Sir, – Colin Davenport (April 4th) is by no means the only person to deplore the long-running and typically Irish problem of noise pollution from burglar alarms, and the issue that he raises is not frivolous.
It is ironic that so many of those who are indifferent to allowing their home alarm to ring spuriously, repeatedly and at length tend to be the quickest to indignant when an entire Garda district fails to convene in their front garden 60 seconds after any genuine break-in.
Apparently the neighbours of such people are expected to have the intuition or psychic skills to be able to tell the difference between a genuine break-in and a false alarm.
Over the years the chronic nature of false burglar alarm noise has devalued these things to the point where they are no longer taken seriously and are now seen as just a nuisance, albeit distressing. Indeed, burglar alarms are a very effective way of signifying which house is empty. Furthermore by what premise should any one private householder have the right to disturb an entire neighbourhood, in many instances comprising up to hundreds of homes? – Yours, etc,
CHRISTIAN MORRIS,
Howth,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – What better way to indicate you have valuable possessions than by having a house alarm? Why not advertise your absence by having it capable of ringing incessantly? Why not just leave a key in the door for the wandering burglar?
What will your neighbours do if your alarm goes off continuously? They will sigh, close their windows, and get on with the crossword. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM
Firhouse,
Dublin 24.