Home Security Assessment: The Free Police Version vs. the Free Sales Version

By the Home Security Systems & Alarms editorial team · Research-based (no hands-on testing) - see how we evaluate · Last updated August 15, 2026

Search for a home security assessment and you will be offered two things with the same name, both free, both real, and built for opposite purposes.

One is a crime prevention survey run by your local police department. An officer walks your property, writes down what is weak, and hands you the list. There is nothing to buy at the end because there is nobody there to sell it.

The other is a free in-home consultation from an alarm company. A specialist walks your property, identifies what is weak, and produces a quote. ADT's own scheduling page describes the third step as helping you "choose the right equipment and services based on your home and family needs."

Neither is a trick. Both are genuinely free and neither hides what it does. But if you book the second one expecting the first, you will end up pricing a system before you have finished diagnosing the problem, and that is the wrong order. This page covers what each one is, what each one produces, how to get either, and how to run the assessment yourself if neither is available where you live.

The two versions side by side

Read down that table and the sequence becomes obvious. The police version answers "what is wrong with my house." The company version answers "what would it cost to fix it with our equipment." Doing them in that order costs nothing and puts you in the second conversation already knowing what you need.

The police version: a free residential security survey

This is the part most people do not know exists. Police departments across the United States run crime prevention units that will send an officer to your home, at no charge, to assess it and write down what they find. The service goes by several names: home security survey, residential security survey, home security assessment, CPTED assessment, security inspection. They are the same thing.

The New York Police Department publishes it plainly: security surveys "are provided free of charge by precinct crime prevention officers to alert homeowners and renters to any security vulnerabilities associated with their homes, and to suggest corrective actions." The NYPD also states that evaluations may be requested for private houses, apartments, schools, building complexes and houses of worship, which means renters are explicitly included.

What they actually inspect

The published scopes are strikingly consistent across departments that have never spoken to each other. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department lists what it evaluates:

• Access points
• Lighting
• Door and window locks
• Alarm systems
• Address visibility
• Landscaping
• Home contents and valuables
• Other areas of concern

LVMPD adds that the service "is free and takes less than one hour." The NYPD's list is nearly identical: "locks, doors, lighting, windows, landscaping, and alarm systems." Chandler, Arizona describes the walk itself: the assessment "begins at your front door and includes an inspection of other doors, windows, locks, lights, and landscaping," after which "the specialist conducting the assessment of your home will compile a checklist of security weaknesses and hazards that require your attention."

One item on the Las Vegas list is worth pausing on, because it is the one nobody selling equipment ever mentions: address visibility. If your house number cannot be read from the street at night, a dispatched officer, an ambulance or a fire crew loses time finding you. That is a genuine safety improvement that costs about fifteen dollars and appears on no product comparison anywhere.

Wellesley, Massachusetts publishes the most detailed scope we found, and it is the only one that explicitly covers the inside of the house: officers look at "fencing, lighting, landscaping," then "doors, windows, walls, roof and floors," then "inspect and evaluate all locks, alarms, and camera systems," and finally "assess the interior of the home or business, and evaluate your interior doors, locks, alarms, safes, and any cameras you have deployed." Wellesley then adds the part that makes the whole exercise worth an hour: "officers sit down with the resident or business owner and review the results. We honestly examine what is working, what could be improved, and what isn't working."

Departments that publish the offer

These are programs we read on the agency's own site on the dates shown in Sources. This is a sample of what is out there, not a national list, because as far as we can establish no national list exists.

The limits, stated honestly

We are not going to tell you this is universally available, because it is not, and we found several ways it falls down.

• It is not everywhere, and the official advice is to phone and ask. The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says security surveys are a service that "most law enforcement agencies provide," notes that the formal written survey usually falls to a crime prevention officer, and instructs residents to "contact your local law enforcement agency to see if this service is provided." That word "most" is doing real work.
• Houston, a top-five US city, appears not to offer one. Houston Police publishes a CPTED resource page that is a document library, including sample home security surveys borrowed from Manchester, Connecticut and Branson, Missouri. There is no offer of a residential survey to Houston residents on it, no phone number and no request form. Useful checklists, no program.
• These are tiny programs. Wellesley's page names four officers. Chandler's names two. A program that depends on two people is a program that pauses when both are busy, and Seattle's own site warns that precinct availability depends on staffing.
• Not every department says it is free. Fayetteville, Coral Springs, Mahwah and Highland Village all describe the service without using the word. It may well be free; it is simply not published, so ask when you call.
• Nobody promises it works. Paradise Valley, Arizona states that "these are suggested recommendations and are not a guarantee that you will not be the victim of a crime." Allen, Texas is blunter: implementing any or all of the survey's options is "no guarantee or assurance that crime will go down, nor will they make the property crime proof." We would treat any source that promises otherwise, including any security company, with the same skepticism those two departments apply to themselves.

