So you read papers and all that you see is crime, crime and more crime. You watch the television and what do you see? Yes you guessed it right first time more crime.

Next day you see your neighbor walking down the street and he tells you he was robbed the other day and he only lives two doors down from you. By this time you have just about had enough. You have decided you are going to get a home alarm system.

The first point you need to understand is that there is no thief proof place on earth no not even Fort Knox. Any building any system any code can be beaten in fact if man has made it man can crack it! Nothing I repeat nothing is safe from the thief that has decided he is going to break into somewhere.

If he wants to beat your home alarm system he will.

So why install one? The simple answer is it will significantly reduce the possibility of you being robbed. A thief will always take the easy option over the more difficult one. Make your home difficult to enter and rob and you are onto a winner.

Now that we have that one out of the way lets consider a major question.

Should it be monitored or unmonitored? Unmonitored is ok, monitored is better. If you choose an unmonitored home alarm system then you really need to be the sociable type that makes friends with your neighbors easily.

You see what is the good of an alarm system siren wailing away if no one is going to do anything about it? There are that many break-ins today it has become an everyday occurrence. No one seems to take notice. Except if you have established a relationship with your neighbors then they will be more inclined to look after your interests that is if they happen to be at home when the thief comes calling.

If you are not the sociable type and you don't happen to like you neighbors then maybe the monitored home alarm system is the one for you. This type of system uses your telephone lines to contact a monitoring agency when your house is broken into. The alarm is triggered at their offices and they will contact you and the police in due course if you have a break-in.

Of course a smart thief will neatly cut the telephone wires if he feels your house is on a monitored system. This type of system is also considerably more expensive that the unmonitored variety.

So to cut to chase! Unmonitored? Well it's cheaper and very effective if you are friendly and outgoing and close to your neighbors.

Monitored? Well it's much more expensive and certainly not foolproof.

Personally I think the former is the way to go. After all the more we become good neighbors to each other the more we will beat crime anyway!