Car alarm can help in home

By Loyd Cook

May 11, 2008 09:18 pm

— There’s a handy button that can help in the area of personal safety and it’s a button you might not think about.
It’s the car alarm button on your key or on the little pod attached to your key ring.
Chief Deputy Mike Cox of the Navarro County Sheriff’s Office found this interesting tip in the inbox of his e-mail program recently. He thought so much of it that he wanted to relay it on.
“From inside your home, push the panic button on your key ring just as a test,” Cox said. “If you can set off the alarm, or horn, on your car, then it works in a dual purpose.”
The chief deputy used the example of a lone woman hearing noises outside her home ... noises that might lead her to believe someone is trying to break in to the residence.
“Punch the panic button and set off the car alarm and it attracts attention,” Cox said. “That gives an intruder a reason to run away to get away from unwanted attention.”
The e-mail also notes that any person with a health condition could make sure to carry their keys with them while they work outside in the yard alone. Then, in the event of a heart attack or some other health event, pushing the panic button could attract the attention of a family member or a neighbor.
Keeping the keys beside the bed at night is another way to have that car alarm hand for use from within the home.
The e-mail attributes the “tip” as coming from a neighborhood watch coordinator.
“This was just a real neat idea,” Cox said. “And it’s something just so obvious I’m surprised it hasn’t come up before.”
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Loyd Cook may be reached via e-mail at lcook@corsicanadailysun.com