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Even though there has been a sixty per cent reduction in false alarms passed to police in the last ten years, the performance of alarm systems can still be improved, says the British Security Industry Association.

In an effort to further reduce false alarms, the BSIA launched a new Intruder Alarm Systems Strategy at IFSEC 2005.

The strategy, compiled by BSIA intruder alarm installers and monitoring companies, aims to embrace new technology, reduce the number of aged systems, improve signalling to the ARCs and data to police 鈥� and proposes the abolition of external sounders reflecting the requirements of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act.

Said Steve Kimber, Chairman of the BSIA's Security Systems Section, at the launch of the strategy: "We have seen numerous police policies, insurance guidelines and end-user requirements over the last few years, but what has been missing is a document that outlines the intruder alarm company perspective."

Main aims

The aim of this strategy is to further improve the efficiency of intruder alarms by:

• maintaining high standards
• improving system design
• improving equipment design
• improving the quality of information transmitted to an ARC
• improving the quality of information transmitted from the ARC to police
• improving servicing and diagnostics
• more stringent inspection of processes and procedures
• improving the performance of personal attack alarms
• reducing the number of aged systems
• improving administration
• recommending action to third party organisations

• more arrests of intruders
• more effective use of police manpower
• greater alarm user efficiency
• a reduction in the number of insurance settlements for burglary
• the opportunity to bring more offenders to justice

The National Policing Plan 2005 鈥� 2008 requires constabularies to further reduce crime by 15 per cent and a coherent strategy for intruder alarm systems will help the police to achieve this, says the document.

The National Crime Statistics produced by the Home office also show that burglary has fallen by 39 per cent since 1997, to 974,000 (2003 figures).

Causes of false alarms

The BSIA says the main problem areas are:

• user error 鈥� mainly during set/unset and holiday periods
• operation of control equipment that is too complex for most users
• poor false alarm management by users
• poor system design
• poor installation
• poorly designed equipment
• faulty equipment, which is limited to an aging equipment base
• difficulty in users communicating effectively with ARC

"Confirmed systems" came into their own when ACPO stipulated in its ACPO 2000 policy that all new intruder alarm systems that required police response shall be confirmed. DD 243:2002 tries to overcome some of the main reasons false alarms occur and puts strict requirements on design of a system.

Older non-confirmed systems generate three times the level of alarm transmissions to an ARC and more than twice the number of policed alarms compared to the newer confirmed systems.

An effort should be made to promote the most effective form of confirmation, says the document. It recommends that where an older confirmed system loses response, in order for it to regain response a more reliable technology should be mandated by the police.

Industry standards and training

Euro Standards covering system design, installation, maintenance and monitoring are key to the new strategy.

Signalling techniques, whether IP, GSM, GPRS, X25, PSTN or ADSL, should be secure and managed by a supplier with network management control. Any development in the Euro standards that identifies a need for qualified personnel will be monitored. For installers who have been working in the industry for some time, it might be appropriate to introduce "grandfather rights" in any assessment of their competence.

Improving system design

A complete review of the component items and the technology deployed in an intruder alarm system must be reconsidered. This will improve the data transmitted to an ARC for processing and the quality of information passed to the police.

The industry must look at installing only 'quality' equipment, which is simple to use and operate 鈥� particularly important at setting and unsetting where consideration should be given to standardising simple setting and unsetting methods, ie from outside the premises using a key fob.

Consideration should be given to the user communicating directly with the ARC at setting/unsetting, eg by duplex audio fitted in control panels.

Euro Standards covering system design, installation, maintenance and monitoring are key to the new strategy

IP signaling through secure networks brings an opportunity to reconsider components in an alarm system.

TMDs (detectors which have multiple sensors in one casing) could be replaced by web cameras with motion sensing supplemented by voice over IP, says the document.

The Security Systems Section of the BSIA will work more closely with manufacturers to provide an integrated approach between intruder alarms, access control, CCTV and emerging technologies.

ARCs and signaling

The levels of alarm activity emanating from a PD 6662 European confirmed system should be even less than the current British Standard confirmed system.

This will change the primary emphasis of the ARC to that of dispatching confirmed alarms rather than being a false alarm management tool.

Servicing and diagnostics

Remote servicing and remote diagnostics for intruder alarms will play an important role in identifying the cause of false alarms.

Remote service and remote diagnostics will also aid the engineer, the alarm company and ARC in false alarm management.

