After the latest alarm response statistics showed police attended 100,000 fewer false alarms in 2004, compared to the year before, police have hailed the improvement in security systems.
Commenting, Peter Davies, Association of Chief Police Officers spokesman on security systems and Lincolnshire Assistant Chief Constable, said: “Our aim is to keep all the value of security systems but make sure that police officers are not wasting their time attending false alarms. We have cut the number of times this happens by nearly 20 per cent in one year. This enables us to keep more officers on the front line, free to attend other more important incidents. These results have been achieved through close co-operation with the security systems industry, who share our concern at the waste of police resources that false alarms incur. Developments in technology, together with better processes and rising standards, all have their part to play.”
Wasteful alarms reduced
The number of false alarms per installation has fallen steadily from 1.49 in 1995, to 0.92 in 2001. Falls since have been greater: to 0.60 in 2002, 0.47 in 2003 and 0.39 in 2004. The number of remote alarm systems rose by 48,000 to 1,163,000 in 2004. The number of false alarms fell by 102,000 to 428,000, while the number of genuine alarms fell from 70,800 to 40,400. Arrested persons arising from alarm activations fell by 438 to 4,158, while the number of activations resulting in an arrest fell too, by 290 to 3,191. ACPO added that its Security Systems Working Group aims to reduce wasteful false alarms while retaining the value of security systems. Mr Davies added: “This year has seen considerable reductions in levels of burglary, which is what we all want to see. ACPO believes that security systems have a part to play in achieving this and is hoping the positive trends of recent years will be continued.”