There is no national directory, and that is worth knowing

We looked for a single national list of which US police departments run these programs, on the assumption that a crime prevention body would maintain one. We could not find one. The National Crime Prevention Council publishes programs, coalitions and safety material but no lookup tool for security-survey programs. Every authoritative instruction we found says the same thing in different words: the NYPD says contact your local precinct, Anne Arundel says contact the police district where you live, and North Carolina DPS says contact your local agency to see if the service is provided at all.

So the practical answer is a phone call. Ring your department's non-emergency line, not 911, and ask for the crime prevention officer or crime prevention unit. If the department has one, the officer will usually know immediately whether surveys are being scheduled. If nobody knows what you are asking for, that is your answer, and the DIY route below is the fallback.

The company version: a free in-home consultation

The other free assessment is the one you will actually be offered first, because companies buy the search results for it. It is worth understanding on its own terms rather than dismissing it, because for the right question it is the better tool.

ADT publishes it clearly. Its services page offers a "free in-home consultation" and describes it as a "no-obligation consultation with an ADT security expert" who will "help customize a security solution that fits your needs." Its dedicated booking page is titled "Schedule a free consultation" and lists three attributes: fast, with next-day options; free, with "no purchase required"; and online scheduling with no phone calls. The published three-step flow is: schedule, then "an ADT professional will come to your home and personally walk through your security needs with you," then "we'll help you choose the right equipment and services based on your home and family needs."

What happens after, in ADT's own words on its quote form, is "A call from us," "Product assistance," and "Your custom quote."

Two things are worth flagging, neither of them scandalous.

First, the booking flow screens you. ADT's scheduler asks whether you currently have a security system with professional monitoring, whether you own, rent or are a business, and, if you are under contract, whether that contract ends within the next 60 days. Those are perfectly sensible questions for a company that sells monitoring agreements. They are not questions anyone diagnosing your house would need to ask.

Second, the language is careful. Nobody in this transaction is called a salesperson. ADT's consent line does disclose the purpose honestly: you agree that a specialist may contact you "about ADT offers," and it adds that "consent is not required to make a purchase."

Independent dealers follow the same shape. An ADT authorized dealer publishes the agenda for its free home security consultation as three bullets: "Ask questions to understand your needs; Identify security and safety problem areas; Present alternative solutions." It adds "There is absolutely no-obligation - just a lot of valuable security information." The fine print at the foot of the same page is where the actual product lives: a 36-month monitoring contract starting at $34.99 a month for professionally installed systems, 24 months in California, and on early termination "ADT may charge 75% of the monthly service charges due for the balance of the initial contract term."

Alarm New England, a regional dealer, publishes a "free residential security assessment" with "no cost and no obligation," conducted over the phone in a few minutes. Its published scope is the honest tell: property size, how many doors and ground-floor windows, whether you need fire or carbon monoxide detection, and whether you require cameras. That is not a vulnerability assessment. It is a bill of materials. To its credit, the same page describes a step the police version cannot do: "a security expert can assess any existing security equipment to see if it is usable," which genuinely can save money if you have inherited a system with the house.

CPTED, and why every department lists different principles

Most police assessments are built on a framework called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, usually abbreviated CPTED and pronounced "sep-ted." The North Carolina Department of Public Safety gives a compact definition: CPTED "contends that perceived safety in a community can be created by designing a physical environment that influences positive human behavior. CPTED is a process, a way of thinking about crime."

