HOME SAFETY

By: Nick Boulton

Growing up, we had a cabin that was high up in the Big Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City. My grandpa and dad built it while my dad was in his youth. We would go up often and spend weeks at a time there. Being that far up the canyon in the mountains, we were far away from everything, including safety. Multiple times the cabin had been broken into! Sometimes it was someone looking for a warm place to sleep or other times it was someone breaking in to take items.

One time, it was a group of people just doing vandalism. Out of all these times, the police caught the person only once. Luckily, this never happened while we were there! Security, that high in the mountains was important for my dad to help keep his family safe. When we called the police, it would take them at least 1 hour to get to us. And not to mention when I was younger, there was no such thing as a cell phone and the nearest thing to a land line was a drive to the closest restaurant or ski lodge. For us, the security to keep us safe was my dad’s Colt .357 revolver and a couple of deadbolt locks on the door. My dad was diligent at teaching me and my siblings that a gun was not a toy, but a tool and it was for times of distress, protection, hunting, and at times, for sport. He would have us go out often to shoot with him so we would learn that it wasn’t something to be trifled with or to discount how dangerous it was. He taught us “A gun is always loaded” and to treat it as such! It was a lot of fun to spend that time with him and learning respect for guns! And just like my dad, the first gun I ever bought was a Ruger .357 revolver.

Now, fast forward, and I have my own home to protect. I don’t live on the top of the mountains and there are many options for home and family protection. How do you secure your home? What lengths should you go to, to keep you and your family safe? Those are the questions you must ask yourself. I truly believe that it is a God given right to protect yourself, your family and your property from harm, danger and possible death. With options and technology at our disposal, let’s talk about the benefits and features of home security systems.

Security systems are extremely adaptable these days. There are multiple ways you could go. From a monthly services that monitor your home for you and will alert the police if the system is triggered. And there are DIY systems that allow you to buy the equipment you want, and will send you motion alerts. Some can even be found on Amazon. This could be anything from door sensors, smoke alarms, broken glass alarms, camera and motion sensors and doorbell cameras. Just make sure that anything you buy is compatible with one another.

In our home we chose to go with one that we have monthly monitoring; we pay $50 a month. We have multiple items that we chose to have installed to help with the security of our home and if it goes off, it alerts the police and me. It has gone off a few times, luckily not because of a break in, but because of our kids accidentally triggering it. The police were at our home within 15 to 20 minutes to make sure everything was okay. What it comes down to is that Home security systems vary greatly depending on what you’re wanting to get out of it. Some things that should be considered are how the monitoring is going to be done and how much you can afford. DIY systems are usually more affordable, customizable and adaptable over time. Professionally installed systems are more costly, but bring more pain-free installation, better support and strong device integration.

Whichever option you choose, be sure to carefully select the plan that is right for your home, finances and family. Protecting yourself, your family and your property should always be something that we should consider very serious, and how you choose to do it is up to you.

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