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Do you love posting on social media sites about the delicious restaurant meal you’re eating, the great show you’re attending, or the fabulous vacation you’re having? It may seem like innocent sharing, but if you’re neglecting basic security essentials, you could actually be giving potential burglars tools to target your home.

Improving your residential security system is necessary now than ever in the increasingly digital world that we live in. A recent survey of 50 ex-burglars, conducted by a U.K. security company in conjunction with Home Security Week, found that four out of five ex-burglars said they would use sites such as Facebook or FourSquare to find out when residents were away from the house, then use a map site like Google Street View to scope out the location in advance.

What can you do to keep your home secure?

• Don’t over-share online. Turn off location tagging when you’re posting a status update or a picture and wait to upload vacation photos until you’re back at home.
• Check your privacy settings. Social media privacy settings can be tricky; make sure you limit your posts to “friends only” and make sure you know and trust all your friends in real life.
• Install a home security system. Even if an intruder did target your house, the security survey found that 78 percent of the ex-burglars surveyed said that the mere presence of a home security system would have prevented them from attempting to enter.

To keep yourself safe, follow the advice of the security experts at the National Cyber Security Alliance. They recommend the “Stop. Think. Connect.” strategy: Before you use the Internet, stop to be sure you understand any potential risks. Think for a moment about how the site you visit or the information you share could possibly affect you. Then, after you’ve exercised reasonable judgment and consideration, use the Internet to connect with the wider world.

If you’re still not sure what you should post, try thinking about posting on social media as the equivalent of hanging a sign on your front door. You would never compromise your home’s security by putting up a banner saying, “This house is empty! Come on in!” So don’t do it on social media, as innocent as it may seem.

For a free assessment of your home security, contact Secure Pacific today. We’ll double-check every aspect of your home’s safety and help you find the best option for keeping your home safe and secure. Not ready for us to visit yet? Download our free guide below.

You might think you don’t have to worry about the risk of fire, especially if you’ve made sure your fire detection system is working and you know your appliances and wiring are in good shape. Unfortunately, faulty wires aren’t the only cause of fire: every year, arson results in nearly 17,000 fires, $593 million in property damage, and 280 deaths. During Arson Awareness Week, May 5 to 11, take the time to ensure your security system includes both fire detection and monitored security—two security essentials that can help prevent your location from becoming next year’s unfortunate arson statistic.

Fire Detection

Secure Pacific’s fire alarm systems include monitored smoke and heat detectors. Because experts at our Verification Center® are keeping track of any alerts or alarms triggered by heat and smoke, you don’t have to worry about flames getting big enough to attract outside attention before anyone calls the fire department. As soon as there is a verified alarm, operators alert authorities. Emergency services personnel have been shown to respond more quickly when they know are verified and are not a false alarm. With Secure Pacific’s operators monitoring your location, you can have peace of mind that any true emergency will be met with a quick response.

Intruder Alarms

According to the FBI’s preliminary data from 2012, cases of arson in the U.S. are on the rise for the first time in six years. You can’t personally stand guard outside your home or business 24/7 to make sure a potential arsonist doesn’t gain access to your property. What you can do is invest in an intruder alarm system from Secure Pacific. We provide video and sound monitoring to ensure that any intruder is quickly detected and police are notified. Any time an alarm is triggered, operators from our round-the-clock Verification Center are able to view or listen in to your location remotely and work in cooperation with police, often guiding them to the exact location of the intrusion. That’s the next best thing to launching your own arson guard campaign.

At Secure Pacific, we take your safety seriously. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you prevent the potential damage arson could cause.

Construction site theft and vandalism can be a costly problem. The Construction Data Company (CDC) reports that losses due to construction site theft total more than $1 billion each year. Don’t let your job site become one of those victims. Job site security systems from Secure Pacific can keep your equipment safe and your construction site protected.

