MidAtlantic

"Stand alone" alarms are just that. They ring and may or may not scare off burglars and they should shut off after a certain time.

Others go to a monitoring station where the response will depend on the contract between the property owner and the monitoring centre. I had one like this for my UK business and it worked really well.

Here in the US, for my home, I have a monitored system for break-ins, fire and medical emergencies and my company always refers on to the appropriate emergency service.

anotherlimey

I don't know about the UK. I believe there are a lot of outsourced alarm handling centers that "monitor" residential alarm services but I've never heard of one that allows you to specify how many sensors are triggered before police are called.

You may also need to register the alarm with the county you live in. I had a system installed and before I'd registered it my daughter opened the door one morning before we had turned the alarm off and my phone was on silent so I didn't answer the call-center. Two cops turned up about 30 minutes later; I got an $80 fine in the mail the next week - part of that was for non-registration.

Jerseygirl

Alarm systems had to be registered with our local police too...or face a fine.

thinbrit

This is a question for your alarm monitoring company. They are the ones calling the police out. Companies I have used in the past typically offer options as to whether to dispatch immediately or first attempt to contact someone on your call-list, or follow some other protocol. Business alarms typically have a customizable action plan that clearly defines how this works. Residential alarms typically have a more limited set of options.

I just added panic buttons to my hospital and had many options available to us. We chose the silent alarm with immediate dispatch when a panic button is pressed, we don't utilize any sensors as we are open 24/7/365. Our first 3 'false alarms' per year are free, then it is a sliding scale where you pay more for each of subsequent false alarms.

Contact your alarm monitoring company and ask them.

anotherlimey

Oh, and here in Miami the fine goes up maybe 2x or 3x for the second false alarm and at some point they will ignore calls if your system keeps triggering false alarms.

md95065

I guess that I kind of amazed by the number of people who appear to have alarms installed ...

Am I the only person who doesn't have one (and who has never even considered getting one)?

Jerseygirl

Ours was a new house...alarms were standard.

Nutmegger

We were spending weekdays in the city when we got ours.

thinbrit

I don't have an alarm on my home.
I live out in the Boonies on acreage and an alarm is worthless. It would take 30 to 45 minutes on a good day, if the police did respond at all.
If we are home then it is not going to be a good day for the intruder. If we are out then the house insurance will cover it.

Pulaski

We got ours just two and half years ago, or was it 18 months ago. Anyway it was quite recent, and it helps Mrs P feel better. It is a self-installed wifi-based system and not dependent on a phone line or cable connection for monitoring, which IMO was essential as a system that can be disabled by snipping an external wire is pretty useless.

We just started out with a basic package of door sensors and a couple of motion detectors, but we are contemplating upgrading it with a window/smash audio detector and a fire detector.

lansbury

Our alarm was already fitted when we purchased the house, although we have improved on it.

The main reason we have it is we have the smoke and heat detectors linked to it. Not only will one of those trigger the house siren which you can't sleep though, a fire alert is an automatic call the fire department. With wooded houses I consider such a system a must, it might just save the house from serious damage if anything happened while we were out.

Jerseygirl

I'm not so bothered what happens whilst I am out. What concerned me was a tinderbox fire while we were asleep. We kept an emergency ladder in our bedroom and our daughter's bedroom...just in case.

Pulaski

Unless you lived in a three storey (UK) house that was likely unnecessary. It is quite easy to climb out of a second storey (US) window, and indeed that was a stunt that I and several friends did on more than one occasion when we were students.

Not only that, jumping from a second storey (UK) is far from a life-threatening trick either, and I recall a few years ago the BBC reported the case of a pensioner in the UK who jumped from a second storey flat window to escape a fire, ..... and he then ran to fetch a ladder to rescue others! For me that puts it all in perspective.

Jerseygirl

It was 3 stories at the back and side of the house.

Pulaski

US or UK? Three storeys US = two storeys UK. ...... The pensioner I referred to above jumped out of the third storey (US).