How does police response work?
The first thing to know is that a police response alarm is not directly connected to the police. Instead, when triggered the alarm notifies an Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC). Security personnel at the ARC will then respond, requesting the police if necessary and notifying the property owner and/or nominated key holders.
These centres run 24/7 and are crucial for reducing unnecessary police callouts to false alarms. If the police repeatedly show up at your home because of a nosy cat setting off a sensor then they may downgrade the responsiveness to your property – luckily for you though, our intruder alarm at Boundary is pet friendly and extremely reliable.
Do I need it professionally installed?
Yes. In order to achieve the required alarm certification level for professional monitoring and police response, your alarm will need to be professionally installed by one of our approved installers. You can't have this service if your alarm is only DIY installed.
What if I move home?
Just let us know if you're planning to move home and if you intend to take your system with you. We will then arrange for an engineer visit to uninstall the equipment and a separate visit to then reinstall it at your new home. Please note that these visits will be chargeable and they will be separate visits.
We'll then contact the police on your behalf to update your details.
Alternatively, you can leave the system in place for the new owner and simply purchase a new installation for your new home as it might need different amounts of sensors than you currently have.
Either way, just get in touch with us and we'll be happy to discuss this with you.
Who contacts the police?
- Upon completion of your installation, Boundary will register your premises with your local police station for police response
- When a confirmed alarm trigger event happens, our ARC will request police response as well as alert keyholders
Is it a guaranteed response time?
When the ARC contacts your local police they have a direct line into the force control room, they don't have to call 999. They will supply the police with your unique reference and the control room will then know you have a monitored system installed by ourselves.
The control room will then dispatch an officer to your home with a Level 1 response. This is the same as a threat to life or property response so the highest level of response time is applied.
There isn't a guaranteed response time as police forces around the country vary in terms of officer availability, travel time, and so on but all forces are committed to a sub-15 minute response in these situations.
What if the alarm is accidentally triggered, will the police turn up?
No. When your alarm is triggered by 2 sensors or more our ARC will contact keyholders to check if it's a false alarm before requesting police response.
They will challenge the caller with a memorable word that must be supplied in order for them to cancel the alert. If they can't contact the keyholder then they'll contact the police for a response.
If you accidentally set off the alarm though, be prepared for your phone to ring as the ARC will be checking with you to make sure you're ok!