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Stay Safe Street Tip #36

Alarm Monitoring & Rampant Cockroaches

Good morning Folks. I hope that all are well and staying safe. One of the services that I offer to my friends and clients is  a home and business security survey package. This means that I visit your home and business for a nominal fee, either as a separate service or in conjunction with a CWP package, and analyze the potential for intrusion. This report is supported by photos, a written report and enhancement recommendations. One of the steps that I take to check the safety of you and your family is an alarm test. I have to tell you that the last two alarm tests were really scary. Joe Pine (Suncoast Security -- exclusive distributor for that slick non-wired alarm system that I demonstrate) and I were at TL's. She set off the alarm and we let it run for approximately 90 seconds. We waited for five minutes and no call from the company. She called and was advised that the alarm was not! activated for a long enough period to generate a response! Last week I was at MK's and he set off his alarm at 3PM. The company response was less than a minute. However, neither him nor his wife could remember their password. He spent almost 40 minutes on the phone with the operator, provided information about a relative that was readily available in his address book by the phone and persuaded the operator to change the password to a new password without ever establishing his identity. The police were not dispatched as expected. The correct response should have been to keep him on the phone and dispatch to verify identity. Holy Cow Batman! A lot can happen in 40 minutes. I strongly recommend that you run an unannounced test of your monitored alarm systems and see what happens. If you do not like the results please call me for a recommendation on a more responsive system. Remember that defenses are layered from the outside in but you protect from the inside out! There is an ! old US Army Infantry axiom -- It is always easier to keep them out than to throw them out!

Folks, please be careful. I am almost at the point that I don't want to read the newspaper. I was reading the St. Petersburg Times this morning. Here are the headlines on page 3, Local & Florida News that I found in the Metro & State portion of the June 23, 2002 edition:
       1. "Tampa man shoots, kills gun-wielding intruder". Raymond Lopez had a party at his home. The guests were leaving approx. 12:50am June 22 when two masked men, armed with handguns, showed up and started rounding up the guests. Lopez ran into his home and armed himself with handguns. One of the scumbags followed him into the home and was shot and killed by Lopez. Scumbag #2 fled the scene. Lt. H. Winsett of Hillsborough Sheriff's Office remarked that charges were unlikely. Sounds like a good self-defense scenario to me. Even better, the only casualty was the late scumbag. Bye bye scumbag #1!
       2. "Two armed bandits rob McDonald's in Pasco". It seems that the same gang that has robbed more than 20 fast food restaurants in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties now struck in Pasco. One of the suspects has been captured but the other two scumbags are at large. They hit as usual at opening, smash through a glass door and then rob the place while armed with handguns. They wear gloves and masks and like to hit before dawn. Eventually someone will be shot! Fortunately no one has been hurt yet!
       3. "Carjacking foiled by satellite tracking device". A carjacker in east Tampa was arrested about an hour after he pointed a rifle at a motorist stopped at a traffic light in downtown Tampa at approximately 2am on June 22. The scumbag drove off without injuring the victim. The police used the Cadillac Escalade OnStar tracking system to locate the carjacking dummy. That's why they call it dope!  All you have to do is watch TV and you'll know all about that system! See you in 20 years scumbag!
       4. Other recent St. Petersburg stories include:
             a. "Two men sought in bank robbery in Pasco" May 31, 2002  (String of bank robberies and attempted bank robberies)
             b. "Cell phone trail leads to 2 suspects" June 1, 2002  (Strong arm robbery that resulted in victim's death)
             c. "Man charged in punch that killed student"  June 1, 2002 (17 year old killed by punch to temple at Steak N Shake in Tampa at 4AM) (Nothing good happens when hanging out at 4AM)!
             d. "Man tells of shooting teenager"  June 3, 2002  (Pizza man shoots into crowd of teenagers and kills a 15 year old who reached into the delivery vehicle and stole a pizza!) (Talk about excessive force)
             e. Etc, etc, etc

It is unfortunate but much of what we learn is the result of the mistakes of others. Please remember that we are good citizens and not only have an obligation to the state to obey the law, we also have an obligation to our families to protect ourselves and our families from the criminal acts of others as well as any possible overreaction to situations. Please take a few minutes to review Jon Gutmacher's Florida Firearms-Law, Use & Ownership as well as my Stay Safe Street Tips. It is always easier to avoid situations rather than to extricate yourself from situations! Remember the old rule -- just because you're paranoid doesn't meant that they really aren't out to get you!  Hope to see you at Knight's!  Norm