Secret panic button behind bed...

[Prinstress]

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

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?

We have 2. It’s hard to just knock them as you have to press 2 parts.

Shambu - what’s wrong with gated communities?

They won’t go through to the police unless the police are monitoring the house resident or have installed it themselves (ie someone in known danger) the police don’t give extra protection to certain citizens just becaUs they ask

They’re monitored by private security companies who may request the police under certain circumstances but certainly not automatically

We had one years ago with our alarm system. I once accidentally set it off and the police were round pdq. Dh answered door and said everything is fine but they still came to check upstairs. Was very embarrassing and we deactivated it shortly afterwards.

True story.

My parents had one in their bedroom in their old house. We stayed there once to look after it for them when they went on holiday.

I pressed the button because I was curious what would happen.

I really don’t recommend doing this.

Horrific alarm noise and eventual arrival of private security forces.

I blamed DS1 for pushing the button.

The problem with this is that DS1 was very very young and was not walking. There was no way he could have got to the button unless he was walking.

This is the worse bit. I put that child into boot camp that week to get him to walk so that my alibi would not be destroyed when my parents returned home. To this day everyone thinks he pushed the button having learned to walk at a freakishly young age.

My house had one when we bought it 18yrs ago, all the houses on my estate had them when they were built in the early 90s apparently.

My parents have the same too, 1800's house

We have an alarm that goes off loudly but also a panic button next to the bed that is silent but goes to a private firm who will alert the police.

We have one in our house. The vendors said it was just part of the security system that had been installed. It's just a way of triggering the alarm if you are in bed and not able to get to the main panel near the front door.

Our house isn't modern though - it's18th Century! The alarm system was put in about 10 years ago. We don't live in a particularly crime ridden area but insurance premiums can be lower with one installed so we have had it serviced and maintained.

Yep I have one and always will. As a child we had a violent burglary when we were in bed. Since then I have had locks on the bedroom door, security lights, panic buttons etc. We have ADT too.

My parents neighbour has one that turns on floodlights outside and goes through to the police, I think it was installed after a burglary.

I have a fear of being burgled precisely because we don't have anything. I can't really say 'take the 10 year old telly and the ipad that's so out of date you can't have modern apps on it'

It's not a security guard who comes. It's the police and an engineer from the security company if the key holder isn't there to turn it off.