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Hack Clinkscale, an Alarm.com service provider with family

How Alarm.com Prevented a Break-In from Afar

Hack Clinkscales, owner of Southern Burglar and Fire Alarm, Co. in Belton, South Carolina, has been an Alarm.com service provider for almost a decade. He's used to selling security systems to help his customers keep their homes secure, but it wasn't until recently that he found himself using his own system to protect his home.

Hack became the owner of Southern Burglar and Fire Alarm Co. in Belton, South Carolina, almost 50 years ago, after his father passed along the company to him. It was his grandfather who originally started the company nearly a century ago with the goal to help others live a more secure life—and that still holds true today.

Southern Burglar and Fire Alarm Co

Several months ago, Hack was attending a weekly video conference in his office with Alarm.com partners, Jack Dix and Emily Farace on the call. Halfway through the meeting, he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was his daughter, Sarah Catherine, with his phone in her hands. A push notification from Alarm.com appeared on the screen and when she opened it, they observed someone at Hack’s farm they didn’t recognize. “Is this one of the landscapers?” Sarah asked. “No, I don’t know who that guy is," replied Hack.

Hack followed the individual’s path through his Alarm.com home video surveillance system. His video doorbell captured the individual walking from the porch to the garage, then his outdoor camera captured him walking from the tractor shed to the greenhouse. When Hack realized it was a trespasser snooping around, he excused himself from the meeting and hopped in his truck immediately.

On the way, the Flex IO on his northern gate, sent a notification alerting him that the trespasser was leaving that end of his property. “I called the sheriff's department and they met me en route,” explained Hack. “We apprehended the perpetrator, who, when law enforcement arrived, was sitting in my brand-new golf cart. If the Flex IO had not alerted me to which end of my one-mile-long private road this gentleman was exiting, we would never have caught him.”

The Value of Alarm.com

After experiencing how a smart home security system could help him catch a trespasser, Hack wants others to know the value Alarm.com can bring not only to their homes, but to their peace of mind.

“The amazing thing about Alarm.com and the cameras is whether you're at home, at work, or even hundreds of miles away, you are present when you can't be there, because you can pull your video up in real time on your phone through the app," says Hack. “This is so handy if you own multiple pieces of property and when you have multiple people on the app viewing the property.”

Being able to add multiple users to the security system gives Hack’s daughters, Sarah Catherine and St. Claire, peace of mind when they can’t be with their dad.

“With Alarm.com, I feel like I'm constantly there for my dad and it allows me to be an extra pair of eyes,” says Sarah Catherine. “When he's not able to check his phone, we also get the notifications, so we're all in touch and able to see what's going on. It's very reassuring for our family.”

Hack Clinkscale - Home Security Story

Watching the trespasser in real-time and being able to easily track him throughout her dad's property with the Alarm.com products has made Sarah Catherine an even bigger fan of the smart home security system than she already was.

“It was definitely the craziest moment that we were able to catch on camera,” says Sarah Catherine. “This experience made me more of an Alarm.com fan than I already was. Everyone should have Alarm.com, not only for security, but also for the peace of mind it brings." 

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