For some perspective we just had a "silent alarm and response" test

I currently work for a pretty wealthy town and our office just had a test done of the silent alarms and a timing of response.

So the chief was here, radio ready, everyone was expecting the test. The town just dropped a load of cash on new PD toys by the way.

We press the button. The light blinks.

Waiting.
Waiting.
Waiting.

About 5 minutes pass.

The chiefs radio finally alerts. He goes to respond. Nothing. He calls back on his personal cell phone.

This is a well funded (overly funded) small town. The PD is 1.2 miles away from our offices.

From the time the silent alarm was pressed (presumably the moment you feel your life is in danger) it took 5 minutes for the call to even get in to the PD.

So anyone who thinks "gun free" is the way to be I want you to stare at a clock for five minutes. Assume that on the first second of the first minute is when you saw a gun in your face.

Don't worry about yourself. Don;t worry about your coworkers, your family, your children or anyone else in the office because in a mere 5 minutes somebody with a gun will arrive to put a sheet over your corpse.

Oh, and the best part. The chief started laughing around minute three and joked "well, I guess we;re all dead."

Next time you start in with "only cops" or "gun free zone" nonsense do us all a favor and punch yourself in the face because I don't appreciate being put in the position of a sitting duck to pacify your paranoid and irrational fears.

Maybe it was too early for them



munching donuts is important too

Well, i have worked as a hotel technician for small 10 years and my job among other was to make sure the sillent alarms allways worked and was testet.

They never saved lifes for two reasons, 1: they are not specificly intended to 2: no life were in imediate danger.
What they did though was making sure that 3 out 5 robberies were obstructed and the offender was caught in the act or escape.

The respons time from law inforcement was snap spot on or within 3 to 5 min. usually from a patrol car in the vicinity.

Respons time will allways differ as to location and situation, but a sillent alarm is a safety guard no matter what for employes and the company, it's pretty much the same with a fire alarm, they don't spawn firemens allover immediately, it does take time for them to react.

originally posted by: Mianeye

Respons time will allways differ as to location and situation, but a sillent alarm is a safety guard no matter what for employes and the company, it's pretty much the same with a fire alarm, they don't spawn firemens allover immediately, it does take time for them to react.

Yup. This much is obvious. It's simple reality. However there is still a large segment of the population who believes nonsense like "don't use a gun, just call the police" and worse they actively legislate the behavior of others based on such nonsense.

a reply to: thisguyrighthere

Oh wait, i diden't notice this was another gun thread....my bad, sorry...i'm out.

a reply to: thisguyrighthere

All i can say about this is i know people that were being rob and killed their robbers thanks to having a gun (perhaps saving his life or avoiding a kidnapping attempt) and i know people that were killed just for having a gun. It goes both ways and if you are not willing to kill someone is better to not pull a gun into an attacker.

a reply to: thisguyrighthere

What you have to worry about is how much chalk is in the PD budget because that's what's needed on a late response in "gun free" zones - they'll come and draw lines around you, provide free photo services, bags and transportation to the cooler. None of this involves revenue generation so what's the hurry anyway.

One also has to keep in mind its settled law that they have no responsibility to protect you.

Seriously I don't know how the "anti's" think a cop is just waiting at their beck and call when life threatening situations crop up.

These days I'd be afraid to even have an alarm in my house because when the SWAT team gets here, they'll shoot me and then shoot my dog.

originally posted by: Mianeye
Well, i have worked as a hotel technician for small 10 years and my job among other was to make sure the sillent alarms allways worked and was testet.

They never saved lifes for two reasons, 1: they are not specificly intended to 2: no life were in imediate danger.
What they did though was making sure that 3 out 5 robberies were obstructed and the offender was caught in the act or escape.

The respons time from law inforcement was snap spot on or within 3 to 5 min. usually from a patrol car in the vicinity.

Respons time will allways differ as to location and situation, but a sillent alarm is a safety guard no matter what for employes and the company, it's pretty much the same with a fire alarm, they don't spawn firemens allover immediately, it does take time for them to react.

Then that's called "false sense of security". Maybe that should be fixed?

originally posted by: WarminIndy

originally posted by: Mianeye
Well, i have worked as a hotel technician for small 10 years and my job among other was to make sure the sillent alarms allways worked and was testet.

They never saved lifes for two reasons, 1: they are not specificly intended to 2: no life were in imediate danger.
What they did though was making sure that 3 out 5 robberies were obstructed and the offender was caught in the act or escape.

The respons time from law inforcement was snap spot on or within 3 to 5 min. usually from a patrol car in the vicinity.

Respons time will allways differ as to location and situation, but a sillent alarm is a safety guard no matter what for employes and the company, it's pretty much the same with a fire alarm, they don't spawn firemens allover immediately, it does take time for them to react.

Then that's called "false sense of security". Maybe that should be fixed?

So is a lifewest in an airplane but still very usefull and lifesaving in the right situation.

originally posted by: Mianeye


So is a lifewest in an airplane but still very usefull and lifesaving in the right situation.

So basically any situation that could take longer than 5 minutes plus response time, so... Hostage taker?

Silent alarm, implies threat is present and knows people are there.

BTW what happen to leaving yet another gun thread?

Or are you in the habit of making false statements to prove a superficial point?

a reply to: benrl

So basically any situation that could take longer than 5 minutes plus response time, so... Hostage taker?

No, if a guy is wielding a weapon he should still be chased after his escape from the first crime that activated the silent alarm, the closer the police are the higher the chance of getting him doing the crime or he could still potentionally be dangerous after his first crime and cause harm to other people outside, IMO common sense.

Silent alarm, implies threat is present and knows people are there.

Exactly, you got that part right, it also implies potentional dangerous criminal on the run as the police are well aware of that some criminals act very fast.

BTW what happen to leaving yet another gun thread?

There was no gun talk in the comment above so i felt the need to answear, my choice my decision, why do you care about something that irrelevant, you want to disscus it?

Or are you in the habit of making false statements to prove a superficial point?

Irrelevant again, not trying to prove anything just trying to participate in a disscusion about silent alarms which i have plenty of knowledge about, i unfortunately didn't see that this was a talk about guns untill someone answeared me after my first comment, and diden't feel the need to go in to that topic.

Options to get help are not superficial, even if the help takes time to reach you or is in the form of a lifewest as i wrote above.

Do you have any other useless comments you wanna throw at me now that i am here?

The important thing to remember is to make sure you only shoot other people with guns. Sure some of them might also be people trying to help but, they will shoot you first if given the chance since they have no idea who you are. If they do not have a gun avoid shooting them. Of course if they are in a state of panic and then they see you in regular clothes with a gun in the middle of a shooting they may think your the shooter and attack you. I guess you could shoot them then, just do not let anybody else with a gun see you because they also will be shooting anybody not in uniform with a gun. If only life were only more like TV shows where you always know who the bad guys with guns are and who the good guys are and everybody is highly trained, combat veteran who is an expert marksman. Sure would make random barely trained heros with guns less likely to be shooting each other or the people they trying to save.

I think the OP was just showing an example of how the police are minutes away when they are needed in seconds. With the sheer amount of home invasions and burglaries that happen people should have other means of protection and a gun is a very effective one.