Alarm Systems.

[Frenchy]

Why I should have an alarm system…
It’s the Great American dilemma, I have guns, and I have a great dog, why would I want an alarm system?

I’m not a salesman, so I won’t try to sell you a gun or an alarm system, what I will however do, is show you some of the better things I have seen alarm systems do.

Alarm systems are meant to protect you home or business, we all tend to say so is my dog and my guns... but a dog unless it has years of severe training, will eat a good steak and this can knock him out in seconds, not to mention a bad guy who wants in your home will give a dog lead indigestion in the flash of an instant. Poof, Poof sleep well puppy!
Your gun is also great, but when your not home, it will not work on its own, as a mater of fact, it becomes a liability, as most people do not bring all their guns with them when they leave the house, the BG can pretty well figure on getting some of your prized possession. Even when you are at home, thieves are pretty stealth people, they don’t just blow in a door and ransack the place, they are cautious and make sure of their target. Most thieves can hear better then a teenager whacking off. That’s pretty good hearing!

A Safe is a great thing, you carried it in some one could carry it out, even bolted to the floor; safes are just big boxes waiting for some one to open them. In the case of a home invasion, a safe is easily opened by a simple threat.

A friend of mine here on the board asked about alarms as he will be doing a fair bit of night work... Here are some of the things I suggested to him.

Make sure your monitoring station will accept non SOP instructions. SOP is good for the average “I don’t know better" person, (every day Joe) but you can add specific instructions to your account at no cost.
Examples of this would be a second call verification; the central calls you on alarms before they dispatch to give you a chance to cancel the alarm. This could have special instructions, single motions, (call home, call cell) single alarms, (call home, call cell) on all motions, (call home, call cell) motions and a door (call home then dispatch), specific doors, (dispatch first then call cell, do not call home.)
Fires do not call home or cell unless you get a “cancel call”.
Most centrals will only operate under SOP meaning call home, call authorities call contacts. And will not take specific or out of town info.
When choosing your system, it is important you know what is out there, remember your system is there to protect your home, whether you are there or not! It is also important you choose the most important component, the central...
Your system is only as good as the central monitoring is. This central should accept to change your monitoring to your needs. If you are out of town, not calling your home and cell can save precious minutes.

Some central stations will accept to modify their SOP to your needs, meaning you will get called on what you ask to be called on, and dispatched on what you specify.

It is a simple procedure to change information of your account. The dispatcher has multiple ways this can be done, either by data entry for long term info, or follow ups (tags) for a shorter period.

These changes are usually done within seconds not hours, not business days as alarm stations are open 24/24 7/7 follow up (tags) are done as you speak to the operator, example, you are going to a wedding, you don’t want disturbed, wedding starts at 2pm ends after party at 10pm. Don’t call home, dispatch, leave a message on cell on all alarms.
This would make the dispatcher who might usually call your home then your cell to get a cancel then dispatch, react differently. As there would be a tag on the account saying you are not to be disturbed, they would dispatch first then notify you on your cell by means of a message. Long term solutions, IE: Special instructions that are permanent are done through data entry, but can be tagged till your account info is updated.
You should also know that a duress and a panic alarm is not the same to some stations, reaction where I work is that a duress is silent where as a panic/holdup for a home is with siren. A Panic will get a call to the home if there is a “canceled call” following it, but a duress will not.
Many people do not know there is a way to have a disarmed system still armed on certain doors. Doors or safes can be monitored 24/24 on most systems at no extra cost. Monitoring should not go up or down based on what you have monitored.
Example of this would be a safe or (hot) door you have that needs to be bypassed before opening so you do not trigger an alarm. Most people who have these will call the monitoring station prior to opening them and also place them on test for a specific time.

