What are the pro's and con's of installing a home security system?

Aside from the cost of getting it installed, i cant really see any cons except it being a pain always having to type in the code.But im sure you’ll deal with that knowing you have security. I say if your in a neighborhood where you think its necessary and you can afford it, go for it.
Worse case scenario you pay for a security system that you never end up having to use, but you wouldnt exactly call that a bad thing now would you?

Home security system is definitely good.. It will probably cost some money but apart from that there isnt any disadvcantage of having one as i can think of now.

However there is something i would like to point out. The houses in my neighbour have pre-installed alarm system therfore all the houses have one but the alarm will not send a message to the police station. Sometimes, the alarm triggers itself accidentally probably due to some faulty errors in it and the house occupant may accidentally trigger. It bothers me because this accident often occur in the neighbourhood and people are starting to get used to it. What if a burgalary does happen? No one will take note of it due to the occasional false alarm.

Pros: Increased security, peace of mind
Cons: Installation expense, equipment expense, monthly maintainence expense, false alarms, and depending on where you live; fines for false alarms.

Think about it as another kind of insurance because that’s what it is.

Your neighbors, though, may have different risks than you. Is your house always vacant 5 days a week from 9am to 6pm. If so, you are at higher risk simply because of your absence. If one of you is home during the day and your comings and goings are totally irregular, robbing you would be more risky.

Talk to your police department about effective deterrents. Many are visual such as bars on the windows or simply having an alarm company sign staked in front of the house. IMHO, you’re better off giving the appearance of a secured home than actually having a secured home.

Cons: pricy
Pros: useless ( if you’re into that)

I lived in an affluent neighborhood that was adjacent to a not-so-good neighborhood. About half of our neighbors got alarm systems, so we did, too. Our reasoning was simple…if you wanted to rob a house in our neighborhood, you’d ovbiously go for a non-alarmed one, no? The cons: False alarms (very rare after you get used to having the system). It is not financially feasible to arm all of the windows and doors in a large house, so we armed the front door and put in motion detectors at strategic locations throughout the bottom floor and basement. That meant you had to disarm the system if you got up in the middle of the night and went downstairs. Also, this would be a big problem if you have pets.

We are in a fairly affluent neighborhood, houses in top 20% in terms of value in our city.
However we have a woods and a cemetery on one side of the house and in the back.
My one next door neighbor knows all and sees all and would raise a stink if someone unfamiliar was wandering around, but as her children have grown, she is at home less and less during the day.

I will speak to someone at the Sheriff’s office on Monday

Thanks to all

SRM