Saving your life or recording your murder

[sunnyside]

So this is based off a combination of the fairly big story
http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/s ... er-victim/
and the increasing rate of ads I'm seeing for home security systems sort of like the "On Star" system for your house. Usually featuring ads along the lines of a guy in a ski mask with an ax kicks in a door and an alarm goes off, sending the man fleeing while operators at the company start talking to the woman inside over the intercom system.

Now cases like the above and:
http://fightforjustice.blogspot.com/200 ... -call.html

Make the news for being situations where things were botched and lawsuits, laws, or somesuch resulted.

But I'm guessing stuff like this is much more common.
http://www.filecabi.net/video/ruth-call.html
http://media.nbcbayarea.com/audio/54+sp ... +drive.wma
(the latter of which is a bit of a different sitaution but you get the idea).

Do people thing stuff like that is really useful or a safe way to stay alive?

Or maybe just a false sense of security that makes you an easy target.

At the least it seems like, if you're in a fire, break out the freaking window instead of getting roasted while staying in the room on the phone with 911.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/w ... ome-031010

[Tsukiyumi]

...the fairly big story
http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/s ... er-victim/

See, if I spotted a woman being abducted, I'd make a very short 911 call, and then go solve the situation.

Do people thing stuff like that is really useful or a safe way to stay alive?

Many people nowadays seem to think their own safety is someone else's responsibility.

Or maybe just a false sense of security that makes you an easy target.

Bingo. We really need an "on the nose" emoticon.

At the least it seems like, if you're in a fire, break out the freaking window instead of getting roasted while staying in the room on the phone with 911.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/w ... ome-031010

Yeah, see, that's just stupid.

[Mikey]

Most of these things have an automatic call feature, so the idea is to avoid actually having to call 911 - especially if a fire or break-in occurs while you're asleep, and could thus lose valuable response time. I think what's important here is that what we see are advertisements, designed to get people to buy stuff. Properly, these things have their place but don't replace common sense. It's great to have a security system, but it doesn't preclude the need to have fire escape plans... or getting the f*ck out of Dodge (or defending yourself) if someone is trying to hurt you.

[Tyyr]

Remember kids, when seconds count the police are only minutes away.

[Mikey]

Actually, by me their rsponse time is incredibly fast.

Be that as it may, the problems which Sunny envisions don't stem from the fact of an alarm itself; the problem comes form the idea that people get along the lines of "I've got an alarm, so I can shut my brain off now." No matter how good or bad your local police are, there will be a measurable response time unless you're married to a cop.