These doors can have specific instructions to them as well. Notice I use basement here, but it could be master bedroom or any room in the home.
Example, burg alarms, all motions, doors call prem., call cell, dispatch. EXEPTION! Zone #12 / Basement door this door is to be considered a duress alarm, make no contacts and dispatch pd on duress, tell pd there are guns in the house and door to safe room has been opened!
As this is a specific door that is on 24/24 monitoring, there will be no sirens going off in the home, this is a door you would need to bypass or call the central to place on test to not have police come to your home.
Traps or carpet traps are places you know no one would stand in a normal situation, the far corner of a room for example where a hostage could be held. A small button is placed in the floor and when stepped on will cause a silent alarm as well. An example of this would be:
Zone #12 / Basement door this door is to be considered a duress alarm, make no contacts and dispatch pd on duress, tell pd there are guns in the house and door to safe room has been opened!
Zone #13 / basement trap notify police there may be a hostage situation if the home, trap near gun safe in basement. Follow zone 12 instructions; dispatch no contacts to be made. Notify Pd. a zone only known by family members was tripped.
Most modern centrals today also have color coding on the monitors to display the level of urgency, the only things more urgent then a duress/panic is fire and medical in that order. But if a duress or panic is received, the instructions for the duress call will take precedent.
IE:
Fire: call prem. Auth. Contacts
Medical: call prem. Auth. Contacts
Duress/Panic call Auth. On panic, if a cancel call is received, call prem. no answer do not leave msg. clear. Duress, do not call unless PD specifically asks you to. (Note, many stations will not call the prem. Number on duress but will call the contacts if asked to by PD. After the Pd has been at the scene.)
Other things that I have seen on clients alarm info are things like
Zone 12 Safe door, make no contacts, hold 2 minutes for cancel, if cancel received, clear, if no cancel dispatch PD.
Special instructions to give to PD are as varied as there are people on this earth.
Person can only communicate with sigh language or TTY. / Person is Law enforcement / person is a lawyer / person is diabetic/ Person is allergic to penicillin. / Person is not usually home at nigth /Large dog inside / in case of fire, take bird outside (some people have $3,000 birds!) / Gun owner, premise must have a key holder respond to all alarms. / Medical alarms, it is ok to force entry by back door. / Medical, Fire, there is a key (place of key) / gate security code is XXXX/ Police may be given code XXXX to enter. / Police have keys at station./ On safe alarms, Call (security/Guard/Neighbor) to meet pd.
So as you can see, choosing an alarm system although simple, can also be some thing you need to ask about before you purchase, make sure where ever you go that you will have a responsable monitoring central to go with your system.
Things you may want to note also, not all municipalities will cancel once the station calls back to say this is a false alarm. No pd will cancel if the alarm is in Illinois. (State law)
Philly will generally not cancel unless the city is overwhelmed with alarms. Storm condition may cause the PD to cancel, but generally the clients still report they where fined a false alarm by mail even though the pd never showed up.
Some cities or counties will ask you have an alarm permit, this is most common in Phily for PA but parts of Ohio and neighbouring states also have this, In certain states it is state wide, also the monitoring station may have to hold a licence to monitor certain cities/states.


[Canceled call] when you put your proper code after an alarm is sent to the central monitoring, most good systems now send a cancel call meaning some one is in the home and put in a valid code to cancel the alarm, this gives the operator a chance to call the residence and cancel the dispatch.
To see the software I regularly work on click https://gemas.webex.com/gemas/mywebex/tool/docshow/enter.php?AT=Show&Type=Playback&ClientName=webex&F ileName=http%3A%2F%2Fmonauto.com%2FWebEx%2FMMM+Ala rm+Dispatch+Demo.WRF You may need to download activeX controls to see it properly, these are from GE (General Electric)

[DeepbluePA]

Frenchy u seem to know about the alarm systems
Do you program for them or something?

I deal with them on the other end and it is often a comedy of errors.
You seem to be an insider, maybe we can swap some stories possibly not in a thread

[ChamberedRound]

I'm with you Frenchy. I'm in the process of installing a system now.

[Frenchy]

Frenchy u seem to know about the alarm systems
Do you program for them or something?

I deal with them on the other end and it is often a comedy of errors.
You seem to be an insider, maybe we can swap some stories possibly not in a thread

I started in the alarm industry with Shurguard Ashton Proguard in the mid 80's they where a small 2 man central back then, now they make or under the name (Shurgard) the line card most alarm centntral and call centrrs use. I am a central operator, I started on ticker tapes and hard copy client sheets, and basically always stayed close to the security field, be it in companies or at the airport in Mirabel Qc. where I was supervisor in tha parking and did the collections of the machines.

