Burglar Alarms and False Alarm Prevention

What to do in the event of a false burglar alarm:
First and most importantly, don't Panic! If you are inside your home when your burglar alarm system goes off then go to the keypad and punch in your code to disarm the system. This will turn off the siren. Make sure you are near a phone because the monitoring station will be contacting you very shortly. When the monitoring station calls they will ask for your pass code to verify who you are and to call off police dispatch.

NOTE: If you disarmed your system within 30 seconds then many central monitoing stations may not respond. This may be treated a “customer cancel” or “customer abort”. They most likely got the signal but will not treat it as a real alarm. Your system must send a signal and not be turned off within 30 seconds to be treated as an actual alarm (in most cases). This procedure was inacted by many cental monitoring stations and many State agencies in an attempt to cut down on overall false alarms.

If you are ever concerned about your alarms communication then you should call our central station and perform a test. Really tests should be performed by you every month anyway. Remember, panic button activations cannot be called off and there is simply a call for dispatch.

Your burglar alarm system should provide you with years of worry free service. However, if you do think that you have a false alarm event or a service issue then you should contact your Alarm Company immediately for service.

How to prevent false alarms from happening:
Most false alarms are caused by human error due to not fully understanding how to use their alarm system. Be sure that both you and anyone else that may be using the alarm understand how to properly arm and disarm the system. This includes housekeepers, babysitters or anyone else that may need to enter your home while the burglar alarm system is armed. Also be sure they understand how to call off a false alarm in case they do accidentally set off the alarm. Hint: you can give your nanny or housekeeper a different password and code. Why do this? Because, if something turns up missing you can tell which code disarmed your alarm system. (Note: You may need to enable a reporting function on your burglar alarm system to be able to tell which code turned on and off the system.)

Another cause of false alarms can be from unplanned movement in front of motion detectors. Be careful about placing things like balloons, large leafy plants or moving fans in front of your motions. The movement from these items can sometimes cause the alarm system to be set off. Also,most motion detectors are designed not to pick up most pets under 40 lbs. However, if you have items that your pets can jump up on to like bookshelves or tables this can make them appear larger than they really are and the burglar alarm may pick them up as intruders.

Remember, proper monitoring of your burglar alarm system should provide you with peace of mind and added safety in your home or business.

Home Alarm Monitoring today is currently undergoing a revolution in the way that home are monitored and today there are many options to traditional alarm monitoring. - Check out the Alarm Monitoring page for more info.

Questions and Answers

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