According to the Metropolitan Police website on Operation Bumblebee, home security alarms are a worthwhile investment for the protection of your home and family as studies have shown that having a burglar alarm that is correctly fitted and maintained will make you less likely to become the victim of a burglary.

The Met site also talks about police response times to activations being dependent upon the type of alarm installed as the number of false alarm calls due to faulty equipment has risen to more than 92% of national alarm activations.

As a result, the ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) Unified Intruder Alarm Policy has been adopted, in which two types of burglar alarms are defined, together with the relevant police response.

Type A - Remote Signalling Alarms, including intruder alarms terminating at approved central monitoring stations. They must be maintained and used in accordance with British Standard 4737/BS EN 50131, BS 7042 (high security systems) or BS 6799 Class VI (wire-free alarms). Such alarms will be registered with the police and identified by a unique reference number (URN) and can include personal attack alarms. The police response to their activation will be based on the assumption that an offence is taking place, but against the background of competing urgent calls and available resources. Such a response will also be conditional upon the number of false activations in any 12 month period, in which case the activation may receive a lower priority police attendance.

(Note from Spy Alarms: BS4737 is an outdated standard and the correct ones are:

All our new equipment and its installation complies with the current standard for Intruder & Hold-up Alarm Systems (I&HAS) PD6662 (the UK implementation of EN50131)

Additional compliance, depending on the grade and option chosen, is to DD243 2004 and the current ACPO Policy on Police Response to security systems for remotely monitored Intruder & Hold-Up Alarm Systems (I&HAS))

Type B - Audible Only and Hybrid Alarms, including bells-only and automatic dialling alarms, as well as alarms from non-compliant companies and non-compliant central stations. URNs will not be issued for these systems. To obtain police attendance, in addition to their activation Type B alarms will also require some indication that an offence is in progress, e.g. from a witness.

To find out more about some of the identification criteria, go to the Operation Bumblebee alarm page

Spy Alarms are three times winners of the Metropolitan Police Award for the least number of false alarms.