Security Monitoring Procedures

People

• Alarms pertaining to people are known as panic alarms. They are generally triggered from a personal remote, or a button located in a specified area of a business or home. Occasionally, systems will be set up to recognize a panic signal coming from the keypad of the security system that is manually inputted by system users in the event of an emergency. Panic alarms are classified as duress/ hold up alarms, or emergency medical alarms and are handled with utmost priority once received by the central station. Each account maintains up-to-date instructions on local law enforcement regulations and customers often provide procedural notes to prevent false alarm reporting. The general procedure aside from following any specified notation is to automatically dispatch the appropriate emergency personnel, then to wait fifteen minutes before calling any responding or representative parties, also known as RPs, RPs are attempted again later after a disposition is obtained providing the results of the dispatch from the local emergency dispatch center. All incidents that are dispatched on will require the monitor to create a report that logs all details of the dispatch, the reason for dispatch and the outcome.

Property

• Some general property alarms include audio and video, fire, trap alarms, perimeter alarms, time violation alarms, invalid disarm alarms, glass break and door alarms. All of these alarms are classified as burglary alarms, with the exception of the fire alarms. Fire alarms receive higher priority than the burglary alarms, and are dispatched on immediately after the monitor checks the system notes. The premises are then immediately called to verify the need for dispatch. RPs are called, and the disposition is received and recorded in the incident report. Burglary alarms are taken next and follow the same procedure with the exception of calling inside first; for these alarms RPs are contacted following the dispatch unless instructions state the procedure rules differently.

Equipment

• Advisory alarms are used to monitor the temperatures of private and commercial equipment, or the status and functionality of the security system equipment. The procedure used with these alarms is to contact RPs immediately to advise of the alarm and await further instructions on how they would like the alarm to be monitored. These alarms receive the lowest priority.