iPhone and iPad Application for IP Video Security

Exacq Technologies, the developer of IP Video Software that offers very high quality and relatively cost effective solutions, has released their iPhone and iPad application. It is an example of the attention to usability and quality development that is characteristic through out their solutions and the reason why we prefer them in many IP video security applications.

 

Urban Alarm Office Moves to Park Center

Urban Alarm is excited to announce we have moved our administrative offices to the Josephine Butler Parks Center in Mt. Pleasant. Located at 2437 15th St. NW, the Parks Center is centrally located in Mt. Pleasant and buttressed against beautiful Meridian Hill Park.

You can look forward to Urban Alarm's new Community Safety Seminars and other community events at this location, which will begin during the summer. Be sure to check our blog and email newsletter for upcoming events.

One of Urban Alarm's key community partners, Washington Parks and People, also calls the Josephine Butler Parks Center home. Over the past year, Urban Alarm has partnered with Washington Parks and People on multiple neighborhood and community security projects and is thrilled to be able to continue to this work at our new location.

Please note that even though our offices have changed, our mailing address has not; you may continue to send all mail to 5505 Connecticut Avenue NW, #306, Washington DC 20015.

The Premier 2010 Class of Security Guards

Urban Alarm would like to introduce its first 2010 class of Urban Alarm Security Guards. These 15 guards will be representing Urban Alarm as Security Officers, or SOs, at DC Public Schools.

Urban Alarm is one of four companies providing licensed Security Guard services for DC Public Schools throughout the District. You can see our guards working during the school day, during Aftercare programs before and after school, and at sporting and other special events. The majority of Urban Alarm's Security Guards are DC residents, and some even attended the DC public schools they now patrol and protect.

Our guards have passed rigorous background checks and licensing procedures, undergone extensive training both in the classroom and on school sites and have a commitment to their communities and to the schools they serve. Urban Alarm is very pleased to be able to branch out into this area of the security business and interact with the community more directly in our public schools.

Our next group of 18 officers will start in the schools in March. Keep an eye out for the Urban Alarm shoulder patch during pickup and drop-off in DC Schools.

Social Media in Blizzard 2010

DC's blizzard of 2010 has highlighted the main-streaming of social media as an emergency communication tool. In our house in AU Park the battery operated emergiency radio was no where in sight despite the 30 hour power outage. Replacing it were two iPhones and twitter feeds. While twitter has generally been a vehicle for the masses, we followed a number of government and infrasturecture authroities who kept us informed on a minute by minute basis.

Not only were the feeds informative but also two-way. While I got solid busy signals trying to notify PEPCO of a downed line behind our house a twitter message to DDOT was met with a quick response:

The dialog with DDOTDC was extensive with residents tweeting information on problem areas, pictures of unplowed streets, and DDOTDC acknowledging resident concern passing information to and from the DDOT snow response command center. Other District agencies provided excellent information on bus routes, school closing, and more.

The tweeting was also valuable on a smaller scale. Broad Branch Market twittered hourly updated on the status of the store and availability of high-demand blizzard items (e.g., milk and toilet paper). zBurger announced their $1 "snowburger" to the local inhabitants and got a tremendous response.

While the ability of officials to be so responsive on a one-to-one basis may be diluted as adoption and volume of messages increases there is no doubt that social media will serve an increasingly critical role in emergency and community communications.

We have created a list of twitteres we found particularly useful durring the snow emergiency. Check with stores you frequent in your neighborhood to see if they use social media. While you are at it be sure to follow Urban Alarm on twitter as well.

The New Wave of Kick-in Burglaries: How to Protect Yourself

1) Consider eliminating your alarm delay time (normally used to give you time to get to the keypad and disarm the alarm system) by using a key chain remote to disarm the system before you enter the home. By taking this precaution, your alarm siren will sound immediately and your alarm signal will be sent 30-45 seconds earlier, which is a substantial amount of time during an intrusion.

2) Switch to IP and/or SNAP Radio Monitoring. By utilizing Urban Alarm's IP or SNAP mesh radio network you will regain control of your land line during an alarm and your alarm signal will be received by the monitoring center in 1-2 seconds, instead of after the customary 15-45 seconds.

