Safe & Secure

“Security is about peace of mind and each individual is different,” says Justin Williams of Amia Solutions in Minneapolis, a home-technology provider. “A security solution needs to be designed around an individual’s or family’s lifestyle.” As an example, Williams describes a system for a family in which the children arrive home before the parents. Each child is given his or her own code for the security system, and punches it in when he or she gets home. The system sends a message to the parent—by phone or e-mail—that their child is home. A message is also sent if the child didn’t arrive within a specified amount of time. Williams admits his example isn’t quite the norm—at least, not yet—but the technology is available.

At the most basic level, Twin Cities’ homeowners use lights, cameras, or a combination of both to keep their homes safe. “The biggest security tie-in that home automation can do is with lighting,” says Joe Castro, co-owner of Nighthawk Security, a company that provides security systems. “Lighting enhances a whole security system in preventing a break-in. If I was a burglar and heard a siren, I’d go and hide from the siren,” Castro says. “But if all the lights come on at once, I can be seen. You now have two means of preventing this person from breaking in.”

Lighting automation can take many forms—from turning on at certain times to flashing when the system is tripped. The visual component of an alarm can help fire, police, or emergency medical workers to find a home.

The system in Sandy Witta’s  Minnetonka home knows the time of each day’s sunrise and sunset and sets the lighting accordingly. It’s a feature the Wittas added for safety, convenience, and energy savings when they built their home in the fall of 2006.

Seeing is an important component to home security, and cameras can provide an immediate view into what might have just tripped an alarm—you can see if the intruder is a cat or a potential criminal. “It’s a proactive way to monitor what is going on without overdoing it,” Dhariwal says.

Most automated camera systems are integrated into a home’s entertainment system. Cameras can be installed anywhere, and homeowners can bring up a camera view on any television with a remote control. Increasingly, Twin Cities homeowners are installing front-door cameras that augment an intercom system; they’re able to see who’s at the door or gate before buzzing them in.

Cameras can be equipped with motion sensors, so they record only when something moves in front of them. That information is then stored on a hard drive for viewing later. For instance, once a car enters the driveway, a motion-sensing light can turn on. Then, a camera with the same motion sensing capability begins recording and sends a signal to the house that someone has arrived.

“It gives the perception that someone is at home and allows the homeowner to see what’s coming in,” Dingle says.