Police Compliance Policy
Banham are fully compliant with the ACPO policy and European standards.
Police Policy for Intruder Alarms
Information Relating to the Design and Installation of your Alarm System
Compliance with Police Standards DD243:2004 Policy
In an effort to reduce the number of calls for Police to attend sites where alternative response measures could have been arranged, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) have introduced certain design and operational requirements in order to help relieve Police resources.
In brief, these requirements cover three separate aspects of the intruder alarm, which are as follows:
Alarm Unsetting
Manufacturer statistics suggest that 67% of Police visits to site are generated by incorrect operation of the alarm keypad.
In order to combat this problem ACPO insist that all systems must be unset via a single action method, such as a keyfob or keyswitch. We recommend the proximity keyfob as being the most user friendly and efficient of the available options.
Clients who are unconvinced that this requirement is workable for them and who at point of survey insist upon designing the system for code number operation must understand that.
A Where an intrusion occurs via a final exit, all means of alarm confirmation will be isolated. This means that the whole property will be vulnerable with the only action available being that of keyholder response.
B Systems of a similar design, but with keyfob operation, will only have entry/exit routes devices disabled. All other devices are then available to provide the first and second activation necessary to support the confirmed alarm signal.
Confirmed Alarm Signals
Since the introduction of the October 2001 ACPO Policy all new intruder alarm systems connected to the ARC must be designed to provide a confirmed alarm signal before the Police will respond.
This means that the system must generate two independent alarm activations before the call can be passed to the Police as a confirmed alarm.
Banham achieve a confirmed alarm signal by using a sequential format i.e. two devices activating in sequence. We find this to be the most user friendly means of conforming with the ACPO/DD243 Policies.
Police Attendance
ACPO categorise all monitored intruder alarms into the following response levels.
LEVEL 1 Immediate.
LEVEL 2 Police response is desirable but attendance may be delayed, due to resource availability.
LEVEL 3 No Police attendance. Keyholder response only.
- LEVEL 1 Alarm Systems will receive Police response based on the assumption that an offence is taking place, but against the background of competing urgent calls and available Police resources.
- Following 2 policed false alarms in a 12 month rolling period the occupier will be advised in writing by the Police and the system will move to LEVEL 2. Subsequent alarm activations may receive a lower priority Police response. LEVEL 1 will be reinstated after a period of 3 months without false alarms.
- Following 5 policed false alarms in a 12 month rolling period the occupier will be advised in writing by the Police and the system will move to LEVEL 3. LEVEL 1 will be reinstated once all the conditions in paragraph 4, (see below), have been met.
- To restore response, an application in writing by Banham Alarms will be forwarded to your Police Authority, supported by evidence that the system has been free of false alarms for 3 months. The 12 month rolling period is retrospective and your previous false alarm record may affect future Police response levels to the system. In addition, confirmation is required that an upgrade of the system has been carried out as directed by the Police.
