An alarm system is a great tool to defend your home or business from intruders. They also protect your assets, and even detect fires and gas leaks, falls and control the temperature in your home. Protection for your family all around. Unfortunately, as with any technology, issues arise from false alarms. Since alarm systems are extremely important to be checked by the proper authorities, these responses to false alarms can cause a large workload for these authorities for absolutely no reason. That’s why changes to alarm permits are required to avoid these false alarms.
Recent Alarm Permit Bylaw Changes
Recently the alarm permit bylaws for the City of Calgary were changed. We covered the changes in a post here: Alarm Permit Updates Calgary. Essentially the changes are meant to eliminate these false alarms from occurring. The major change is that two sensors have to be tripped in order for the police to respond to the scene. If someone breaks through a window, it might only trip the glass break sensors and not the window sensor. As such the police would not respond to this call. If a cat jumps in front of a motion sensor, the system is tripped but the police will not respond and as such you won’t be out $75 and they won’t be wasting their time.
All in all these changes have brought some good to the police service, but whether it has helped keep residents as secure is the question. We build our systems and have retrofitted all systems we offer with exactly this in mind. Unfortunately some alarm companies have not even taken the time to inform their customers of these changes, and as such you may have been left in the dark about it. We can help you if that is the case for you. Contact us here.
Upcoming Changes
In Ontario, police have already changed the bylaws even further, to include a requirement for video verification of an incident. This means that additionally to a sensor having to be tripped, the monitoring station, or yourself will have to have seen an intruder on video cameras. What this means is that your alarm system will only be as effective as the siren in your home and business if you do not have surveillance cameras. It is not yet confirmed whether these changes will be implemented in Calgary, but it is extremely likely. Since we are trying to stay ahead of the curve and be proactive, Authorized Security will be rolling out some camera and alarm packages for existing and new customers. It is more important than ever to stay informed and make sure that you are up to date on all these changes. Otherwise if you are caught in a burglary situation, the police may not respond at all.
Criminals are usually the first to find out the changes. As such, businesses and homes without cameras, are an easy target for absolutely anyone, because the police will not bother to respond. While this will increase response times for real burglaries, this can also put anyone without video surveillance capabilities at risk.
Our Recommendations
Having to trip to zones can be tricky, depending on the setup of your home. As mentioned above, a window sensor will not do much good, if the window is smashed. Only a glass break sensor will detect that break. If there is a lack of other sensors, e.g. motion sensors, you might only get one hit, and as such no police response. If you are in the business or home while the burglary occurs, we recommend keeping a keyfob on you at all times. As soon as the panic button is pressed, this will be the second zone that is tripped, allowing the police to respond to the call.
Installing surveillance cameras is another recommendation that we have. Surveillance cameras are your first line of defense, as they show you what is going on. Should the alarm system be triggered, you can easily pull up your cameras and check what is going on, or if set up correctly, your cameras should have already sent you an image of the intruder. With this image in hand and the tripped sensors, you are then able to have the police dispatched.
Get in Touch
Stay ahead of the curve and add cameras to your business. We have some very affordable packages available that will ensure your business will stay protected even after all these changes have been implemented. Don’t wait until it is too late and something has happened. Give us a call at 1-877-270-2370 or email us at info@authorizedsecurity.ca. You can also submit a request for a quote right here.