems to me they would make enough noise for me to tell if it's a false alarm or not. If I heard nothing in the house itself I would then creep partway down the stairs and listen more to see if someone was in the garage.
I did have a break in while I was away, so now I have cameras, so if I heard something now I would fire up the laptop and check my cameras.
Matt
I did have a break in while I was away, so now I have cameras, so if I heard something now I would fire up the laptop and check my cameras.
Matt
In my case grab the 40 and go trough the house, chances are if it was an attempt of break in; the alarm will scare them away.
Sacedog
Active Member
Ditto, but a 45. I had a false alarm about 7 years ago, and my first instinct was to get out the pistol in the gun vault in the nightstand. After turning off the alarm, I then stayed in the bedroom and listened for quite some time (was probably only a couple of minutes, but it felt like longer at the time). When I heard no noise, I then proceded to check the house.
Things are a lot different now that I have kids. I still keep a pistol in a gun vault, but I would be a lot more likely to go directly to the kids rooms at the expense of my own safety. I would not, however, suggest wielding a pistol with others in the house, unless you have had the proper training, and are very clear about your fields of fire.
I think the best advice is to listen, and call 911. Better to get a small charge for a false alarm (our city now charges $150 after 3 false alarms in a 12-month period).
PaulD
Active Member
If you have a system that can do it, suggest the first thing is to have the system turn on all the lights. If you have an intruder who did not flee at the alarm, the lights should startle them and cause them to make some noise...hopefully on the way out. If they don't flee, I would rather be in a well lit house so I could see what was going on around me rather than start roaming around in the dark looking to see what was happening.
RAM
Active Member
I agree with PaulD. Turn on all the lights you can. I'm sure most bad guys will not stay around a fully lit house.
I don't have a full fledged security system, but do have some door and motion sensors that will turn on a lot of lights and a siren when tripped after we have retired for the night.
I don't have a full fledged security system, but do have some door and motion sensors that will turn on a lot of lights and a siren when tripped after we have retired for the night.
BraveSirRobbin
Moderator
I have the automation system also tell me which zone was violated.
Get the kids in one room and call 911, no question. Ask any cop if he would clear his own house and I would bet the answer is no. I took a defense class last summer that had a session on break-in and home invasions. They told us that the bad guys like to work in teams of 3, two that break in and one that waits on the outside. If his buddies don't come out in a given time, the 3rd comes in armed and ready to shoot. If you pop the bad guy, the minimum out of pocket starts at about $10k in legal fees and goes up from there, even if you are in the clear.
I'll pay the $150 for a false alarm all day long.
I'll pay the $150 for a false alarm all day long.
If Elk would get on the ball with an RF Keypad that works with the M1 this would be possible. It could replace my alarm clock.
Also,
If you pop the bad guy (and friends) he (they) don't come back to do it again to you or anyone else.
Steve
Senior Member
There will be as many opinions on this as in which lighting technology is best, not everyone will agree. Sometimes if I just hear a noise and the alarm wasn't tripped I will just check the place out as its 99% nothing. If the alarm were to trip over night, it will be in Night Instant mode, the sirens will sound immediately, the lights inside and out will come on, the strobe will blink and the CS dialed immediately. Probably would also follow that with a manual call to 911 if in the middle of the night. The weapon would also come out immediately while enroute to kids rooms. If there was an intruder encountered on the way, you better believe there will be a 'pop' as long as there was a clear shot without endangering family. If the third guy was really stupid enough to come in after his buddies with lights on, sirens going and gunshot fired then he would have to be better than me or he would go down too. But I think most of them would just run to save their own sorry ass. And I've been told by many cops if there is an intruder in your own house and you pop them, case closed, self defense EVEN if they are shot in the back. Studies have shown that even if you are facing a perp face to face and you decide to shoot, if the perp decides to run by the time your decision gets to your trigger finger the perp could have turned his back to run but by that time your decision and action to shoot has been completed and it end up with the perp shot in the back even though he may have been face to face with you when you elected to shoot. The way things are these days I think the law is on your side as long as you are in your own house protecting your own family. Almost everyone I talk to that owns a firearm says that if they encounter a perp in their house they shoot to kill, no questions asked. Dead morons can't talk. Of course I hope and pray that neither myself or any of you are ever in this type of situation.
The couple of times the alarm has gone off, the phone was ringing within 15 seconds (we have cellular monitoring) from the cs company. They know where it's been violated and ask if we want the police called. We already knew where it was violated because the Elk announced the location and we have a keypad in the bedroom upstairs. Since the violation was the upper sash of a window in the garage, I was confident it was a false alarm. We have triple-pane hurricane impact windows with panes about 8"x10". You need a sledge hammer to get through impact glass, plus a razor to cut the plastic sheet between the panes. You would definitely hear that happening. However, I can't see into the garage from inside the house without opening the interior door. I did open it anyway, and saw it was a sensor error. The cs stayed on the phone while I checked. I armed the alarm again and it tripped a few minutes later. Since this wasn't a bypassable zone, I went into RP and disabled the zone and replaced the sensor the next day.
In retrospect, I realized the error in opening a door into an area that might have an intruder. Not the smartest move. Since then, I've added a camera to the garage interior. I haven't yet installed the touchscreens in the wall, but I have a laptop upstairs that I can bring up in a few seconds to view what's on the camera.
If I couldn't view the area safely, I would now not hesitate to have the cs company call the sheriff. In discussions with some deputies, they don't have any problem responding to an alarm where there are occupants at home.
Kevin
In retrospect, I realized the error in opening a door into an area that might have an intruder. Not the smartest move. Since then, I've added a camera to the garage interior. I haven't yet installed the touchscreens in the wall, but I have a laptop upstairs that I can bring up in a few seconds to view what's on the camera.
If I couldn't view the area safely, I would now not hesitate to have the cs company call the sheriff. In discussions with some deputies, they don't have any problem responding to an alarm where there are occupants at home.
Kevin
One additional note about shooting an intruder. I'm not an attorney, but there is the Castle Doctrine that usually protects the homeowner from prosecution. If it came to protecting my family, I'd like to think I'd pull the trigger and worry about the consequences later.
I would think it is better to call 911 yourself, rather than let the alarm company do it, you can probably provide the dispatcher more information than they can. Also, please put the gun away before the police arrive. They don't want to be met at the door by a guy holding a pistol (it's happened to me).
