Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Secret panic button behind bed...

137 replies

Prinstress · 07/12/2018 21:15

My DP just dropped into conversation his parents have a panic button hidden behind their bed that sets off an alarm and alerts a private security firm... He reckons its standard in every house on their estate Confused

They live in a nice 4 bed detached house but it's not a gated community or anything naice nice... AIBU to think this is a bit weird and not something most people have?

OP posts:
Unihorn · 07/12/2018 22:40

@Shambu what are they then?

Knitwit101 · 07/12/2018 22:41

Our house had one when we moved in. The folk who owned it before us were very expensive cigar dealers and kept their stock at home overnight. It doesn't work any more.

gamerwidow · 07/12/2018 22:41

I think having a panic button that's installed by police in response to a direct threat is a bit different to having a panic button just in case.

My sister has the first but I don't know anyone with the second.

OhTheRoses · 07/12/2018 22:42

We have security lights, alarm, safety buttons (three) and electric gates and an intercom at the main gate. DH's job is high risk.

Fruitbatdancer · 07/12/2018 22:44

@worraliberty this happened to us. They broke in during night stole keys and car. Horrendous. We were in a naice area. We didn’t get a panic alarm, we moved. I couldn’t stay in that house after that, and I consider myself a pretty tough cookie.

recklessgran · 07/12/2018 22:45

Yes, we've got one in our large modern 5 bed - pretty standard around here. We live in a quiet village cul-de-sac if that matters at all. Just thought it was normal - it's just connected to our burglar alarm.Nothing posh about it but I guess it is reassuring in a way.

Swishswish26 · 07/12/2018 22:46

My parents have one- they have a large detached house but it’s also completely private and hidden from view from other houses. They have never needed to use it but it is linked to a security company and gives them peace of mind.

Vicky1990 · 07/12/2018 22:48

It is normal practice when fitting a security alarm in a house to fit a panic alarm button by the bed, and one by the front door.
The reason for this is so the occupants of the house can set the alarm off themselves using this button, activating the alarm and strobe light in the bell box fitted high up on the wall outside the house.
You may want to do this if you see intruders on your property from your window, or you hear hear them trying to enter your property.
This will hopefully disturb the activity of potential intruders and make them leave before they attempt to break in.

MsSquiz · 07/12/2018 22:48

We had one in the master bedroom at our old house (we had it disabled) as the person who built our house had a few people who would've liked him dead! Hmm
The burglar alarm at the house also had a code that you entered that would turn off the alarm but send an alert direct to the police, without alerting a "burglar" to what you had done!

DontDribbleOnTheCarpet · 07/12/2018 22:51

Crikey, my front door doesn't even have a lock!

BlackeyedPetitsPois · 07/12/2018 22:51

@BumbleBeee69 the woman was unhurt thankfully - she managed to get out and raise the alarm before the fire took hold. Minimal damage. Pretty horrific for her though.

PeanuttyButter · 07/12/2018 23:03

We have a button like that in our bedroom linked to the alarm. Came with the house. We don’t set the alarm so never used it

TheFormidableMrsC · 07/12/2018 23:11

"Panic alarm" my dad used to call it. Installed after we were burgled while we were all in our (very large) house one early evening. We were lucky, he dropped his massive knife at the bottom of the garden while vaulting a fence. When I say early evening, about 7.30 pm. early autumn. How he avoided contact with any of us remains a mystery. Direct emergency alarm was installed shortly after. So, no, not weird at all!

FluffyDavis · 07/12/2018 23:12

Yes but our panic button just sets the house alarm off. We also have external cameras all round the house that we view on our mobiles or tv screen.
We are very security conscious, the alarm is always set even if I'm just upstairs in the shower during the day. I've got the cameras up on the tv now while dh is out!

Ceilingrose · 07/12/2018 23:12

We used to have one by the front door year ago. We had to disable it because we were powerless to prevent our pile of toddlers pushing it.

BumbleBeee69 · 07/12/2018 23:17

We are very security conscious, the alarm is always set even if I'm just upstairs in the shower during the day. I've got the cameras up on the tv now while dh is out

it's a great facility

timeisnotaline · 07/12/2018 23:30

we have a safety it's in our shower....which rings a bell in the lift of the building.
So if you have an accident in the shower and call for help then whoever is in the lift is on the hook to reroute to your place to help? Amazing!

JamAtkins · 07/12/2018 23:37

We have one which triggers the alarm. It came with our new build house 20 years ago. I assume the other 150ish houses on the estate have the same.

Redglitter · 07/12/2018 23:41

My parents had 2 of them installed when they got their alarm installed about 35 years ago. It was part of the alarm companies standard package

nancy75 · 07/12/2018 23:43

My parents have one alongside all the other security measures you can buy. A few years ago they were victims of a very nasty agrivated robbery & were both injured as well as very traumatised. This kind of burglary when people are at home is more common than you would like to think

recently · 07/12/2018 23:50

timeisnotaline - yes, except if I was stuck in the shower they wouldn't be able to get in the front door. Not a great system!

veggiepigsinpastryblankets · 07/12/2018 23:50

Those of you who say it's standard where you live...where on earth do you live? I'm envisioning some luxury expat compound in a developing country where a burgler might conceivably be carrying a sawn off shotgun left over from the last civil war, but I'm slightly concerned you mean a very slightly less salubrious suburb of Tunbridge Wells.

We got burgled when I was growing up. They took our rented telly and some birthday money of mine that was sitting in a mug in the kitchen. We upgraded the glass in the back door then got on with our lives Confused

Lattesforlife · 07/12/2018 23:51

I am the opposite to the poster up thread, I thought it was totally normal to have panic alarms and more the norm than not. Not in a posh way, I just thought it was standard with most house alarms.

For what it’s worth, I live in a standard 3 bed semi. The people who have the sprawling estates who I know tend to just use dogs 😬😂

Bloodybridget · 07/12/2018 23:51

Gosh, I'd never heard of this before - well, panic buttons, I guess, but not in ordinary people's houses, unless they were known to be at risk of attacks. But I have never lived somewhere with a burglar alarm. I must say I would hate to feel I needed all those security measures; of course I understand that for some people they are a necessity.

Sitranced · 07/12/2018 23:52

Wow, it's a whole different world. I thought panic buttons and direct phone lines to security were things you saw in the movies for celebs and royalty.