Security Systems

Only 6% of all American households have any sort of electronic security system, compared with 10% of the group surveyed representing the top two-thirds in terms of income. But no more than 3% have systems that include interior motion detection. That was one of the findings of a survey conducted by STAT Resources, a Boston research firm, for the Santa Monica-based Security Equipment Industry Assn.

A homeless man bypassed security systems at Los Angeles City Hall last week, going into a councilman's office where he wrote on a wall and chased away aides before being arrested, city officials said. The transient, described by police as being under the influence of narcotics, breached security shortly before 4 p.m., entering through doors on the building's Spring Street side that are typically locked to the public. The man walked through those doors as someone else was exiting the building, according to an advisory issued by the Los Angeles Police Department to city employees.

QUESTION: I am on a limited budget, but I want to install a security(burglar) system in my home. I leave lights on now, but that pushes up electric bills. What type of easy-to-install systems are available? ANSWER: Although security systems use some electricity, they consume less than keeping lights on. You can install a basic do-it-yourself security system for about $100 to $200.

Henry Waxman has been elected to Congress 20 times, to serve 40 years. He became an Atlas to House Democrats and of the California delegation, shouldering power in a system that rewards many things, including tenure - or tenacity, which in D.C. can be the same thing. Now, he says he has run his last congressional race . His longevity and his forcefulness made him a major Capitol Hill player who left a significant mark on public policy. He brought the tobacco lobby to heel, helped enact the healthcare overhaul and has kept climate and environmental issues on the front burner.

Getting bids for the installation of a professional alarm system can be a daunting and time-consuming task. And with an estimated 15,000 people licensed to install professional systems in California, it's impossible to get bids from all of them. To give you an idea of how much a system might cost to install in your own home, The Times contacted four alarm companies and asked them to give security recommendations for a two-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot Los Angeles-area house.

Many homeowners look at home security systems as complicated and hard to use. People accidentally trip their own alarms, which in turn automatically dials the security company and sometimes the local police. The System 2000e by Honeywell of Golden Valley, Minn., makes home alarms easier to use because of its alpha-numeric display that tells you in words what the status of the system is. For example, when you turn on the system, the display reads "Armed."

A homeless man bypassed security systems at Los Angeles City Hall last week, going into a councilman's office where he wrote on a wall and chased away aides before being arrested, city officials said. The transient, described by police as being under the influence of narcotics, breached security shortly before 4 p.m., entering through doors on the building's Spring Street side that are typically locked to the public. The man walked through those doors as someone else was exiting the building, according to an advisory issued by the Los Angeles Police Department to city employees.

Over the objections of some teachers, the school board has decided to use a $432,000 state grant to upgrade security systems, fund school telephones and intercoms, increase handicapped access and purchase instructional materials. Under state law, the grant could only be used for one-time expenses, which ruled out salary increases or other employee benefits, Westminster School District officials said.

Owners of home security systems in Hermosa Beach will have to pay the city a $100 fine if they have more than three false alarms in the same fiscal year. The measure, adopted Tuesday by the City Council, is similar to ordinances in other cities. It becomes effective May 25 and continues an earlier requirement that alarm system owners obtain permits from the city. In proposing the ordinance, Public Safety Director Steve Wisniewski said that between 95% and 99% of alarm calls are false.

Codercard Inc., an Irvine-based company that makes security systems that keep "hackers" from breaking into computer systems, has named a new chairman and announced a sophisticated new product on the drawing boards designed to foil thieves who steal information from computers. The company announced Monday that it named Robert W. Herman chairman at the company's annual meeting earlier this month. He replaced Richard Reins, 58, who remains a board member.

A taxpayer-funded project to provide a home security system for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas included improvements to his converted garage that involved a week of work and upgrades to the building's electrical service, according to interviews and records. County-paid crews installed the security system in Ridley-Thomas' detached garage, which earlier had been turned into an office, apparently without permits. Workers replaced the garage's interior walls and dug a 60-foot-long trench across the property to bury conduit and make more electrical power available to the structure, the manager of the project said.

AT&T, looking to take home security into the future, has begun offering " Digital Life ," a new service that allows AT&T customers to control various parts of their homes with their smartphones or tablets. The AT&T "smarthome" service allows users to control their home's security cameras, door locks, lights, thermostats, small appliances and other parts all from a mobile app that runs on Apple, Android and Windows Phone devices. A YouTube video demonstrating Digital Life shows an AT&T representative unlocking her front door, turning on her fireplace, and even dealing with a water leak by remotely shutting off the valve with her tablet.

WASHINGTON - On the third day of hearings on a bill to overhaul the immigration system, senators took a break from partisan sniping and grilled Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on whether the Boston bombings had exposed shortcomings in the nation's immigration security apparatus. Conservative Republicans have tried to slow the Senate bill since two brothers, ethnic Chechens granted political asylum from Russia as minors with their family, were identified as the suspects in last week's bombings.

Tumblr, Pinterest and Twitter have become the latest in a long list of companies to be hacked. And this time, some user information appears to have been compromised. The three companies announced that some users' email addresses may have been exposed by a hacker who was able to access them by hacking the computer system for a third-party customer service company, Zendesk. The company provides customer service software for the three social networks and thousands of other companies.

NEW YORK - A door-to-door clothing salesman was arrested and charged with three counts of murder Wednesday in the slayings of three shopkeepers in Brooklyn, crimes that terrorized merchants and that police said would probably have continued if the suspect had not been caught. Salvatore Perrone, 63, "made statements implicating himself," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news briefing. Kelly also said detectives had linked a .22-caliber sawed-off rifle found in Perrone's duffel bag to all three killings.

A Utah teenager arrested in a plot to detonate a bomb during a high school assembly pleaded no contest Thursday to a reduced charge after prosecutors decided he had a minimal role in the plan. Dallin Morgan had originally been charged with felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction, but prosecutors concluded that the plan was actually dreamed up by a 16-year-old accomplice; Morgan's plea Thursday was to criminal mischief. In addition to 105 days in jail, he was ordered to serve 18 months' probation.

With the continuing--and seemingly endless--high rate of crime against people and property, it's no wonder that my columns on home security elicit an above-average reader response. This isn't surprising, with crime a major concern of people everywhere. What can the average homeowner do about such a complex subject as home security? Plenty, according to security authorities Doug Kirkpatrick and Daniel J. Levine.

A leading U.S. expert on biological warfare walked through security at the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday carrying 7 grams of powdered anthrax in a small plastic bottle, proceeding directly to a hearing about biological terrorism before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and displaying his deadly sample. The expert, William C.

A security firm announced this week it plans to launch a new security system that will not only protect you from hackers but will also go after them. CAT Inc. says its patented OT-OCN technology-based security system is built to give users, small businesses and enterprises piece of mind when surfing the Web by giving them a system that will stop hackers and attack them too. The company said its system lets users know whenever a hacker goes after them. It then informs users how a hacker's attempted attack was stopped and where the attack originated from.

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders from both parties are pressing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to address newly raised questions about BioWatch, the nation's system for detecting deadly biological attacks. In letters issued Thursday and last week, the leaders said their questions were prompted by a July 8 Los Angeles Times article that identified repeated shortcomings in BioWatch's performance, including dozens of false alarms that signaled apparent terrorist attacks when none had occurred.