Security Sales & Integration February 2023 - 17

SMARTS & PARTS
Tech Talk by Bob Dolph
bdolph.ssi@gmail.com
Digging Deeper Into Why
False Alarms Persist
TOOL OF THE MONTH
This month, I selected a
service tool that can make
dealers' and customers' lives
easier. The AG Chat mobile
app and service from the
monitoring provider AvantGuard
(agmonitoring.com)
has proven to considerably
reduce false alarms. Check
with you current monitoring
provider to see if they have a
similar app you can provide to
your customers.
▶ IT'S BEEN A WHILE since we have discussed
and reviewed the status of false alarm technology.
Th e good news it is improving in some areas; however,
overall it is still a major community problem.
Most of the false alarm (FA) issues are the same as
in the past. Customers are still making the same
problems. Police and fi re departments are faced
with socially correct reduction in personnel and
resources, while more alarm systems are being installed
thanks to the Do It Yourself (DIY) movement.
You could say it's close to a perfect storm
unless something is done. More good news is there
are new resources to make life easier for both the
alarm dealer and alarm customer.
First a brief story from my personal archives.
Bob Dolph has served
in various technical
management and advisory
positions in the security
industry for 30+ years. To
share tips and installation
questions, email Bob at
bdolph.ssi@gmail.com. Access
content from his 20+ years as
Tech Talk columnist by going
online at securitysales.com/
author/bdolph.
securitysales.com
Many years ago, I worked for a company that had
designed a limited ingress alarm system. You had
two doors to enter. When entering the fi rst door,
you could hear the typical time delay entrance
alarm sounder. Th en you had to enter the correct
keypad code to disarm, the sounder would stop,
and the second inner door would unlock.
If you were a new employee or infrequent
alarm user, you may not understand how to use
the keypad to disarm, or not remember the disarm
code. In that case, after the entrance delay
timed out, the alarm would sound and be reported
to the central monitoring station. Th e inner
door would remain locked. Here's the kicker:
Th e alarm monitoring would call the company
phone, which, you guessed it, was in the offi ce -
behind the locked inner door. Without the proper
response to the phone call, the police would
then be dispatched. I witnessed this many times,
especially with new employees and nothing was
ever done. What could have possibly been done
to remedy this problem? Perhaps better user
training and installation of an answer-only wall
phone next to the control panel.
Here are some related statistics to get you thinking
more about false alarms. Th irty-fi ve percent of
U.S. broadband households had a security system
by the end of 2021. On average 71% of smart
home devices, including alarm systems, are DIY.
Only 30% of people answer unknown phone
calls, while 98% open their text messages.
Recently, I had the opportunity to review a
podcast that was presented by the Electronic Security
Association (ESA). It originally had been an
ESA educational presentation at ESX 2021. ESA
thought it was such an important subject that they
reposted some of it on YouTube. I viewed " Reducing
False Alarm Dispatches: With Troy Iverson &
Eric Garner, " and wanted to share some of the key
points of the discussion between Iverson, sr. vice
president of sales & marketing for AvantGuard
(AG) and Garner, president of alarm division at
Pye-Barker Fire and Safety. Some takeaways:
▶ All people that come into contact with the
alarm system controls should know how to
properly use it.
▶ Video verifi cation is a hot application
category. However, many systems are not
set up properly. Th e video motion detection
will falsely trigger from things like trees
blowing the wind and moving cars. More
applications using artifi cial intelligence (AI)
are encouraged.
▶ Dealers need to be more proactive with customer
FA issues. Some monitoring software
can generate a daily list of the highest FA
off enders. Contact them for good relations.
▶ Systems, especially older ones, need maintenance
and possible upgrades.
▶ Leave a new system on test for a few days
or possibly a few weeks depending on what
makes the customer feel comfortable.
▶ Use a texting response service such as AG
Chat (see Tool of the month) to simplify
and speed up false alarm responses.
▶ Arming/disarming systems is still one of the
top FA problems. Proper training of customers
on alarm operation is important - just
because a tech knows alarm systems does not
make them a good trainer. " Th e installer is
the perfect opportunity to train alarm owners
on how to use an alarm, but it has not
been the best training, " Iverson comments.
▶ Make sure customer enters the alarm monitoring
service in their phone contact list;
70% often do not answer 'unknown' calls.
Th is is a big deal.
FEBRUARY 2023 Security Sales & Integration
17
COURTESY OF AVANTGUARD
http://www.agmonitoring.com http://www.securitysales.com/ http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration February 2023

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