Today's burglar alarms do a great job of detecting an intruder. But in the area of response, performance is poor.

When was the last time you called the police upon hearing an alarm bell or siren? Even a monitored system can be a disaster waiting to happen.

A skilled burglar usually limits his time inside to a mere four minutes, which is enough time to grab some of the most valuable things you own. He assumes that he tripped a monitored system. This typical system does not call the central station immediately. There is a time delay of 30 to 60 seconds to allow a forgetful owner to shut off the system. Thereafter, several seconds elapse until the information appears on the central station computer. The monitoring agent then needs several more seconds to read the information. He (she) then punches in the phone number of the victim to talk to the home owner. The phone rings for another 20 to 30 seconds before he thinks that this may be a real burglary. More seconds go by as the agent calls the police.

Perhaps, after several rings someone answers. Over the next minute the officer takes down the information and hangs up. The officer then passes the information onto the dispatcher who reads it and then gets on the radio and attempts to contact an appropriate squad car. The officer in the car jots down the address and then takes a few seconds to decide the best way to get there. It is unlikely that the trip will be made in less than a minute. If you total this up you will have a number much larger than four minutes.

But, there is more. Police don't like to respond to burglaries. Police risk their lives everyday as a part of their job. They are trained and ready to place themselves in danger to protect your life. But, when it comes to dying to protect your property, that may be a little different. Trapping a burglar in a house is not a healthy thing to do. An ambush is difficult to predict and even more difficult to protect against. You must assume a less than maxed out police response to any burglary call.

Thus a monitored alarm merely guarantees that the police will be first on the scene to assess the losses. The implied claims of the security industry are deceptive at best. A burglar alarm threatens an intruder with a response. But, in reality, a timely response is a rare thing. We must face the fact that the human element is the weak link in any security system.

What is needed is a system that can deal with an intruder forcefully, ending the burglary attempt without the need of human assistance. Fortunately, a security system delivering this level of performance does exist -- our own OC pepper spray antiburglary devices!

With thousands of installations over 20 years, this concept has safely ended numerous burglary attempts and may have saved several lives in the process. This method of filling the security gap has been proven over and over with a near perfect string of successes.

So, why don't the big companies have it? Because it eliminates the "need" for monitoring which is where they make most of their money. At $30 per month monitoring fees add up to $1,800.00 in just five years.

There is a better way. Don't settle for the overpriced illusion of security when you can have the real thing!