Home security problems
The biggest operational problem in home security is false alarms - the ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing reports that 94 to 98 percent of alarm activations are false, with user error causing roughly half of them. The biggest financial problem is a monitoring contract that auto-renews and cannot be exited. Both are preventable and both are on you to prevent before you sign or arm.
The false alarm numbers are stark. ASU's research cites Dallas in 2004, where only 2.8 percent of 62,000 alarm calls were valid, and Salt Lake City in 1999, where 0.3 percent resulted from an actual crime. Nationally, police handled about 36 million alarm activations in 2002 at an estimated cost of $1.8 billion, representing 10 to 25 percent of all calls for service. The causes are mundane: "user errors, such as using incorrect keypad codes, leaving a door or window open when activating the alarm, roaming pets or helium balloons," plus faulty equipment and poor installation.
That matters to you in two ways. First, most departments allow only "three or four free false alarms per calendar year" before fining, per the same research, and those fines land on the homeowner. Second, some jurisdictions have moved to verified-response policies, meaning police will not dispatch on an unverified alarm signal at all. Ask your local police department's alarm unit which policy applies where you live before you buy monitoring.
The second cluster of problems is technical and boring: dead sensor batteries, a panel that lost its internet connection, a camera that quietly stopped uploading, and a cellular backup that was never actually activated. Systems fail silently. If you have never tested yours, you do not know whether it works - you know that it has not alarmed.
The third is contractual. Long monitoring agreements with auto-renewal clauses, early termination fees, and equipment leased inside the deal are the standard complaints in this industry. None of it is hidden - it is all in the agreement you did not read at the kitchen table with a salesperson waiting. Take the contract, keep the salesperson's card, and read it the next day.
Choosing home security a fix
The judgement calls that decide the bill, before anyone quotes you.
- Test the system monthly, in test mode Call the monitoring center to put the account on test, then trip every sensor. A system nobody tests is a system nobody knows about.
- Ask your police department about verified response In some jurisdictions police will not dispatch on an unverified alarm. That materially changes what monitoring is worth to you.
- Learn the false alarm ordinance before installation ASU's research notes most departments allow only three or four free false alarms a year. Find out your city's permit requirement and fine schedule.
- Never sign a contract the same day you first see it Read the auto-renewal, early termination and equipment ownership clauses somewhere quiet. Any company that will not let you do that has told you something.
- Replace sensor batteries on a schedule Do not wait for low-battery warnings you may not see. Write the date on each sensor when you install it.
All home security problems
False Alarms
Camera Offline
Alarm Not Arming
Doorbell Not Ringing
Smart Lock Battery Drain
Poor Camera Night Vision
System Locked to Provider
Where these figures come from
Sources last checked
- ASU Center for Problem-Oriented Policing - False Burglar Alarms · retrieved 2026-07-26
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