The problem of false alarms will not end soon. The lack of knowledge on the part of users and the urgency of the EMC to win an account make this phenomenon continue latent.
by Ana María Restrepo
There are many cases of false alarms that occur in Latin America that make us think about the need to have regulations or laws, as well as more courses and training for technical installation personnel and central monitoring stations (EMC).In some countries there are associations that become monitoring bodies of this phenomenon, which helps to provide real help when the alert of an alarm is presented.
But not only Latin America suffers from this situation, in any city and country where there is a security system based on alarms this problem occurs, however, one of the biggest drawbacks in Latin America is the little commitment and regulation of the state.
In Spain, for example, the problem of false alarms still occurs very regularly, although there have been joint plans between the alarm receiving centers and the local authorities of different cities, and there is also a normativity.
At the end of last March, Prosegur Activa and the Ertzaintza (integral autonomous police of the Basque Country) created an alliance to eradicate false alarms from intrusion teams in the Basque Country. This program seeks to raise awareness among citizens of the importance of users in the eradication of false alarms. According to the news presented by the Casadomo portal, currently 80 percent of the signals received in an alarm receiving center (CRA) are the result of misuse or ignorance of the alarm system by users and other people who have access to it.
Also in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, United States, the police department has an alarm unit, which develops a false alarm prevention program for users of these security solutions, within which the reasons for activations and how they are prevented are exposed. It also includes educational information for consumers of the alarm system. Additionally, the Arizona Fire and Intrusion Alarm Association and the Phoenix Police Department have a website that provides the public with information about this problem and how to reduce it to an acceptable level.
To talk about this topic in the Latin region, VENTAS DE SEGURIDAD invited some professionals from the sector related to alarm monitoring.
Meeting needs
Every day the installation companies, as well as the alarm receiving centers or monitoring companies, are concerned with training their employees and technicians and providing the necessary information to users to avoid false alarms; however, the lack of regulation of the issue in the region and the little commitment of some installation companies to provide the best service, makes this phenomenon increase and become an increasingly greater problem.
For Jorge Andrés Cortez, president of the monitoring company Ceproalarm, from Venezuela, the essential idea of a company like his, is to satisfy the needs of the client in terms of the installation of an intrusion alarm, taking into account the characteristics of the place where the solution will be placed, but it is not always met in all installation companies, because "many times due to lack of knowledge or trying to win an account they install devices that are not suitable for the area to be protected".
And although work is being done in the region to reduce false alarms, these continue to be recurrent and have been increasing due to new facilities in a market that grows without regulations, as indicated by Marcos Blasoni, director of Divesca, a distributor of Pima products in Venezuela.
Andrés Fried, executive vice president of First Security, focuses on this same line, who explains that in Chile the matter is within the agenda of the authorities for this year, and considers that false alarms have not diminished.
Phenomena that unleash them
There are many causes of false alarms in residences or commercial places, such as the use of incorrect codes, lack of knowledge of users, discharged batteries, unsecured windows or doors after the alarm system has been turned on and pets, among others, but it is also important to highlight, as mentioned by Blasoni, the lack of awareness of companies that do not follow the rules of installation by making a sale by winning a competitor or by saving money.
In addition, Cortez and Fried agree that the misuse that the user gives to the system and the lack of training of this by the selling agents, as well as the bad or null procedures of some monitoring companies, the bad facilities and the little maintenance and the equipment not approved, etc., are other causes of the problem of false alarms.
Jorge affirms that the responsibility is part and part, the user and the installation company, but above all it falls on the company because it has the obligation to educate its customers, because a consmidor can make many mistakes, but they will be greater if they do not have the adequate training of these systems.
To avoid these circumstances, installers and the monitoring company must agree on rules for such implementations and above all monitor that they are complied with.