Right now i am a dispatch operator and my wife actually is customer service rep. for the same company. My logical next step up if i dont go up in this company would be a 911 center. Im sure we each have horros stories. Some laughable, some not so funny. Unfortunately the errors are mostly human and people dont realize they can cost lives, not just money.

One thing im surprised about, with all the phishing out there for pass words, not many clients are using 2 way Identification... IE: Hi this is Bob with Guardian Security, My identification to you is "Wonderdog" what is your password.. Most clients when you call them us blurt out their info, its like its killing them to wait a second they answer the phone say "I'm fine password is '''Pooch'" and im paul!" click.. bzzzzz I usually reply Hi Paul, And I was going to try to sell you a Vacuum! then they realize the boo boo they did, most take it well when you tell them not to give a password until they hear why you are calling.

A Proper call should be " Hi this is Bob from XXXX Monitoring station, We have a front door at yor home, is every thing ok? (yes/no) May I have your password? (yes/no) resolve or continue alarm.

[danp]

Top notch post Frenchy, I found this information extremely useful and will probably look back to it when I buy a house one day.

[DeepbluePA]

just some little things i have come across

I am a pd dispatcher near scranton
I had an alarm co call to dispatch on an alarm for Plymouth Meeting (3 days in a row). Plymouth meeting is around 2 hours outside of my coverage. When I told them it wasnt our coverage they asked if i knew who covered it and what their phone number was.

another one
you'll love this
alarm co calls to dispatch on a residential alarm.
the only address they have is a post office box
when i told them we needed a street address they were angry becasue we were refusing to dispatch.

another great one
in my area we have several VERY large distribution buildings
you could play several games of football in them
alarm co calls to dispatch on zone 23 but dosent know where that is (this is where the magic 8 ball is very important)

[DeepbluePA]

on a serious note

Make sure you alarm company knows where you actually are
In my area we have several mailing area which one post office covers an area made up of several municapalities some with 6-8 different police departments but dont know which police department is suposed to respond.

make sure to update info when you keyholders change

If you provide directions to your house for the alarm co to provide dont use landmarks that move ( yes i have recieved directions to turn at the red car)

Dont assume anything the alarm didpatch centers for many companies are in another state or somtimes mor than one

An alarm system is only as strong as its weakest link, there are a lot of people in the loop so that is a lot of chance for failure

be smart and be careful

[whoshisface]

My father owns his own security company in Roch, NY.

I loved the people who say that S&W is my security company.

I sleep too soundly, I need a system to wake me up so I can grab my S&W.

Besides I'd rather not have to shoot someone. I'd grab the gun, take position and be happy when I heard the guy leave the way he came in, If he didn't leave, then I would know I'm dealing with a very serious situation.

I think a security system and handgun ownership go together nicely.

[Frenchy]

Alarm owners should practice with their systems, they should learn how it works and the all the functions. Family members should also learn it well, its not an other decoration on the wall, teach the kids when they need to get out, by what door, when they need to regroup or hide.
RE: police situations, I have seen where police did not know where an address was and it was not further then 500 feet from the station. I have also had times when a dispatcher left their post in a 911 center to respond to an alarm, it was their house being robbed...
In Texas I had a wierd situation once, I called it the one horse town. called a 911 centre, turned out to be a camera store, woke up the owner "Mike's camera shop How can I help you..."
ME: Oh I was under the impression this was the police number... "Yeah it is I answer from home for the sheriff, but I own the local camera shop..." ME OK we have an alarm going of at XXX the Whatshisname residence... Ok Ill call the sheriff on his radio, dont bother calling John, he is in Iraq, the other person there on your list Lucy, dont call her either, she has a broken ankle and is pregnant, Mary died last year so dont call her either, Im next on your list so I guess the Sheriff will come pick me up and we can check it out. Bzzzz

Once called a manager to go to a store because there was a broken window and pd wanted some one to respond..

Sir how long will it take you to go to the store? (him) bout 5 minutes. (me) ok what type of car should I tell the police your driving (him) Kind with wheels. (me) ok what color (him) Black wheels (me) ok Sir ill tell the Police you will be there in 5 min with a car on black wheels...? (him) Yeah right.

