Burglaries Trigger Home Security Boost

Crime pays in the home security business, but that doesn’t make it any easier to answer the phone on Monday mornings.

“The worst thing, the thing our operators hate, is on Monday mornings when we get those phone calls from someone frantic,” said Ken Hagerty, owner of Arkansas Security in Johnson, which sells ADT systems.

“They need a system and they’ll say, ‘I need it today!’ Usually they’ve had something happen over the course of the weekend and they need it done now.”

Monitored home security is a $30 billion annual business, according to Security Products magazine, and it consistently posts year-over-year growth with home penetration still only 24 percent compared to 60 percent for broadband Internet.

As system installation prices come down to as little as $99, accessibility is easier for many homeowners outside the upscale price range and the industry is poised to weather an economic downturn even as new residential construction grinds to a halt.

Retrofitting is still a strong segment of the business, and 55 percent of dealers reported an average growth of 19 percent in 2007 in SDM magazine’s 2008 forecast survey.

Dealers also reported they expected the majority of their growth in new customers during 2008 will be in the middle-market homes, with 37 percent in that segment versus 23 percent in higher-end homes.

A spike in residential burglaries in the final months of 2007 mainly concentrated in Washington County sent not just victims, but their friends and family, seeking security systems.

“A lady at one office was burglarized and four families who work there got home security systems the next week,” Hagerty said.

Fayetteville had a 19.8 percent increase in residential burglaries from September to December with 174 versus 146 in the same period of 2006, compared to a 5.72 percent increase for all of 2007.

Springdale residents saw the largest increase in November and December, up 66 percent from the same period in 2006. There were 158 burglaries in that span compared to 95 in 2006.

Springdale burglaries in January, however, dropped to 36 from 52 in 2007. In February, the Springdale Police Department announced it arrested three suspects, one adult and two juveniles, believed tied to as many as 41 home burglaries since September.

In just three years selling ADT, Hagerty’s business is now the largest in the state in new customers signed up each month, and he projected between 80 and 100 installations for March.

ADT is the nation’s leader in market share, with around 6 million of the 11 million households with a home security system.

“Right now we’re in an increase the last couple weeks, but nothing incredibly busy yet,” Hagerty said. “A lot of people are concerned because of crime that’s been happening in the area.”

Hardening the Target

Along with the economic benefits, booming population growth comes with an increase in crime. After a long period of insulation from national economic troubles that has ended with a year-long local downturn in the housing market, Northwest Arkansas has also found itself coping with a lost sense of security.

“Some people, to this day, don’t feel like they have to lock their cars,” said detective Travis Monson of the Springdale Police Department. “We come across that a lot. ‘How’d they get in?’ ‘Well, I don’t lock it.’

“It’s not that day anymore. This isn’t Andy Griffith.”

Monson and Sgt. Billy Turnbough make up the Springdale Nuisance Abatement Partnership and both are certified in CPTED, which stands for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

At no charge, they conduct security surveys for both residential and commercial buildings, making recommendations for improvements and noting vulnerabilities such as poor lighting or blind spots.

“It’s such a great program, we’d like to have more people take advantage,” Monson said. “It’s what we’re here for.”

They walk the grounds of the home or business inside and out, taking pictures, making diagrams and checking the strength of locks all while mindful of providing several options at all cost ranges.

“We’ll show you need motion lights here or a constant light here,” Monson said. “We keep in mind money is a factor with some people. They can’t afford everything we suggest. We’ll give you every possible idea. Use energy saver bulbs for constant lights, but don’t use them for motion lights. They take too long to warm up in cold weather.”

Monson and Turnbough both spoke of “hardening the target” so criminals don’t bother attempting a break-in. Light is the criminal’s No. 1 enemy, they said, and keeping blinds drawn prevents one from knowing if anyone is home.

Hagerty said ADT’s survey of criminals revealed 90 percent would avoid a home with a security system; another good deterrent is “hostile vegetation” under windows such as berry bushes, rose bushes, holly, yucca or even, “a big cactus,” Monson said. “Criminals don’t want to work, and they don’t want to hurt.”

One selling point for many homeowners when buying is often a privacy fence, but Monson said all that feature might get you is blocking a neighbor from seeing someone breaking into your home.

Some also prefer the flat side of the fence facing in, but cross boards on the opposite side make it easy for a criminal to scale.

“People don’t want their neighbors staring in their yard,” Monson said. “But that nosiness could help you in the long run. Usually when there is a rash of burglaries, they hit three or four on the same street. With a privacy fence, it’s difficult to see and the main entry point is often the backyard.”

Neighbors usually band together after one or more are victimized, (Monson and Turnbough also assist in the development of neighborhood watch groups), but after the initial anger over the crime passes it becomes easy to get complacent again.

“You have to have a constant togetherness and that’s what prevents future crimes,” Monson said.

Striking Twice

Awareness of CPTED is still low, especially in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville Corporals Kevin Phillips and Rick Chrisman also completed CPTED training last fall and can perform the same services as Springdale, but they haven’t done any home surveys since without much publicity for its availability.

Getting the word out and taking preventative measures can help residents and business owners from becoming a statistic. Lightning doesn’t usually strike twice, and criminals often don’t either.

“Lately, [people call] after it’s too late,” Monson said. “We’d like to do these surveys prior. The odds are if you get broken in to, it’s not going to happen again.”

Turnbough said people also need to keep better inventory of their property. He advises keeping records of all serial numbers on electronic items and guns, as well as taking a photo or video record of each room to discover what’s missing. Such records should either be kept in a safe or a safety deposit box, Turnbough said.

Catching the crooks behind 41 break-ins was good old-fashioned police work that began as a graffiti investigation. As part of SNAP, the pair interviewed every suspect arrested for graffiti to gather intelligence about the other criminal activity that usually accompanies it.

“When you do crime analysis and look at how graffiti locations overlap with your [breaking and entering], it’s amazing how close it is,” Turnbough said.

Cracking a graffiti case usually leads to more arrests, Monson said.

“It was a domino effect,” he said of the recent arrests. “If you can solve one case, you can solve five.”

But as long as Northwest Arkansas continues to grow, criminals will keep seeking soft targets and residents will have to use vigilance to counter crimes of opportunity.

“There’s more in line behind them,” Hagerty said.