Here is something we did not expect to find. The number of CPTED principles is not standardized, even among official US government sources:

We are not reporting that as a gotcha. It matters because it tells you what CPTED is and is not. It is a way of thinking rather than a standard you can be certified against at home, so nobody can sell you compliance with it. Underneath the different labels, every version asks the same four questions about your property, and you can ask them yourself this afternoon:

1. Can people see this house? (Natural surveillance.) Overgrown shrubs at the front windows, a solid six-foot fence around a side door, an unlit path down the side of the garage: each one gives somebody privacy to work in.
2. Is it obvious how you are supposed to approach it, and hard to approach any other way? (Access control.) A single defined path to a lit front door, gates that latch, a garage side door that is actually locked.
3. Does the property look owned? (Territoriality.) Boundaries, maintained planting, a clear line between your ground and public ground.
4. Does it look cared for? (Maintenance.) A dead porch bulb, a broken gate, mail piling up.

Seattle attaches a caution to all of this that we think is the single most useful sentence any department publishes on the subject, because it runs directly against the way security is normally sold: "Excessive target hardening may create a 'fortressing' effect and could result in a business, home or park appearing as an unsafe or unwelcoming place." More locks, higher fences and brighter floodlights are not monotonically better. There is a point past which they simply advertise that there is something here worth this much trouble.

The insurance question, answered carefully

Vendors raise insurance savings constantly. Alarm New England's page says "insurance companies often lower rates after security upgrades," naming no insurer and no figure. Here is what a named source actually publishes.

The Insurance Information Institute states that "you can usually get discounts of at least 5 percent for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks," and that "some companies offer to cut your premium by as much as 15 or 20 percent if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm that rings at the police, fire or other monitoring stations."

That second figure is repeated everywhere with its conditions stripped off, so read it twice. The 15 to 20 percent is attached to a sprinkler system plus a monitored fire and burglar alarm, not to a doorbell camera and not to an unmonitored DIY kit. Triple-I attaches its own warnings in the same breath: "These systems aren't cheap and not every system qualifies for a discount. Before you buy such a system, find out what kind your insurer recommends, how much the device would cost and how much you'd save on premiums." It also notes that companies "don't all offer the same discount or the same amount of discount in all states."

On whether the assessment itself earns you anything: one department, Highland Village in Texas, states that "some insurance companies offer to reduce your homeowners insurance rate if you have had your local police department conduct a security survey of your home." It names no insurer, no percentage and no requirement. We could not find a single insurer or state insurance department confirming that, so we are reporting it as something one police department says rather than as a fact you can bank on. If your survey officer offers to sign a form, take it to your agent and ask. If they do not, do not assume the discount exists.

If neither is available: run the assessment yourself

Several departments effectively endorse this, which is the strongest argument for it. Chandler publishes a DIY residential CPTED assessment document. Mahwah publishes its survey form and says outright that "you may conduct the analysis on your own and either improve deficiencies that are discovered on your own" or have an officer come and consult on the results. Highland Village publishes its residential checklist specifically so residents "will know what items we will be looking for."

Our printable home security checklist is built for exactly this walk. Four things make a self-assessment worth as much as a visit:

• Walk it twice, once in daylight and once after dark. Half of what a crime prevention officer notices is a lighting problem, and lighting problems are invisible at 2pm.
• Work outside in. Street, then boundary, then approach, then the building envelope, then the interior. That is the order every published police scope follows, and it stops you starting at the alarm panel.
• Write down every gap before you price anything. The entire value of separating assessment from purchase is that you produce the list while nobody is standing next to you with a catalogue.
• Then sort the list by cost. A large share of what turns up is free or nearly free: cutting back a shrub, replacing a porch bulb, actually locking the garage side door, making the house number readable from the street. Those come first, because they cost nothing and they do not depend on anyone answering an alert.

Only what remains after that is a security system question, and that is the point at which our guide to choosing a system and the find-your-setup selector are worth your time. If you rent, check what you are allowed to change before you buy anything, in our renter guidance. And if the list you produce leads to a monitored alarm, look up your city in our alarm permit and false-alarm fine index first, because in much of the country a monitored system carries a registration requirement and a per-incident fine schedule that nobody mentions at the point of sale.

What to ask when you call

For the police version, ring the non-emergency line and ask for the crime prevention officer or crime prevention unit. Four questions settle it:

1. Do you conduct residential security surveys, and is there a cost?
2. How long is the wait for an appointment, and can it be scheduled outside working hours? (Takoma Park publishes evening availability; most departments do not say.)
3. Do I get the findings in writing, or is it a conversation? (Coral Springs emails the completed survey; Chandler leaves the report with you; several publish nothing about the output.)
4. Does anything you provide qualify me for a homeowners insurance discount? (Ask, do not assume.)

