to think that car and house alarms should be banned?

[engelbart]

For the past week we've had 4 different cars with alarms go off. Reasons for the alarm being set off: another car has driven past it, a person has walked past it, even a cat walking past has been known to set some of them off and of course if it?s a windy night. Nothing to suggest that anyone has tried to beak-in. Very cheap alarms which serve no purpose but to cause maximum noise pollution. DD is a light sleeper at the best of times so I'm getting mighty fed up with car alarms screeching all night and waking her up.

Worse than car alarms though are house burglar alarms. Again, we are tortured by houses who have alarms which go off sporadically throughout the day, and worse, the night. Awful piercing noise which seems to go on forever, just what you need when you?ve fallen asleep. The number of times I?ve been woken up in the middle of the night because the wind has set one of the damn things off.

There is a system where owners of the house alarms can give the police details of who holds the key to their house so that if their alarm is going off and they?re out, at least someone can put their neighbours out of their misery and turn the alarm off. However, this is not compulsory. Many of us have literally begged (and volunteered to look after the neighbours keys for them) our neighbours with alarms to give a spare key to someone and inform the police who has it, this will stop us having to listen to the alarm going off all night. The best example was last year when our neighbours went away for the night. About 10 mins after they drove off their alarm went off?..!

These alarms are, as far as I can see, completely pointless. They?re meant to detract burglars but the fact the things go off so regularly means that people take no notice. One friend whose house was broken into said that although her alarm went off (she was away) none of her neighbours took any notice and the burglars fled with most of her valuables.

Have tried speaking to the culprits of the things but they insist they need the alarms. They seem to think the ?benefits? of having the alarms outweigh the noise pollution they cause.

[clumsymum]

Oh engel I sooooo agree with you. Living on an estate (which I HATE), now the weather has got warm, people leave windows open, set the alarm and go out, and then the breeze causes the alarm to go off.

It drives me LOOOOOPY. I work at home, so hear them all day, then you get one or 2 going off in the evening, just as you're trying to get the kids to sleep.

And you are right, no one takes any notice. Last year, the alarm went off on house 4 doors up from us. There were no cars in the drive, so we assumed the owners were out. I rang the police.
They wouldn't come, as I couldn't tell them for certain that a burglary was in progress!!
And no, I wasn't prepared to let dh go and find out.
The ruddy alarm rang for 90 mins, then stopped for about half an hour, then started again.

[skidoodle]

yanbu

The only alarms worth having are the ones that are directly connected to a security company that comes out to check if someone has broken in. Those ones don't need to harass all your neighbours and presume that they will be annoyed into doing something.

People who think it is ok to cause inconvenience and stress to others so that they can make a cheap and futile attempt to protect their belongings are dim arseholes.

[BelleWatling]

YANBU - the only time I have been burgled is when I lived in a house with an alarm - they do not work and are anti-social. And people only have them because insurance companies insist.

And they do NOT work. My DH is always having to go and turn his work one off (has to have one because of insurance) and still gets broken into. And still the insurance won't pay out. (two sentences ending with prepositions - that's how cross they make me!)

And they look ugly.

End of vent.

[LadyOfWaffle]

YABU. Rather a million bouts of 'noise pollution' and it saves one person from a fire than... not. Couldn't give a fig about someones swanky BMW being chavved though!

[LadyOfWaffle]

Ah... I see you are on about burglar alarms and not fire alarms...

[Galava]

YANBU.

There is no way I would put myself out to check if next doors house was being burgled in the middle of the night.

My house is alarmed, and I never set it !

[SarahL2]

We have a house alarm cause it came with the house NOT because we are "dim arseholes" Thank you very much skidoodle!!

Makes me feel a lot safer when DS and I are home alone as I am a very deep sleeper and could probably sleep through someone breaking in! During my last pregnancy, I was so zonked, I slept through the alarm going off!! Luckily DH was there to save me.