I'm a woman. I also understand statistics. >I understand your stats that we are more likely to get into a car accident than have a child abducted from their bed but do you think that Polly Klaas's parents would take comfort in those stats. So if it was your child you would just say wow, they had more of a chance being killed in a car accident than being abducted from home. That's insane thinking. If my kids died because they got a phenomenally rare form of cancer, I'd be devastated, but I wouldn't spend time obsessing about the possibilities of really rare cancers and wouldn't make sure I lived close to a great cancer center, just in case. Nor would I go around hysterically advising parents of the same if it DID happen. >The biggest risk from an unlocked window is burglary and a possible encounter with the burglar(s). That risk will vary greatly by location and time of day. The VAST majority of robberies are during the day--for a reason! If someone who knows you wants to kill you, having a bedroom on the second floor isn't going to help. And the vast majority of murders are of this type. If a stranger is interested in a crime of opportunity, there are many other things to think about before decided that having no first-floor bedrooms window is the solution. A stranger can enter just as easily through any other window and then CLIMB THE STAIRS. Windows can be broken, believe it or not, too. Want to block off all windows with bars? Then you're far more likely to die--from a fire! If you live in a bad neighborhood or a neighborhood with high "crime exposure," then you should have burglar alarms, lights, thorny plants, a dog, etc., before worrying about what floor your bedroom is on. Best advice for not getting murdered? Stay away from unstable people. Seriously. Be careful who you marry! And stay away from drugs, gangs, etc., and those who are involved in them. Don't work in a convenience store or gas station. or be a food delivery person. Don't live in the most crime-ridden neighborhoods, and don't walk through them, either. There. You've just taken out more than 98% of the risk of being killed.

With the size and scope of your project, you really need to find somebody knowledgeable, locally, to come out and view the project first hand and discuss options with you. Once all of your want list is taken into account, though, you may find that this will be a good chunk-of-change. While your intentions may be all good and pure, I would never design and/or install a system that allows of eavesdropping (for whatever reason) on occupants of areas that are considered to be private spaces.

"If you get your windows armed and wish to arm the system at night, you cannot have your windows open. There are special screens you can choose which will set off the alarm if the screens are cut. Then you can have your windows open at night if you wish." The first sentence of that paragraph is not exactly correct. It all depends on your system. You can have the windows "armed" but it's done in such a way that when a window is opened beyond a certain point, the alarm will sound. So, you can have one or more windows open (but not fully open) for ventilation without setting off the alarm. If a burglar comes along and tries to open the window further so he/she can get in, it will set off the alarm. You can also have an alarm system that has specific windows assigned to specific "zones." When you "arm" the system, you can bypass whatever zones you want. So, you can have windows (or doors) in any specific zone(s) completely open because they're bypassed and won't set off the alarm. "You can arm your system to sound off if there is motion within the house. If you have pets you can de-activate the motion detector part of the system so pets can walk around." You can have the motion detectors' infrared beam set to a point that is low enough to catch a human's movement through the area, but high enough to miss cats or dogs walking around. If you have a bird that is allowed to fly through the house, you wouldn't want a motion detector, or if you had cats that jump up on high surfaces. If you have stairs in the house, the beam should be set high enough to catch the motion of someone going upstairs. Again, motion detectors would be set as a specific zone(s), so they could be bypassed when desired. We have a monitored ADT system, and are very happy with it. We can, and have, set "guest codes" so that when we are away on vacation my sister can come into the house without having to know our "official code." There is also a "distress code" -- if I come home and a "bad guy" is waiting outside and forces me to go into the house and turn off the alarm, I would enter the distress code. That turns off the beeping sound (that starts when the door is opened), so the bad guy thinks everything is ok, but it notifies the monitoring company that there's a problem and they would dispatch the police. Or, if I push a specific sequence of keys on the keypad, the monitoring company would call and ask for a "secret word." If I give the right word, all is well; if I give any other word, they know there's a problem and will dispatch help. We have two keypads in the house -- one is in the foyer by the front door, and the other is in the master bedroom (upstairs). Yes, our monitoring company is in the United States.

When I lived in CA, what Elmer describes was quite common - signs but no security system. The house we rented had a private security SERVICE contract - it was a number one called if someone was breaking into the house and you were there. We did pay for this as at that time (early 1980's) the average response time from LAPD was 25 minutes and with the security service, it was 3 minutes. While it was a VERY affluent area (we rented!), there were regular break-ins and it was unsafe to ever walk on the sidewalks after dark - sometimes even earlier. Personal muggins were quite common - this in a neighborhood where the house prices started at about 1.5 million and went UP from there very quickly. BTW - ADT has never offered me additional signs and stickers since I got the system about 18 years ago.