For a company consultation, three more:

1. What is the contract length, and what is the early termination charge as a formula, not as a slogan?
2. Which parts of the quote are equipment I own outright, and which are financed or leased?
3. What happens to the monthly price after the promotional period, and is that in writing?

Those three exist because the cost of a security system is almost never the number on the first page of the quote. Our five-year cost calculator exists to turn a monthly figure into the total you will actually pay, and it is a better thing to have open during a consultation than after one.

Frequently asked questions

Do police departments really do free home security assessments?

Many do, but not all, and there is no national list. North Carolina DPS puts it carefully: security surveys are a service that "most" law enforcement agencies provide, and residents should contact their local agency to see whether it is provided at all. Departments publishing the offer in writing include the NYPD, Las Vegas Metro, Lower Merion Township, Anne Arundel County, Henderson, Chandler, Takoma Park, Wellesley and Allen. Houston, a top-five US city, publishes a CPTED document library with no resident survey offer on it at all.

Is an alarm company's free home security assessment a sales appointment?

It is a genuinely free visit whose published deliverable is a quote. ADT states "no purchase required" and describes step three as helping you choose equipment and services; the outcome it advertises is "Your custom quote." A dealer publishes the agenda as understanding your needs, identifying problem areas and presenting alternative solutions. None of that is concealed. It is simply a different deliverable from the police version, which writes down what is wrong and leaves.

What does a police home security survey actually look at?

Las Vegas Metro lists access points, lighting, door and window locks, alarm systems, address visibility, landscaping, and home contents and valuables. The NYPD lists locks, doors, lighting, windows, landscaping and alarm systems. Chandler begins at the front door and covers other doors, windows, locks, lights and landscaping, then compiles a checklist of weaknesses. Wellesley extends inside to interior doors, locks, alarms, safes and cameras. Las Vegas and Takoma Park both put the visit at about an hour.

Will a home security assessment lower my homeowners insurance?

Installed equipment sometimes does; the assessment itself, we could not verify. Triple-I publishes discounts of at least 5 percent for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks, and 15 to 20 percent for a sophisticated sprinkler system plus a fire and burglar alarm ringing at a monitoring station. Note the condition on the larger number. Triple-I also warns that not every system qualifies and that discounts vary by state. One department claims some insurers discount for a police survey, but names none, and we found no insurer confirming it.

What if no assessment is available where I live?

Do it yourself in about half an hour with a written checklist, which several departments effectively recommend: Chandler publishes a DIY CPTED assessment, Mahwah publishes its survey form and says you may run the analysis yourself, and Highland Village publishes its checklist so residents know what officers look for. Walk the property in daylight and again after dark, work outside to inside, write down every gap before pricing anything, and fix the free items first.

Sources

Every program, quotation and figure below was read on the linked page on the date shown. This guide is research-based: we did not book or attend any assessment, and we say so rather than implying first-hand experience.