3) Install panic buttons in your upstairs bedroom and/or bathrooms. Aside from being able to send an alarm signal quickly the monitoring center will treat these signals as a higher priority dispatching the police immediately and bypassing the alarm verification call to the house.

4) Consider installing a video intercom system. This will take a picture of anyone who rings your doorbell and let you see and communicate with visitors without opening your door. Had the first vandalized house been outfitted with a video intercom system and the owners given the captured image to the police, the next two intrusions may have been prevented.

Though you cannot control an intruder's behavior, you can control how you react to it. For more information, give us a call.

Developing a Residential Security Strategy

Developing a Security Strategy

Radio Monitoring with SNAP Technology

These days, many people have chosen to forego telephone land lines in their homes in favor of the simpler, cheaper cellular option. With this trend comes a shift in how we monitor security systems on those properties from the traditional land line to cell phones and radio networks. Although Urban Alarm can monitor your alarm system using cell phone technology, it often requires that you replace your alarm panel.

Another option unique to Urban Alarm is SNAP(TM) radio monitoring. Urban Alarm offers the only FCC licensed radio monitoring network covering the NW DC area that will work with your existing alarm system to provide you with even better security than telephone-monitored systems.

With telephone-monitored systems, it can often take 30-50 seconds to send an alarm signal, but with Urban Alarm's SNAP radio monitoring system the signal is sent instantaneously. Also, with traditional telephone-monitored systems, when your alarm goes off the alarm panel seizes the line, which can interrupt your ability to make an outgoing call (e.g., 911). With SNAP radio monitoring you have complete use of your phone line at all times.

So how does it work? You do not need to replace your existing alarm system to take advantage of Urban Alarm's SNAP technology. Our technicians will simply install a SNAP transmitter at your home or business and you will be instantly connected to our mesh radio network. With SNAP radio monitoring, your alarm system will always be 'online' and ready to send a signal to our Central Monitoring Station. Whereas phone lines can be cut, seized or interrupted, your SNAP transmitter sends a repeater signal through its mesh network so that each alarm signal takes multiple pathways to the Central Monitoring Station, ensuring that your signal is transmitted effectively and as quickly as possible.

Manage Your Security Alarm System and Video on Your PDA

Urban Alarm has been installing Alarm.com managed security alarm systems for about five years. The service has evolved over the years regularly adding innovative  approaches to security alarm system management. Their most recent innovation are the iPhone and Blackberry Alarm.com applications. Alarm.com already offers a robust web dashboard to manage all aspects of your alarm system via a web browser. The new applications allow you to manage your systems anywhere from an iPhone or Blackberry PDA.

• Arm and disarm remotely
• View sensor status and recent activity
• Watch live streaming video from their security cameras
• View video clips recorded by their cameras
• Access a complete, search-able system event history

Security Camera Color Wraps

Security video cameras in retail or commercial businesses can be a fundamental part of security. Sometimes making security cameras being visible to workers and guests is a desirable deterrent but other times it mares the aesthetics of a carefully designed space. On a number of projects we have color matched the cameras to be the same color as the wall. This has a nice effect of blending the security cameras into the space minimizing their aesthetic impact.

Security is often a balance of invasiveness and effectiveness. Physical barriers, fire detection, intrusion detection, and surveillance cameras are always going to walk this line. Color marched security cameras are just one cost effective way to get at this issue. Cameras may be matched to any color, pattern, or image.

The photos show an example of the security camera without color matching (left) and with matching (right).

  

Don't Answer Your Door for Strangers -- Maybe The Worst Thing to Do

Archive

• Recent Robberies in NW DC
• Urban Alarm Accolades: Excellence in Design
• Washington Parks and People's Riverside Center
• The Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad (BCCRS)
• Gun vs. Alarm for Home Security
• Securing your Freedom of Speech (or, at least, your yard signs)
• Remote Video Monitoring for Smaller Properties
• 5 Ways to Get the Most from Your Alarm System
• How Not to Install an Alarm System
• Security Video on your iPhone or PDA
• Washington Post Reports a Significant Increase in DC Burglaries
• Reading Crime Statistics on the Internet
• Importance of Testing your Alarm System
• Going Green with your Alarm System

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