central station monitoring in US/Canada?

[Toxx]

I've a question about central station monitoring.


Here in Germany a central station monitoring also means that guards of
the alarm company drive to your premise to verify your alarm and then
call the police if there was obviously a burglar.

How is it handled in US/Canada?

Does the central station monitoring only call up the premise to check
for false alarm an the send the police?


Greetz

Toxx

 

[Bob Worthy]

I cannot speak for Canada, since we don't do anything there, but I will go
out on a limb by saying that the procedures are probably very similar. Here
in the states, city, county and state goverments have ordinaces, laws in
place to govern how alarm activity by a central station is to be handled.
Some police departments have made policy for their department as to how to
handle alarm activity. This is not a "one shoe fits all" issue. In most
locations, a verification call, to the premise, is required prior to
dispatching the authorities. In some areas, a second verification call to a
cell phone for instance is required. Many disagree with this, however, it is
documented by their own departments that the areas in which this requirement
has been initiated have experienced a 40-70% decline in unnecessary police
dispatches. Some areas have gone to a verification process which is that
someone needs to respond to the alarm and call if there is police needed.
IMO a very dangerous policy even for security guards. Most are not armed.
One of these communities are even considering varification of fire. I feel
sorry for the citizens that live in that area.Then there are areas that have
a "no response" policy. They are not going, period, to a third party
request. These are different ways that different jurisdictions are handling
the alarm calls to their cities. Because of the rising amount of
installations in all cities, the PD's have had to handle their response
differently. It is very political within their city and county governments
and their budget plays a huge roll in the decision. One thing is for sure.
Those that have opted to go to either verified response or no response have
seen an increase in property crimes. Check out www.siacinc.org

Bob W.

 

[Doug]

I've a question about central station monitoring.


Here in Germany a central station monitoring also means that guards of the
alarm company drive to your premise to verify your alarm and then call the
police if there was obviously a burglar.

How is it handled in US/Canada?

Does the central station monitoring only call up the premise to check for
false alarm an the send the police?


Greetz

Toxx

In the US guard response is not generally included in the basic price for
central station monitoring, it is normally available at an additional cost.

Doug

 

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've a question about central station monitoring.


Here in Germany a central station monitoring also means that guards of
the alarm company drive to your premise to verify your alarm and then
call the police if there was obviously a burglar.

How is it handled in US/Canada?

Does the central station monitoring only call up the premise to check
for false alarm an the send the police?

In UK, it seems to vary by police area a bit.

The alarm needs to be verified before they'll put in a high
priority callout. That can be by the alarm itself, e.g. by
having two non-overlapping zones trigger, or by having some other
independant verification, such as a phone call, or have the monitoring
station listen in to the premises if the alarm has that facility.
Alarm needs to meet certain minimum standards too to be used for
police/fire callout (and I'm going to be out-of-date on exactly
what those are today), although not for just keyholder or security
company callout.

In London, my observation is the police do seem to get notification
of unverified alarms too (so fast it must be automatic), and if
there is an available car nearby, it comes round immediately (usually
before any phone call to verify), but I suspect they don't drop
everything else to do this if it's unverified. If a neighbor calls
the police emergency number too with confirmation of sighting, that
will turn an unverified call from the monitoring station into a
verified call as far as the police are concerned.

3 false alarms in a rolling 12 month period loses you high priority
police response for 12 months from the alarm alone, although
verification independant of the alarm monitoring company will still
get you a high priority police response.

 

[KingFish]

I've a question about central station monitoring.


Here in Germany a central station monitoring also means that guards of the
alarm company drive to your premise to verify your alarm and then call the
police if there was obviously a burglar.

How is it handled in US/Canada?

Does the central station monitoring only call up the premise to check for
false alarm an the send the police?

Bass used to sell central station monitoring to diyers but got shut down for
operating without a license.
I guess that left his customers hung out to dry.

http://www.bbb.org/west-florida/bus...s/bass-burglar-alarms-in-sarasota-fl-41001663

 

[Crash Gordon]

It depends on the local regulations too. For instance in Nevada you HAVE to
send a guard first, if there is a break in the guard will call the police.
We have to charge the client for guard response...usually on a per need
basis - at least that's how I used to do it up there.

In my state we dispatch the police.

 

[Bob Worthy]

It depends on the local regulations too. For instance in Nevada you HAVE
to
send a guard first, if there is a break in the guard will call the police.
We have to charge the client for guard response...usually on a per need
basis - at least that's how I used to do it up there.

In my state we dispatch the police.

In my state ...... we send a guy named Vito.

What happens when he comes down to Florida for the winter to visit "Ma"?

 

[Bob Worthy]

Guido takes over.

Nah....he is to busy flippin' pizzas. Besides the Jamacians and the new
Italians.