Too often, you feel unsafe in your own home. Whether you have moved into a neighborhood that is a bit rowdier than you expected or whether a rowdy crowd has invaded what was once a quiet part of the city, you need to be able to keep the streets safe for everyone, to include you and your family. That might be why you and fellow homeowners in your area are considering hiring a professional security service to patrol your neighborhood.
The presence of community security can help you feel safe in your home — but there are costs to consider before you invest. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of using professional guarding services in your neighborhood.
Pros of Neighborhood Security Services
A large number of communities employ some level of security service, from a guard that stands at the neighborhood’s entrance to check the credentials of visitors to regular patrols that circle the streets searching for illicit activity. There are noteworthy benefits to having security staff on site, to include:
Physical, In-person Protection
You might feel more secure with security cameras surveilling your home, but if an intruder paces around your yard or enters through a window, the cameras can do nothing but watch. Traditional home security services might catch the intruder and dispatch a guard or notify the police, but it could be many minutes before they are apprehended, which allows them ample time to cause damage or get away with valuables. When you have a security guard on site, there is someone in your immediate vicinity to react to an intruder and keep you safe.
Deterrence from Security Presence
Oftentimes, security guards do not need to react to reports of invasions or attacks because their very presence convinces would-be criminals to stay away. More effective than signs about security services, a security guard posted at the entrance of your neighborhood or routinely patrolling your streets tells criminals that they will be caught, so they will usually choose to commit crimes in a different neighborhood that is less diligent about security.
Trustworthy Background Checks
Some neighborhoods opt for neighborhood watch initiatives instead of professional security, but this might be a mistake. Security companies perform thorough background checks on their personnel, so you can be certain that the guard tasked with keeping your home safe is trustworthy and experienced. The same might not necessarily be true of your neighbors.
Cons of Neighborhood Security Services
Regrettably, there are some downsides to hiring neighborhood security guards — or else every neighborhood would have them. Some of the most significant reasons neighborhoods opt not to invest in professional security include:
Relatively High Cost
A constant security presence in your neighborhood can become expensive, and many homeowners do not have the extra budget to afford a regular patrol. This is why wealthier neighborhoods more often benefit from security services. Still, you might work together with your neighbors to pool the resources to pay for security, or you might use funds available from your neighborhood homeowner’s association.
Possibility of Complacency
Most neighborhoods rarely suffer criminal attacks, and the likelihood of a crime decreases significantly with a security presence. As a result, guards can become bored and complacent, which makes them less vigilant to risks and threats. The best solution to this problem is hiring a reputable and reliable security company, which offers information about the hiring and training practices it employs to keep its officers sharp.
Non-ubiquitous Nature
A security guard is one person, and that person cannot be everywhere in the neighborhood at once. Thus, if there is an event that requires security presence at more than one home at the same time, you or your neighbor might be forced to wait or call upon other security solutions, like the police, instead of your regular guard. This is equally true when it comes to surveillance; a single guard can only see so much at one time, which means there could be criminal activity that is not immediately identified and interrupted. If this frustrates you, you might hire a security company that can dispatch several security officers at a time.
Professional security services can improve your sense of safety in your own home. Many of the disadvantages of professional security is easily overcome by working with your neighbors and selecting the right security company. For many, the advantages are too obvious to ignore, and neighborhood security is an easy choice to make.
