Locksmiths say North Charleston, SC, police are taking their business
WCSC-TV
Albert Christoper is a locksmith and is speaking up about the free service the city of North Charleston, S.C., provides to citizens called "Project free entry." The program is set up to assist those that get locked out of their vehicles free of charge. Christoper says the service will affect more than 70 percent of his business.More

Hundreds of cameras going up in downtown Houston
Houston Chronicle
Houston is installing 250 to 300 cameras at downtown intersections in an effort to prevent and fight terrorism and crime, part of a security initiative sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The cameras, which the city began installing in earnest this summer, already have helped police catch car burglars in the act, said Dennis Storemski, the city's director of the Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security. Eventually, he said, the cameras could be used to allow dispatchers or officers approaching a crime scene to survey what's happening from their patrol vehicles before they arrive. More

Drivers deal with frozen car locks
KPTV
Here's an unexpected annoyance that came with the cold weather: frozen car locks. Workers at Precision Locksmith in West Linn, Ore., say they opened more than 60 cars with frozen locks on a chilly November day. They say drivers should never heat up their keys with a lighter or torch in an attempt to get in because that can soften the key and cause it to break inside the lock. William Botek, a locksmith, has this advice for drivers left in the cold. More

Bike lock can climb lamp posts to deter crooks
Newslite
Bikes get stolen. Even when locked to a lamp posts—but what if they where locked to a lamp post and raised 15 feet off the ground? That's the question a group of German inventors asked themselves shortly before creating a lamp post-climbing bike lock. The team from German electronic components firm Conrad dreamt up the gizmo as part of a recent advertising campaign. More

Update your ALOA contact information in real time
ALOA
Login to the Members Only section of the ALOA website to update your contact information in real time.More

False alarm bylaw comes under fire in Toronto
SecurityInfoWatch
Two Toronto city councilors are vowing to extinguish the fire department's crackdown on false alarms as residents unplug their security systems for fear of hefty fines. Gloria Lindsay Luby said she'll table a motion early in the New Year that would restore a previous rule allowing residents one false alarm per year without being fined. In February, councilors approved a zero-tolerance approach without being told by fire officials that single-family homes would be hit the same as highrises or that the routine dispatching of three trucks would turn a $350-per-vehicle fine into a $1,050 bill, she said.More

How to keep cold and flu out of the office
Entrepreneur
The threat cold-and-flu season poses to companies isn't something to sneeze at. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu alone costs U.S. companies $10.4 billion in direct costs including hospitalizations and outpatient visits. The CDC also estimates up to one-fifth of the U.S. population will get the flu in a given flu season and more than 200,000 Americans will be hospitalized with seasonal, flu-related complications.More

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