With IP signalling each detection device could be addressable from the service centre for diagnostic codes and the control and indicating equipment could be capable of signalling service-related events to the ARC prior to any failure of a component part.

Automated service event signalling to self-check detection devices will improve the performance of systems.

Personal attack alarms

About one in three alarms passed to the police service from confirmed systems are personal attack alarms.

ACPO has accepted a BSIA recommendation that the threshold for false activation for PAs be reduced to two as soon as possible and that re-engineering of equipment be completed by October 1 2005.

The BSIA proposals, however, have been adopted by only nine police forces and are having little effect on reducing false alarms. The document recommends that all PAs that go off response should be upgraded in line with the BSIA's Ten Point Plan to reduce false alarms, with the possibility of confirmation of the PA being added to the system.

In the UK almost half the police forces issue a separate URN for personal attack alarms and allow five false alarms on each URN (ten for the system) which does not conform with the ACPO policy. This increases the false alarm rate per system per year and "aggravates" the statistics.

Reduce old systems

The document says the threshold level of unconfirmed systems should be decreased to bring about a quicker change to confirmed systems. On average the false alarm rate for an unconfirmed system is twice that of a confirmed system.

Although it appears illogical, to allow newer systems to have the current five false activations in a rolling 12 months while older systems are allowed fewer false alarms would be an incentive for users to migrate to newer systems.

Zero rated VAT

With ACPO and ABI support, the industry wants to discuss with Government the need to give the public an incentive to purchase Type A intruder alarm systems with police response. Reducing the VAT to zero would create a more attractive proposition to the public and demonstrate the Government's commitment to security.

Abolish external sounders

Reducing the VAT on Type A intruder alarm systems with police response to zero would be attractive to the public

Under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act owners of audible intruder alarms will be required to register 鈥� with keyholder details 鈥� with the local authority if the area is designated an "alarm notification area".

Says the document: "A simple method to cut noise pollution from audible alarms is to abolish the use of external sounders as signalling devices. This will effectively require all systems to become Type A monitored alarm sounders but without external sounders.

鈥淭he owner would know that their property was monitored and in the event of a false alarm they are not going to be penalised by the local council 鈥� The deterrent effect can be maintained by the use of signage."

Training

The cost of training the entire industry will be onerous, says the report, and may lead to many redundancies in this sector. But the aim is to have a fully trained and qualified workforce within 5-10 years and the Government is to be asked to provide funds for nationwide training.

From ARCs to police 鈥�

Consideration should be given to electronic transfer of data between the ARC and the police control room to improve the efficiency of alarm call handling. Consideration should be given to the introduction of a National Police Alarm Data Management System to replace the many different systems currently in use.

Funding could come from central Government or by using the URN income.

Police response

Police should have a more unified interpretation of their policy. If they chose to interpret their policy correctly greater reductions would be seen in the false alarm call rate.

"It is onerous on an industry with low profits to be continually criticised for inefficiency, particularly when many of the solutions have been provided at a cost to the industry, which were then approved by ACPO but not adopted by many of those forces who continue to criticise.鈥�

Police should consider adopting a national police response timeframe:

• confirmed alarms in urban areas 鈥� 10 mins
• confirmed alarms in rural areas 鈥� 20 mins
• unconfirmed still on response in urban areas 鈥� 20 mins
• unconfirmed still on response in rural areas 鈥� 30 mins

The Euro Standard permits customer reset on all alarm activations but the document recommends that ACPO require a managed reset where there has been police attendance. To allow customer reset would increase the likelihood of false alarms.

The police should also consider requiring an upgrade to a confirmed system that has lost police response. If a PA loses police response then confirmation should be considered before it is reinstated.

Insurance role

The security industry is concerned about the "diminishing" influences that insurers have in the marketplace, says the document.

"With a declining police response and a move towards systems being installed that do not meet DD243, as they solicit a private response, there is a potential for the lowering, or complete removal, of service installation and monitoring standards."

Conclusion

Correctly installed Type A intruder alarm systems are of benefit to the whole industry and are a reassurance to the public that they will get a police response, says the document. However the growth of remote signalling systems and demands on police gives cause for concern.

"ACPO has moved its attention from the average false alarm per system per year to how many attendances they actually make.

鈥淭his change of focus will cause problems in the future and the growth of remote signalling systems will affect the attendance levels irrespective of the average false alarm per system per year rate."

The document concludes: "The security industry recommend that the Government and Police adopt these recommendations if they are serious about promoting security, reducing false activations and raising the standard of professionalism within the security industry."