30 minutes later I call the man back, wife answers.
(SHE) Yeah hello? (me) ma'am I called earlyer and mr said he would be at the store in 5 minutes? do you know if he left?
(SHE) He Aint leaving this house till 6:45 he dont work till 7! (me) but ma'am the window is out and the police is waiting for him there.
(SHE) I dont care if the pope was waiting on him, If he goes out of this house I know your tramp will be there waiting on him. I dun tol you he aint leaving this house!

Yeah i have seen a few funny situations, but mainly we get run of the mill people who are paranoid walking around with a cell phone while you listen to them looking around the house. One in particular i can remember well... I could barely hear him talking and he was saying "You! out there If your in m y house I got the law on the line and a gun in my hand.." the sound on the cell phone was so low i was thinking to my self... This guy has a gun to his head and is protecting himself with a cell phone in front of himself!
Thern i hear Mr ? Mr? hey Mr you still there? then a pause and I hear very clearly, Hi Forgot what hand i had my phone in... house looks clear.

[Frenchy]

What is duress and how does it differ from Panic?

I had a situation the other night and the police where sent on a duress signal where we do not call the client

The police where probably short handed that night in this city, and they decided they would call the prem. (premise) and see if it was a real or false alarm. So they called the prem. Then called us saying the alarm is a false alarm, we won’t be going there. Expect the client to call you back…

First let me show you the difference between Duress and a panic alarms in residential situations.
The Panic, is usually a button or pair of buttons you might actually hit by mistake, many times it is on a key fob or bracelet, pendent. It is not uncommon for people to hit a panic by mistake, and then turn off their system. Residential panics are generally followed by a siren. The central monitoring station will receive a canceled call and pending on the station politics, will either call the home first to attempt to get a code, or as in our station, dispatch first, but call the home after to see if they can try and get a cancel.

Duress is a silent alarm, there is no indication to the user or any one around that it was triggered. It is caused by a specific combination on the keypad. IE: my code might be 1234 then 1 to disarm and my duress code might be 1235 or 12351 to disarm depends on the panel, the system will do exactly what you asked it to do, so in this instance, 1235-1 would disarm the system but send a duress alarm. The reason we do not call a residence on this is because the person who pressed the button specifically pressed a combination they know will get them help, they do not expect a call.

If the prem. was called, the well trained user might have the notion to give the wrong password if they where with a stranger, this is true, with panics but not always an option.

This is why we do not call on duress alarms; mind you the police are their own boss. They can decide they don’t “feel” like sending a car out to yet one more false alarm. So they take the info given to them, Owners name, phone number address, then call the prem. And say Who Am I speaking to? We just got a call from your alarm company that you hit the duress button, is every thing ok? Ok then we won’t go till we hear back from the alarm company, please give them a call.
This throws the ball back in the client’s court to call us to either give the wrong password or the right one to confirm the alarm.

Problems with this are, if there was a home invasion, the bad guy is now alerted. Any element of surprise is now %100 gone. Even if the client is forced by the aggressor to call and give a password, and the wrong password is given, the bad guy knows he is in hot water. He might take a hostage at this time, or worst, simply start killing.
Second point, not all duress alarms are caused by unknowns, it could be a husband beating his wife or children that initiated the duress alarm. In this case, the husband could simply call the alarm station because the police alerted him that there was an alarm, give the correct password and say sorry, I was testing. In most cases the alarm station will call the police station and say False alarm!

Know your system! If you are a vigilant user of your alarm system, and one day you decide to use the duress function, you want it to work just the way you expect it to, you don’t want the PD calling you until they are right outside your front door! In general, the police will send a few cars on your street cover the escape routes then call you to ask you to meet them outside. They will ask you to describe what you are wearing, and will ask for identification. While you go out, an officer will generally walk by you and listen to what he can or see what he can in the house to see if there is a hostage situation.

UL (Underwriters Laboratories) dictate what we can and can not do in an alarm situation, the police by calling you on duress or even a panic, are short circuiting the effectiveness of your alarm system.
If you find yourself in a situation that the police call you on duress, even if it is a false alarm, you should contact your local mayor’s office and complain of this. The mere fact that police stations are “allowed” to call a prem. And try to get a cancel on a silent alarm is a danger to you.
Remember, not every aggressor is a stranger to you, could be a family member who knows the abort word!