The problem

Job sites can be tough to secure. They sometimes lack physical walls and secure storage, and a fence can only go so far to keep thieves at bay. What’s more, they’re full of targets that thieves find inviting—copper wire, metal, and other valuable equipment. The CDC reports that the value of stolen heavy equipment alone can total nearly $300 million annually. But there’s some good news: running a construction site doesn’t have to mean leaving yourself vulnerable. Secure Pacific offers video-verified security systems that are tailored for construction sites.

The custom solution

No electricity on site? No problem. Secure Pacific’s job site security systems are wireless and require no electrical connection or phone line. Expensive equipment on site? We can have someone watching it for you 24/7. An on-site guard can only be in a single place at any given time. With verified video monitoring from Secure Pacific, you can select multiple locations for security monitoring.

If any of the locations on your site register an intruder, our trained operators will view the footage in real-time and alert local authorities. Our operators are will also remain on the line, monitoring any intrusion and often remaining in touch with police dispatchers through the process of apprehending intruders, guiding the officers straight to the location of any security breach. No two construction sites are identical—that’s why Secure Pacific will work with project managers to analyze your security needs and design a security system that’s perfect for the security essentials you need to protect your project and your equipment.

During Building Safety Month, focus on keeping your crew productive, healthy, and safe—not distracted due to theft or injured due to vandalism. Contact Secure Pacific today and we can help you find a security solution for your construction site.

Is your business really protected? As a small business owner, you did everything you believed you were supposed to do. You lined up your supply and logistics chains, set up a marketing and sales plan, and hired all the right people to get the business off the ground. You even worked with Alarm Company X to install a security alarm system in your business.

Yet when you arrived at the office Monday morning after the weekend, you notice a large hole in the wall coming in from the vacant office space next door. The funny thing is, your Alarm Company X alarm system never went off, but you set the alarm before you left Friday night. Now, there is a huge hole in the wall and half of your inventory is gone.

The likely scenario is Alarm Company X sold you a basic cookie cutter alarm system package that did not provide ideal coverage for your business. The criminal/s likely spent a few days casing your business to identify vulnerabilities in your alarm system. The criminal/s then broke into the adjacent unprotected vacant office space, burrowed though the wall like a mole and robbed you of your inventory and peace of mind. Burglars are getting braver, smarter and know how to bypass a lot of Brand X cookie cutter alarm systems.

Here's where customized alarm systems come in...

At this point you are really angry and have some tough decisions to make. You have to close the business for a while and lose more money to get the wall repaired, restock your inventory, call Alarm Company X to upgrade your alarm system (?) and deal with the insurance company to get reimbursed for your losses. Now is the time to ask yourself, "Do I really want to spend more money with Alarm Company X for an alarm system that didn’t work when I needed it to?"

It may be time to research the various types of alarm companies and the types of service they provide. The two basic types of alarm companies are Monitored Non-Verified and Monitored Verified.

Verified alarm companies are different than Alarm Company X. The verification system requires a trained security consultant to walk the business with the owner to identify the best custom solution for that specific business; this type of company will not provide a cookie cutter solution for every business, but rather a customized alarm system for each business.

Before you have Alarm Company X come back to “upgrade” your alarm system or have one of their competitors pay a visit, download the free brochure below to learn the questions you should ask any security company representative before purchasing.

Who: Operator Jessica & Seattle PD

What: 1 suspected trespasser banned from site

When: April 21, 2013 at 4:45 a.m.
Where: An apartment building construction site in Seattle, WA

How: A construction site with an underground parking area secured by one of our construction security systems had been having issues with nighttime trespassing for a couple of weeks. Nothing was ever stolen or moved, but police were never able to find the trespasser. On Sunday, our system detected movement at the site and sent real-time video clips to the Verification Center, where the operators determined that a person was indeed present (see the video below!). Jessica dispatched police. When officers arrived, they found the man and escorted him off. The suspect was trespassed from the site but no charges are being pressed.

Watch the progression of events!