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Alarm panel standard gets support |
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Important as security systems gain market share. |
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Written by Andrew Wareing
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North American police chiefs have thrown their support behind a standard for alarm panels called SIA CP-01.
Meeting in October, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) passed a resolution to urge municipalities to require the standard for alarm control panels and for panel manufacturers to comply with the standard in producing new panels. The standard — developed by the Security Industry Association (SIA), the Alarm Industry Research and Education Foundation (AIREF), the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA and the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) — is designed to tackle the issue of false dispatches that continue to plague the industry
Ivan Spector, the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) representative on the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) says the standard is an initiative that was started three of four years ago. CP-01 sets higher design requirements for alarm control panels with the goal to reduce alarms caused by equipment failure and user error. Under the provisions, control panels must cover event recognition, information handling sequences as well as provision for system layout testing. Installers must also use specific program options and test procedures to ensure compliance.
“As a local monitoring station based in Montreal, my monitoring station extrapolates a lot of signals from clients’ premises and, as a result, our clients have an expectation that, when their siren rings, they’re going to receive a call from a monitoring station operator who’s going to inquire for a pass number and ask why the siren happened,” says Spector.
However a typical scenario includes clients who are coming into their residence laden with groceries and don’t have time to disarm the system before it sends a signal. Either that or they forget something on leaving the house but not before the one-minute grace period from the time the arming code is input to the time the system sets itself to alarm, he says.
“With the CP-01 standard, one of the suggestions is a delay in dialing,” says Spector. “If the system goes into an alarm condition when you’re coming in with an armful of bags and can’t disarm the system in time, it’s going to give you a period of grace prior to the system sending a signal. It is felt, and likely justifiably, that the fact a user has put in a code that the system recognizes is sufficient to end the interaction right there as opposed to calling the customrer and asking for the passcode, which they may not have available, and resulting in a police dispatch. There is some through process behind implementation and design of software enhancements.”
IACP past-president and Palm Bay, Fla. Chief of Police Bill Berger praised the adoption of the standard as a means to free up law enforcement resources that can be used in other areas including problem solving, homeland security and other community needs.
However, while the standard has gained momentum in the United States, it hasn’t been receiving the same level of commitment in Canada.
“Maybe as an association, CANASA could be doing a better job of disseminating the information (about CP-01) to police departments,” says Spector.
This and other initiatives like installation standards and enhanced call verification need to get more support by the industry, says Spector. “If you apply them, you are going to see a significant reduction in your false dispatch per system per year ratios and that’s the key. We know that security systems are growing in market penetration. Left unchecked, we’re going to have rampant false dispatches and that’s not good for anyone.”
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