Prevent False Alarms

What is a false Alarm?   Any­time a mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion receives an alarm sig­nal that is caused by user error, acci­dent, or a mal­func­tion, it is con­sid­ered a false alarm. If it can­not be ver­i­fied by the oper­a­tor it can result in a “Dis­patch” of the author­i­ties. Fire and/or Alarm dis­patch­es can result in sig­nif­i­cant finan­cial penal­ties.

Did you know that more than 80% of false alarms are relat­ed to pre­ventable user errors? Did you know that 80% of false alarms are caused by 20% of users?  Unfor­tu­nate­ly false alarms cost all of us. They take Police away from legit­i­mate and some­times life threat­en­ing mat­ters. They become a nui­sance to you and your neigh­bours, they make your sys­tem less reli­able, and make you reluc­tant to use your sys­tem.  Any costs asso­ci­at­ed with False Alarms are the respon­si­bil­i­ty of the account hold­er, usu­al­ly the home/business own­er.

To pre­vent False Alarms we need to know what caus­es them.  Some very com­mon caus­es include:   Inad­e­quate train­ing of peo­ple using your sys­tem, weak sys­tem bat­ter­ies, doors and win­dows that are open, unlocked, or loose fit­ting, and drafts from heaters and air con­di­tion­ing sys­tems that move plants, cur­tains, bal­loons, wall hang­ings etc.

In most cas­es some sim­ple things can keep your home or busi­ness false alarm free.   Start a habit of keep­ing your doors and win­dows locked when­ev­er pos­si­ble.  Edu­cate ALL users on how the alarm sys­tem works.  To pre­vent infre­quent users from for­get­ting the code, let them pick their own code. If you see a trou­ble light or are plan­ning ren­o­va­tions, speak with your alarm com­pa­ny first on how to keep your alarm sys­tem in good work­ing order.  Learn how to pro­tect sen­sors from excess dust, smoke, steam etc. If you see a ‘low bat­tery’ indi­ca­tor don’t ignore it. If you are think­ing of chang­ing your phone ser­vice in any way speak with your alarm com­pa­ny ser­vice depart­ment for tips on pre­vent­ing prob­lems.  Keep your emer­gency con­tact list and YOUR emer­gency con­tact infor­ma­tion cur­rent. The mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion oper­a­tors can­not be help­ful if they can­not reach you or your con­tacts due to out­dat­ed or out of ser­vice phone num­bers.

Know what to do if you set off your alarm by acci­dent.  First, don’t pan­ic. There is time, enter your dis­arm code slow­ly and method­i­cal­ly to stop the alarm and then to reset your sys­tem. Nev­er let any­one see your dis­arm code.  Do not leave the premis­es until the Mon­i­tor­ing sta­tion has called to ver­i­fy, or call in your­self, with your ID ready, to speak with an oper­a­tor.

Make sure that ANYONE that has keys to your premis­es is famil­iar with alarm use, and has prop­er ID.  Keep a list in a secure place of all alarm users, keep them informed of any changes you make to the account that would affect how the sys­tem works.

False alarm penal­ties can be in the hun­dreds of dol­lars and can esca­late rapid­ly. Please take the time to review these few sim­ple tips.  If you have any ques­tions on how any of these tips affect your account please call our ser­vice depart­ment for assis­tance.