Burglar Alarm Systems - Police Call Out Policy in 2001 - by Clive Stevens; April 2001

During 2001, the 43 Police Forces of England and Wales are implementing new call out standards which will demand more from a burglar alarm system and be more standardised across the country. The reason for this new standard has been the huge level of false alarms even from professional centre monitored (Type A) systems. In 1999 (a good year !) there were 875,000 false alarms from the 842,000 centrally monitored systems. As each one of these has to have an immediate police response this is a complete waste of police resources and time, perhaps worth over £25m a year (in 1999 there were 85,000 genuine alarms of which 4,900 resulted in immediate arrests) This means that 91% of professionally monitored Class A alarm system call outs were false. All other alarms (B&Q, HouseSitter® and most others) are deemed type B. Police do not have to attend these.

From 2001 onwards, the police will still have to attend type A alarm call outs but the user will be warned if there are 2 false alarms and will be struck off the call out register for 5 false alarms in any 12 month period. In addition from Oct 1 2001 all new alarm systems seeking type A status must have an independent activation confirmation. Either 2 separate sensors, or audio or visual confirmation through to the monitoring centre. This means a huge extra cost to such burglar alarm systems (these already cost typically £600 plus £12 a month for monitoring and servicing - Except ADT who charge around £300 plus £22 a month). Prices may go up 50% It will also delay the call from the centre to the police by possibly a minute. But many commercial premises will have no option to eventually upgrade as it is built into their insurance policy that they must have a type A monitored alarm.

Type B alarms. The police have not had to attend these and will still not need to from Oct 1. National policy is that they will attend Type B calls only if there is 3rd party confirmation that a burglary is taking place. This means with a conventional "cheap" alarm with a loud bell that alerts a neighbour. They need to ring 999 that the bell has gone off - this will not result in a police response - someone else needs to verify that there are burglars on the premises (how ? by peeping in ??) In the case of HouseSitter® it will ring you up and you can listen in. If it is clear that there are intruders ring 999 and the police may attend (if they are in the vicinity or think there is a high likelihood of catching the thieves). If the police say they will not attend, immediately call a neighbour to check if there are intruders and for them to ring the police.

Type B alarm call outs are not automatic and may require independent verification. But you may only pay £100 and no annual charge for a system (as opposed to type A alarm prices). The benefit of HouseSitter® over other type B alarms, is that your security is in your control. You know and can hear. You contact the police. You can call a neighbour (sounds like "who wants to be a millionaire" !).

There is a huge amount of misunderstanding by the public of alarms and the likelihood of police response. This new police policy helps by standardising response across the country and making the difference between type A and type B alarms even clearer. This has to help in education. Unfortunately only commerce and a small proportion of the population can afford type A alarms plus monitoring (you need both) for the rest of us we need to chose the most effective type B alarm. House Sitter® can be this for many people.