Apartment thieves are active in spring and summer. This trend is spoken about by the annual data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, as well as observations of independent analysts. Starting with the May holidays, when a lot of people go abroad and to the village, and then during the whole period of summer vacations, apartments stay without care for a long time and become a tasty morsel for intruders.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, the proportion of burglaries among all the crimes, registered in Russia in 2013, is 3,57%, i.e. every 28th crime. But despite the police reports, the Russians are not in a hurry to equip their apartments and houses with security systems.
Listening to and reading news about the robbery of celebrities, many people think that burglary is a lot of stars, and in their own houses there is nothing to steal. Hence they have the belief that under no circumstances they will become victims of a thief. Another common misconception is confidence in reliability of doors and locks. Some people think that a thief will not venture to get into the house, where there is a dog or anyone of the inhabitants. Someone is counting on vigilance of concierges and guards of the nearest territory or the neighbors’ care. And finally, another myth that characterizes the problem on the other hand, is conviction that the alarm in the apartment is very expensive.
However, the analysis of official statistics paints a different picture. So, most of burglaries occurs in ordinary houses. Attackers take a relatively new technique, ordinary gold jewelry, furs, not big sums of money. Modern thieves cost nothing to open sophisticated locking devices, and even more to get to the apartment via a private balcony, including a neighbor’s balcony, or a window, to neutralize a pet with a pepper spray and deceive guards and people on duty. There are cases, when a burglar breaks into the house despite the presence of people in the next room.
As for the cost of security systems, actually its installation is cheaper, than acquiring a strengthened metal door, and a monthly fee for protection of apartments and communication with the monitoring center is comparable with the Internet service provider. Meanwhile, a thief-professional opens any door in less than 2 minutes – but seeing the sticker of “the object is under protection”, as a rule, goes away in search of other victims, because in Russia only one out of every 15 apartments is under protection.
How does a modern security system function? The simplest system reacts to opening the door and window openings. With penetration of a thief in the apartment the alarm immediately triggered, which cannot be switched off or drawn (even during a power outage, most security systems work up to 24 hours of battery life). At the same time the alarm signal is sent to the operator’s panel of a security company. Following this, an emergency response team and a police squad go to the place of crime. As a rule, the average time of arrival of the crew is seven-ten minutes. Carrying out non-stop remote monitoring of the object, specialists of a security company are ready to take necessary measures at any time.
Modern security systems, installed in houses and apartments, can react not only to thieves’ penetration, but also to inform the owners about the fire, accidents in water supply systems and heating, gas leak, power outage. Moreover, in recent years the approach of ensuring security has changes significantly. If earlier security companies protected clients only against attacks to their lives and property, but today many of them adhere to the concept of comprehensive security. A security company takes care of various spheres of a client’s life – from protection of himself, his house and car (against looting, robbery, accident assistance, etc.) to assisting in solving everyday problems (an emergency call of communal services, reservations and accommodations, courier service, various information, a reminder of important matters, and more)”.