• New York Police Department - Security and Safety: security surveys provided free of charge by precinct crime prevention officers; scope covering locks, doors, lighting, windows, landscaping and alarm systems; eligibility including private houses, apartments, schools and houses of worship (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - Free Home Security Survey: the eight published evaluation items including address visibility and home contents; "free and takes less than one hour"; scheduling via the neighborhood station Crime Prevention Specialist (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Chandler Police Department (AZ) - CPTED and Assessments: assessment provided "at no cost"; scope beginning at the front door; checklist of security weaknesses compiled; report and recommendations "left entirely with you"; five published CPTED principles; DIY residential CPTED assessment document (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Seattle Police Department - CPTED: "To request a free security assessment, based on CPTED principles, please contact the Crime Prevention Coordinator for your area"; five published CPTED principles; the "fortressing" caution on excessive target hardening; precinct availability dependent on staffing (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Henderson Police Department (NV) - Home Security Inspection (CPTED): inspections provided to Henderson residents at no cost, individually or as group Open House CPTED surveys; three published CPTED concepts (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Lower Merion Township Police Department (PA) - Home Security Assessment Program: "ALL Lower Merion residents a FREE home security survey"; evaluation of existing measures and recommendations; published request process and the parallel free business survey (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Anne Arundel County Police Department (MD) - Home Security Survey: officer visits the home; pointers on locks, landscaping and lighting; "to schedule an appointment for this free service, individuals must contact the Police District where they live" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Takoma Park Police Department (MD) - Residential Home Security Survey: offered to residents free of charge by appointment only; about an hour; evening appointments available (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Wellesley Police Department (MA) - Security Survey by WPD: the fullest published scope we found, covering fencing, lighting, landscaping, doors, windows, walls, roof, floors, locks, alarms, cameras, interior doors and safes; the sit-down review of results; four named officers staffing the program (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Allen Police Department (TX) - Security Survey: free security surveys; the three lines of defense (perimeter, exterior, interior); typically under an hour; "no guarantee or assurance that crime will go down, nor will they make the property crime proof" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Paradise Valley Police Department (AZ) - Home Security Survey: "this service is free of charge"; four published CPTED principles; "these are suggested recommendations and are not a guarantee that you will not be the victim of a crime" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Coral Springs Police Department (FL) - Secure Home Residential Survey: the published two purposes and three-step process; homeowner must be present; results emailed. The word "free" does not appear on the page (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Fayetteville Police Department (AR) - CPTED Security Survey: residential and commercial surveys offered to all residents; the four published evaluation headings; National Crime Prevention Institute definition of CPTED. The word "free" does not appear on the page (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Mahwah Police Department (NJ) - Security Survey Program: officer-conducted analysis of current home security measures; published statement that residents "may conduct the analysis on your own"; downloadable survey form (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Highland Village Police Department (TX) - Security Surveys: published residential checklist so residents know what officers look for; the unattributed statement that "some insurance companies offer to reduce your homeowners insurance rate if you have had your local police department conduct a security survey of your home" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Hamilton Township Police Division (NJ) - Residential Security Survey: "free, confidential security survey of your residence"; Crime Prevention Unit phone number (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Houston Police Department - CPTED resource page: a document library of CPTED checklists and reports borrowed from other jurisdictions, with no residential survey offer, phone number or request form for Houston residents (accessed 2026-08-15)
• North Carolina Department of Public Safety - Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design: the CPTED definition; the three key concepts; the statement that "most" law enforcement agencies provide surveys and that residents should contact their local agency to see if the service is provided (accessed 2026-08-15)
• National Crime Prevention Council - homepage and site navigation, checked for a national directory of police security-survey programs. None found; the published sections cover programs, coalitions and safety material rather than a program lookup (accessed 2026-08-15)
• ADT - Schedule a free consultation: "Schedule a free in-home consultation"; fast, free ("No purchase required") and online scheduling; the published three-step flow ending in "we'll help you choose the right equipment and services"; the pre-booking screening questions on existing monitoring, ownership and contract end date (accessed 2026-08-15)
• ADT - Services: "Free in-home consultation" described as a "no-obligation consultation with an ADT security expert"; the "What happens next" sequence of a call, product assistance and "Your custom quote"; the consent line covering contact "about ADT offers" with "consent is not required to make a purchase" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• ADT Authorized Dealer (homesalarm.com) - Free Home Security Consultation: the published three-point appointment agenda ending in "Present alternative solutions"; "absolutely no-obligation"; the footnote terms of a 36-month monitoring contract from $34.99 a month, 24 months in California, and an early-termination charge of 75% of the remaining monthly service charges (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Alarm New England - Why You Need a Residential Security Assessment: "free residential security assessment. No cost and no obligation"; the four-item published scope (property size, doors and ground-floor windows, fire and CO, cameras); "a security expert will recommend certain equipment"; the assessment of existing equipment for reuse; the unattributed claim that "insurance companies often lower rates after security upgrades" (accessed 2026-08-15)
• Insurance Information Institute - 12 Ways to Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Costs: discounts of at least 5 percent for a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks; 15 to 20 percent conditioned on a sophisticated sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm ringing at a police, fire or other monitoring station; the warnings that not every system qualifies and that discounts differ by company and state (accessed 2026-08-15)

Research note: this guide is compiled from agency and company publications only. We have not attended a police security survey or an in-home sales consultation, and nothing here should be read as a report of first-hand experience. Program availability, phone numbers and contract terms change; verify with the agency or company before relying on any detail. Nothing on this page is legal or insurance advice.