Verified Response Policy Explained

Dozens of Police departments in North America have implemented what is called a Verified Response Policy in an attempt to reduce time wasted by responding to false alarms from burglar alarm systems. Some have reported success, and others failure.

The intention is that, implementation of the policy allows the Police to re-deploy their officers to more worthy, higher priority calls from the general public.

Many Police departments strongly believe that it is the right policy. Police dispatch rates are usually reduced by around 70% after a policy of Verified Response is put in place. Around seventy percent of jurisdictions report that the burglary rate declines, while approximately thirty percent show increases. Many report that they have been able to free officer’s time and therefore respond more quickly to confirmed burglaries. Some departments state that where the policy is put into place, initial concern quickly dissipates through public education. In this post 911 world, despite budget cuts, police departments have been forced to take on extra law enforcement and Homeland Security duties.

In Los Angeles, California, the Chief of Police states that "if a home is not protected by a private guard response service, the reality is we are not going to be coming with lights and sirens blazing unless there is human confirmation of an event in progress." The downside of 3rd party guard services is that they cannot carry weapons and do not have powers of arrest. That said, some security guarding companies state that they are increasingly trying to convince consumers to opt out of police response.

The alarm monitoring industry is reacting quickly and technology is available that allows Central Station operators to receive images from cameras on their screens, alongside alarm events reported from a conventional security panel. Although this technology has been available for quite a number of years, it is only within the last year or so that the cost of IP cameras has reduced to such an extent that they are now affordable to the vast majority of home owners. There is now no reason that people who live in an area that has adopted a Verified Response policy should be without a police response. Both home and business owners, as well as the security monitoring industry, have everything they need to assist the police and fight crime.

By: IP Alarms

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Steve Nutt is the founder of IP Alarms and a developer of Video Monitoring products and solutions for the security, fire and IP Camera Monitoring industries.