September brings cooler weather and emptier houses. With school back in session and companies issuing mandatory return to work orders, Camect has identified over 7.7 million reasons to be concerned about #homesafety. Here we will explore risks, reasoning, and what we can do to improve home safety, together.

A Look at the Numbers:
– 52% Businesses in 2022 with “Return to work” Mandate in Place
– 7.7 Million: Children Come Home from School to an Empty House
– 2.5 Million: Number of Home Invasions in 2021
– Noon – 4pm: Time Most Home Invasions Occur
– 85,000: Vacant Childcare Staffing Positions
– 75%: American homes self reporting they are without any type of security system

The Big Picture:
Individually, those numbers are definitely concerning. But, when you put them together, they become downright alarming. It is not unrealistic to worry about a child coming home from school to a robbery in progress. Between the rise in crime and return of “latchkey kids” we need more eyes at home, watching over our children and those in the neighborhood more than ever before.

The term latchkey was coined in the late 1970’s when divorce rates spiked and moms started working outside of the home. Community support quickly stepped in, nearly invalidating the term within 7 years. After school programs, sports and extended classes helped cover the gap for parents until they got home from work. However, before and after school support nearly evaporated during COVID-19 crisis. There was a need for childcare, but unlike the job market in the 80’s, in 2020 there were not enough people interested or willing to take childcare positions. This has left nearly 8 million children without supervision after school as they come home to an empty house. Made worse, this is happening at a time when area crime rates are spiking, and police response times are challenged. It will get better, though. There is significant attention to this issue, including billions of dollars in resources for non-school hour programming. But it will take time. On a positive note, unlike the1980’s we now have plenty of technological options to encourage safety and discourage crime.

A Few Solutions:
– Life360 – This app shows where your kids are, how fast they are driving and the battery level of their phone. (However it only works if they have the app open, their phone is charged, and you won’t know if they came home alone, or to someone in the house.)

– Video Doorbell – See who comes and goes and receive an alert about it too. (You will also get alerts on every other bit of activity around the visibility of the camera angle. Could eliminate side and back doors, as well as get annoying in the abundance of alerts.)

– Video Security System – Can range in price from $90 – $4000 plus monthly service subscriptions. Complexity varies. Success is contingent on camera placement and connectivity. Yes this can be accomplished with a DIY approach, but we often wonder why risk it? The cost of professional alarm installation and monitoring pales in comparison to the damage that could be done, in just 30 seconds to your life. Not just your home.

– Camect Smart Camera Hub – No matter what video option you choose or approach to monitoring you take, Camect will make your life easier and potentially (contingent on your response to our proactive alerts) safer. Using advanced AI detection Camect is able to filter out unnecessary alerts, transmitting only critical information. The smart hub acts as intelligence for your security camera. For the DIY customer this means you no longer have any pointless, useless alerts. If you have professional monitoring with two way communication, live agents will issue an instant verbal warning while simultaneously alerting the police if needed.

Camect Smart Camera Hubs are only sold directly to residential customers on a very unique and limited basis, Camect actively partners with every single security dealer across the country, and worldwide. The mission of Camect is to improve the user experience and resulting impact of all video security systems.

For more information about Camect please see Camect.com