Being that your residential/business/commercial security system isn’t a retail item, you wouldn’t go to your local supermarket to purchase it.

However, our supermarkets and retailers are stepping outside of their traditional markets into the highly regulated security industry and offering off-the-shelf security systems at bargain prices.

These off-the-shelf products are generally the Hyundai Getz of the car market but marketed as the Ferrari F40.

The retailer uses marketing terminology to disclose the bare minimum detail of the package with buzz words like night vision and advanced motion detection.

In reality, these products are generally cheap impersonators of the high-quality, reliable and guaranteed products sold by licensed security providers and installers. 

If you are lured by the cheap price and buy a security system from a supermarket or retailer, you are buying an unknown product from an unqualified vendor who cannot offer you any pre-sales advice as to whether the system is right for you and your needs.

The buzz words on the packaging may peak your excitement, but you need to know if the specs of the system are going to match your desired security outcomes.

After sales support is also unavailable from mainstream retailers, so there is no peace of mind for you as the purchaser that your assets are adequately protected both now and in the long term.

This is a hot topic right now in light of the recent press on Australian CCTV systems being hacked and shown on a Russian website.

The issue here is most likely that the purchaser of a DIY security system has failed to change the default password or the default communications ports for the product, leaving them exposed to hacking. Incidentally, I’ve never seen one of our clients’ systems be hacked.

There’s an old saying, you get what you pay for, and this is very true for security solutions. The retail business who wants to put an end to shoplifting once and for all invests in a managed service CCTV system from a licensed supplier rather than cutting corners with an off-the-shelf product from a mainstream retailer.

Why? Because they want peace of mind that the system is installed appropriately to ensure full coverage of their shop, and that the image quality will allow for successful identification of the shoplifter.

By adding in the managed service element they have even greater peace of mind that over time the system continues to operate at optimum capacity.

By promoting the success of its CCTV system in a public domain, would be shoplifters are strongly deterred & those caught red-handed are shamed.

The Security Licencing Enforcement Directorate is being urged by its members to crack down on the supermarkets and retailers who are arguably in direct breach of the Security Industry Act 1997.

Your security system is the most valuable tool in your defence against theft, property damage and criminal behaviour, and more – please invest wisely.

Always check that your security system provider holds a current security licence. You can do this via the Service NSW website with the trading name, licence number or licensee name.