If you have a home or business here in San Francisco, CA, one thing you may be concerned about is security. After all, if theft occurs at your home or your place of business, this has dire consequences for you, your family, or your employees, especially if the theft comes with violence.

However, in many cases, there is a way to prevent such situations from escalating on your property. A good security system can protect any home or business in San Francisco, CA, but these systems do so through a very important mechanism known as deterrence.

What Is Deterrence?

Given a choice between stopping a crime from succeeding and a crime not happening at all, most people would prefer not to have to deal with the hassle that comes from recovering from even a failed crime attempt. Deterrence is the concept of presenting an “argument” so strong against attempting a crime that potential criminals don’t bother.

This is where properly deployed security systems come in. A security system should not just work well; it should also be obvious and advertised. Criminals are looking for low risk, easy profit. The presence of a security system both raises the risk of a crime, as well as making that crime more difficult. With these two factors properly in place a security system can cause a potential criminal to assess a property for crime, deem it too risky, and pass it over, looking for an easier target.

The Camera Deterrence

Security cameras provide an effective means of deterrence for one important reason; identification. Unlike an eye-witness, who has fallible memory and may not see things clearly, a properly positioned high definition security camera can capture many important details about a criminal without any question about accuracy.

Everything from height, build, skin color, details about clothing, and even distinguishing features such as a limp are all recorded by the camera, and this can be used by police to track down suspects, and then later be submitted in court as evidence by the prosecution. Most criminals would prefer to avoid a place with heavy security camera coverage.

The Alarm Deterrence

If a home or business has a signposting the presence of an alarm that is a clear warning to thieves that any intrusion will be short-lived. In a home without an alarm system, especially if the residents are on vacation or the employees have left for the day, thieves can take as much time as they want to evaluate the “goods” for value and resale.

The presence of an alarm, however, means that thieves have a short window of a few minutes at best before security or law enforcement arrives. For most, this means that there’s little real profit in a theft at such property, since there’s not enough time to properly search and rob the property.

So if you’re looking to make your home or business here in San Francisco, CA, contact us. We can assess your property and ensure that the security systems deployed will provide maximum deterrence value in convincing criminals to not even try.