A security system is a system designed to generally protect a premises and its contents and a vehicle against robbery or theft. The general components of a security system are detection components; a control module; a keypad and a siren. The function of the detection components is to detect when someone is intruding and alert the relevant parties, the control module allows for control of the security system in terms of activation and deactivation of the system, a keypad allows for controlled access as only persons with a password are allowed access and the siren’s function is to alert the relevant parties and scare off intruders.
The effectiveness of a security system is increased when it is linked to a monitoring centre that specialises in the security of premises and vehicles. In the case of a security system being breached, a signal is sent to the monitoring centre and the monitoring centre can then respond to the signal.
Statistics gathered from a 5 year study by researchers at the Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice in Newark, Texas has shown that security systems have a decreasing impact on crime. The research also proved that would-be robbers or burglars prefer to stay away from houses that have security systems installed. It also indicated a ‘spin-off’ effect as it was found that robbers stayed away from houses without security systems installed if it was near a house which had a security system installed. While statistics to this end is not very prevalent in South Africa statistics released in 2006 and 2007 indicate that tracking security systems in vehicles resulted in decreased incidents of vehicle theft and hijacking.
This will be good news in a South African context where crimes such as theft; robbery and hijacking have been known to be at very high rate. The increase in the number of security companies and vehicle tracking organizations in South Africa is a direct result of this high crime rate. General consensus is that crime is on the decline which means that security systems are winning the battle against crime.
