It's amazing how few installers (maybe 25% at best) use the tamper switches provided on detection devices or provide tamper switches on junction boxes that contain connections.
NOTICE: This comment was moved from an existing discussion: "The Most Secure Door Contacts Available" Claims Magnaspehere
This has been a mystery for me for some time. At one point I was having a discussion with an integrator about a city surveillance system. I told them that the enclosures I'd designed for another had tamper switches and were wired to one of the camera's inputs. They looked at me like I was a wizard. Tens of thousands of dollars into a city system and no one had thought to put a tamper on anything, ever.
I also had this discussion regarding some PIRs once. I pulled one off the wall and nothing happened. The installer hadn't wired any of the tampers, which was indeed specified. His justification was "well, you'll detect motion, so what does it matter?"
And that was when I realized "best practice" is only as good as a given installer can imagine.
We always use tamper switches. In the UK technically you don't need to use from for grade 1 and 2 systems but it's really frowned upon.
Tamper switches can protect the installer as much as the customer, from insiders playing with the system then claiming it failed to work or 3rd parties doing job on the system without knowledge.
Ask questions and get answers to your physical security questions from IPVM team members and fellow subscribers.
