Protected by Text Message

Todd Harrison lives in the country — perfect for creating a sense of domain but bad when potential criminals are looking for a target. Burglars found two targets in his area last summer, when one neighbor lost expensive farm supplies and another had electronics and jewelry stolen — twice. Although Harrison fortunately wasn’t robbed, he decided not to take any chances.

Todd Harrison lives in the country — perfect for creating a sense of domain but bad when potential criminals are looking for a target. Burglars found two targets in his area last summer, when one neighbor lost expensive farm supplies and another had electronics and jewelry stolen — twice. Although Harrison fortunately wasn't robbed, he decided not to take any chances.

The operations director for Lenexa-based security company Atronic Alarms, Harrison concocted his own technology to protect his home. With the help of installation manager Curtis Mayes, Harrison developed a new network to help him watch his property anywhere he has cell phone access. If recent security trends continue, more and more new technology will only increase a person's ability to keep up with home away from home.

For Harrison, a standard break-in alarm offers only partial protection during the day. “My wife and I both work outside the home, and [my house is] 37 miles from me,” he says. But with the ability to get text message alerts, he can fill the gap of protection.

Atronic Alarms now offers a mobile-interaction package with the company's security systems, giving you alerts by text message anytime a sensor or motion detector is tripped.

In Harrison's alarm system, when a wireless motion detector senses activity, a camera begins recording, and a text and e-mail with pictures of the scene is sent. His home alarm doesn't activate automatically, but he has the option to contact police if a situation looks suspicious. A typical alarm package costs about $1,000. A full-works arrangement like Harrison's, with live video recording and a Web-enabled feature that allows you to watch footage from a property online, can cost approximately $3,000. You can request a more extensive set-up for added cost or install a simple unit, including one camera with remote live viewing only for $299.

Although Harrison's technology was new to the business, alarm companies are increasingly using mobile technology to enhance protection. Kamron Disciacca, co-owner of Kansas City CCTV & Security, says his business can link monitoring equipment with phones that have Internet access. One of his brands, Napco, allows you to log in to a “VIP gateway” online to view live footage of your property. Assuming you already have camera surveillance, you could add a Napco device to a home-security package for $550, with an additional monthly fee of $25.

“The way the industry is going, everyone wants something they can touch with their hands,” Disciacca says. One major benefit of systems with mobile connectivity, he mentions, is flexibility. Some systems even use a virtual keypad for disarming and resetting alarms. If you know a child or babysitter will arrive at a specific time, it's possible to view the virtual keypad online or on a smart phone to make sure the home is open only during that period.

Bob Scales, owner of Raytown-based Safeguard Alarms, says mobile-function alarms can guard almost anything — or anyone — in a household. “This is what we would consider a mega-trend,” Scales says, referring to the influx of Web- and cell phone-based add-ons. “Especially the younger, tech-savvy users expect something like this.” For $20 to $30 monthly, you can receive e-mails anytime your children (who can be assigned unique code numbers) disarm an alarm. Scales also mentions a customer who keeps car keys in an at-home lock box, only to be messaged when the box is tampered with, and others who request notifications about cabinets containing firearms or alcohol.

For those leery of protecting family and belongings with new technology, Mayes points out that mobile access is just a new offshoot of traditional packages. “We're not using any new parts or pieces,” he says. “It's just the way we put them together to make it work differently.” The mobile-access system also can be personally tailored to your schedule, with the option to cut off text alerts during specific times.

Megan Ragan, Atronic's public relations representative, is considering a system at her horse stable. “Atronic will set it up so that if I have a camera in each stall, I can log in from a website and pull up that stall,” she says. “So, as the property owner, I can log in and look at everything, but if I have a boarder, they would get a password to see just their horse.”

At this point, Harrison's system is the first and only of its type installed by the company. “I would never want to experiment on a client, so I was the guinea pig,” he says, pointing out that Atronic has since tweaked the technology.

If you ask him, the new system couldn't be much better. A temperature sensor in his driveway tells him when a car pulls in or people walk by, but he gets to decide whether to raise an eyebrow — an important distinction with wildlife around. A buzzer inside his home still fulfills the traditional alarm role in case he doesn't feel like having a phone at his side. For now, he thinks the new system is the way to go. “I like it quite a bit,” he says. “I always know when my kids come home at midnight.”

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of Kansas City Homes & Gardens.