Alarm system interest up after murders

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - More people are looking into home alarm systems following a break-in that turned deadly in Kentwood.

One security company told 24 Hour News 8 that two people in Kentwood signed up Monday to have alarms installed in their homes, and dozens of others called with questions about alarm systems.

When Peggy Meeuewenberg leaves her home, she makes sure it's protected.

She heard about David Bouwman and his wife Vivian, a Kentwood couple in their 80s, shot to death during what appears to be a recent home invasion.

"I don't understand it. It makes me just horrified to think of what they felt like when they realized someone was in their home," said Meeuewenberg.

Susan McElgunn works for Grand Rapids-based Engineered Protection Systems. She showed 24 Hour News 8 some of the systems her company offers.

"When the door opens, this one is set up right now to chime and let us know," McElgunn explained.

She knows all the bells and whistles homeowners can buy to protect their homes and themselves.

"Basically, what you want to have in every single house, and as a company this is what we always want to do, is we want to have something on every door that comes from the outside and goes into the house."
   
McElgunn said the key is having sensors anywhere a thief could get in: The windows and at the very least the doors.

Another security expert told 24 Hour News 8 a security system hooked up through a cellular service is more reliable than through a land line phone, which can be cut, or the Internet, which can go down.

Meeuewenberg also works for Engineered Protection Systems. Her system even has cameras that record any movement outside.

"For me, it's knowing that when I come home, that I'm the first one in, that no one has been here," she said.

A 2009 study from Rutgers University found neighborhoods with burglar alarms in several homes actually have fewer break-ins than those without alarms.

Security systems start at $150, plus a monthly fee of about $30.