Crime Triggers Demand
By Lisa Van De Ven
It seems Jodie Foster is not the only one panicking these days. While Foster is currently starring in The Panic Room, many other celebrities and wealthy individuals are building real-life panic rooms in their homes. And not just in the United States. Panic rooms, also known as safe rooms, are spaces inside a home, where families can go during a robbery. Built with bullet-proof doors, fortified walls and a land-based cellular phone, the room is meant to keep homeowners safe until police arrive. “A safe room is really a holding pen within the home,” says Sean O’Leary, president of Safetech Alarm Systems in Toronto. “The idea is to be safe and to be able to make your communication from there.”
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Deirdre McMurdy
In 1983, after a botched abduction attempt ended in a shootout on the lawn of his estate south of Dublin, billionaire Galen Weston had a change of plan: He relocated his family and principal residence to Canada.
These days, however, he might think twice about seeking security in the Great White North. Although fellow billionaire Ken Thomson is a familiar sight ambling alone, except for his two little dogs, through the streets around his Rosedale mansion in Toronto, or picking up his own dry cleaning in a Mercedes with recognizable custom licence plates, he’s becoming a rarity. In 1990, when the daughter of Vancouver billionaire Jimmy Pattison was kidnapped and held for 14 hours, such crimes were almost unheard of in Canada. Times have changed.
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An alarm installing company out of Toronto is putting in thousands of security systems for free making it more difficult for burglars to find unprotected homes and businesses to break intro.
A customer's only requirement is to pay a low monthly fee so that the security company can monitor the premises on an ongoing basis and dispatch the proper authorities when an alarm occurs.
Sean O`Leary, president of Safetech Alarm Systems says, "in the Toronto area, an unprotected house is 40 times more likely to be burglarized with 38 times greater property loss compared to a protected home."
For more free information call: (416)229-9902
Toronto Sun
What’s going on at your home or business when you’re not there? Why not log on and check?
By Ian Harvey
Home and business video surveillance systems used to be the domain of the well-heeled or large corporate concerns who could afford to deploy the resources required to install and monitor the equipment. However, a combination of falling prices and Internet-based technology seems to have come up with a solution for the average home and small business. Internet accessible video monitoring systems are cheap, easy to install and provide instant peace of mind because they can be remotely monitored anywhere there’s Net access - including over mobile phones.
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By Grace Macaluso
Bob Forrest is borrowing from the past to come up with a security system for the future. When his downtown 19-storey condominium complex opens its doors in 2003, the entrance will feature a doorman. You can have all the fancy technology money can buy says Mr. Forrest owner of The Forrest group of companies. But at the end of the day your security is only as good as your people.
The doorman is part of a more comprehensive security system at the Avanti, located at 38 Charles St E plains include a concierge and closed-circuit television surveillance of common areas, such as the lobby and underground parking garage.
After location and affordability security it’s a major selling feature for Toronto’s two predominant purchasing groups-young urban professionals and empty nesters, says Mark Cohen, vice president of sales and marketing at Concord Adex Developments. Empty nesters are always away a lot and young professionals are either spending long hours at work or leading busy social lives, says Mr. Cohen.
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By Ryersonian Staff
It’s the first real day of spring — hello shorts, skirts and sunglasses. But that doesn’t matter to Charles Camato and Brant Bell. (The man are pictured in photo number 1, Bell to the left and Camato to the right.) They are the men in black, strictly suit-and-tie attire — and seriously out of place on Ryerson’s campus. The two men — security experts from Toronto’s Safe Tech Alarm Systems – agreed to walk around campus and give The Ryersonian their professional opinion on the strengths and flaws of Ryerson security.
“You need to have the ability to control and track a target (a person) from one place to another,”Bell said, while pushing the benefits of maintaining a “Big Brother” style of campus security. A watchful eye on campus can’t hurt — following several recent security issuse.
On March 15, a Ryerson teacher was assaulted in her own classroom. On March 13, an RTA student was the victim of an armed robbery in the lobby of the Rogers Communications Centre. While some might cite privacy concerns regarding closed circuit television (CCTV), the security experts say that cameras makes law enforcement easier.
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By Jim Wilkes
Homeowners who leave ladders unattended or windows unsecured are giving burglars an open invitation to bypass ground-floor security systems and break in through upper storeys, Peel police say.
The warning comes after this week’s arrest of a Mississauga man charged with 50 break-ins across the GTA over the past 18 months that netted more than $800,000 in cash, gold and jewellery.
Det. Randy Brack said high-end homes in Halton, Peel and York were targeted, usually on Saturday and Sunday nights when residents were out.
“You can drive down any street in any neighbourhood and spot the ones where people aren’t home because they’re dark,” Brack said.
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Kevin Reid for Metro Dreamhomes
A security system can deter thieves from stealing your possessions.With advances in protection technology evolving faster than ever, securing your home is rapidly becoming a 21st-century staple rather than a sign of worry. In fact, the market is growing so quickly that it can be difficult to sort through what security options are right for your house or condo. Sean O’Leary, president of Safe-Tech Alarm Systems in Toronto, helped to clear the path. For condo owners, a large part of your security needs are taken care of when you move in. Secured ground entrances, pre-wired alarms, 24-hour video surveillance and dedicated concierges are now standard features of many new condominiums.
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By David Rider
Phone in a fire alarm that turns out to be false and the city will burn you with a bill of $350 for every emergency vehicle dispatched.
The fee, one tiny revenue generator that helped balance Toronto's $9.2 billion operating budget, has triggered warning bells from alarm companies even as politicians' congratulatory speeches were ringing through City Hall.
Toronto expects to send out 10,000 false-alarm invoices per year, generating $6.6 million even after a financial analyst and accounting assistant are hired to process them.
"Ouch!" said Sean O'Leary, owner of Safe Tech Alarm Systems, when told of the fee that was previously levied only against repeat offenders. "That's a real problem."
Safe Tech has about 2,000 Toronto customers with smoke detectors wired to their security systems. If an alarm sounds and a Safe Tech monitoring station can't reach the homeowner, the company calls the fire department.
And it doesn't matter if the homeowner calls back moments later to report it was just a smoky fish fry.
"Once a dispatch has been made, even if it's known to be false, (fire trucks) still go," said O'Leary.
"The fee wouldn't be fair," he said, adding he needs to know if the bills will be sent to his firm, potentially setting up fights with customers.
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