In the last year, the problem of false alarms continues to make a dent in the monitoring companies and in the police forces of the different countries of the region. In Chile, for example, false alarms are an issue according to Andrés, because this means that the Carabineros de Chile is an important expense within their budget and therefore they are currently trying to reform the laws that regulate private security. "They are keeping private statistics, about which companies are the least credible regarding their information; Last year in some cities in Chile they did not meet the needs of private monitoring companies that did not have technical verification mobiles in each city and there are very few that cover the entire country."
He also explains that through the chapter of ALAS Chile (Latin American Security Association), it has been sensitizing companies focusing on the global number of false alarms, which is around 96%.
For Marcos, the fact that these alarms are generated is the responsibility of the installer, the monitoring company and the user. "From the installer because they want to finish the installation quickly, it is easier not to follow all the installation rules than if they do, in addition as they do not have monitoring they will not be receiving the false activations, only if the client calls them to check the system for causing discomfort to him or the neighbors; the monitoring company for selling more and not supervising the facilities and finally the user for wanting the system to be as economical or fast as possible"
In Argentina, according to the text "The cost of false alarms for public institutions, by Carlos Reisz, published in the Forum of Latin American Security Professionals, each false alarm, attended by the police, or some public order unit, and that mobilizes a chain of systems and people, has a global cost of approximately US $ 100.
According to this text and a statistic of false alarms attended by the Argentine Federal Police in the territory of the Federal Capital (Federal District), with an average population at peak hours of 9,000,000 citizens of which about 1.7 million have some emergency warning system and / or monitored alarms and, also taking into account telephone calls requiring help, made by pranksters, that is, non-existent facts, in the years 2002 to 2005 there were 167,272 false monitoring alarms, 21800 fasos warnings to the authorities, and a false alarm cost for monitoring of US $ 16,727,200.
How to avoid them?
There are many ways that the security industry and the authorities have devised to avoid false alarms. You can find equipment with specific devices that prevent these events, or the programming of passive infrared detectors to ignore the first movement and activate if they detect movement in two or more consecutive areas in a period of time, or specific sensors for each area to be protected; there are also trainings provided in Latin America by different companies in the security sector and estates such as ALAS.
Regarding this issue, Fried affirms that the training of staff and sales is one of the ways to help in the reduction of false alarms, because they at the same time educate the client, also considers that a delivery certificate of the installation signed by the client should be made, have good procedures and trained monitors. "The ideal is to have their own technicians, since the contractors rush the work a lot and therefore it is not neat, It is very noticeable in the very large and transnational companies that make massive sales through distributors who do not have people trained neither in the sale nor in the installation to talk in terms of safety, because that should be the horizon of security companies, sell professional security, and many do not, discrediting the Industry".
Cortez agrees with Fried as far as training is concerned, and considers that in Venezuela companies have made a great effort to educate their technical team, he also comments "we are not oblivious to the reality of a country where there is insecurity today, where electronic security is important. There are many small companies that are venturing into the business and do not have the proper training to offer the services, but as there are no regulations in Venezuela in this regard, every company can be in the sector, and compete with companies that do care to offer the client the service that is required. " He also comments that according to the statistics that his company handles, 20% of customers generate 80% of false alarms, so they maintain a policy of constant review of those accounts that generate such alarms.
Next steps
As mentioned above in many countries there is a lack of some type of regulation on false alarms that regulates them and avoids the unnecessary displacement of the verifiers of the monitoring companies or the police forces, however, Andrés explains that in Chile there is an interest in the police to charge the monitoring companies for false alarms and not the end user, who is the one who ultimately produces the false alarm.
He also comments that through ALAS Chile there was until 2007 a committee of false alarms that met periodically with carabineros de Chile to monitor the issue, but from 2007, for different reasons, ALAS Chile, stopped operating, despite the members of this committee and who were part of the WINGS chapter of this country and who represented 95% of the market of monitoring companies, they met in order to reformulate and elect a new directive to resume the previous process and be an instance before the governmental and legislative authorities regarding this issue.
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