Hamilton Police Service’s False Alarm Reduction Unit (FARU) was created to reduce incidents with false alarms and the impact on emergency response services such as Police, Fire and Ambulance. Recently they sent out a letter with some GREAT tips that will help you as a home or business owner reduce your false alarms when dealing with your alarm system.

Teach How to Use The Alarm System

Make sure anybody using your home or business alarm (kids, parents, dog walker, cleaners) has been shown how to properly disarm the system and turn the system off in the event of an alarm.

Make Sure Your Alarm System Is Functioning Properly

If your alarm system is not functioning properly, contact your alarm company immediately. You take your car to the mechanic for regular maintenance, as well as when it stops working properly, why put off fixing a system that is securing your home?

Ensure Everyone Knows How to Respond

Make sure that they know how to properly respond to the call from the monitoring company with proper credentials and information. If the monitoring station cannot verify the person responding to the call, they will dispatch the police.

Check Before You Arm

Did you lock that door or window? Go check before you arm the system. Leaving a door or window unlocked is just as bad as not setting your alarm.

Ensure Daily Maintenance of the Alarm System

Clean your system. Vacuum off your motion and smoke detectors. Make sure that the contacts on your door are clear of any debris.

Troubleshoot

Once you have had a false alarm, contact your alarm company to determine the cause. This can help determine if it is mechanical or user error.

Keep Your System Updated

When your list of key holders changes, contact your alarm company to let them know. A former neighbour who moved 3 hours away isn’t likely to be able to help when the alarm goes off. Send the alarm company an email or fax to ensure that you have provided accurate information such as phone numbers.

Add an Additional Primary Number When Away

Going on vacation? Make sure you aren’t the one getting the call while on the beach in Aruba. Let your alarm company know that you will be away and for how long. Have a close friend or neighbour as your primary contact while you are away so you can enjoy your trip.

Test It Out

Unsure of what might set your system off? Test it out. Talk to your alarm company and test out different situations with pets and new codes to ensure you know what might cause a false alarm and you are there to disarm the system before a false alarm really occurs.

Regular use of your alarm system will keep you in touch with any issues and ensuring that you are aware of how it is working. Keep in touch with your alarm system provider. At SecurU, we take great pride in knowing that we help keep our clients safe and secured, while facilitating them to have a full-functioning and easily accessible smart home system that allows them to have the full control of what goes on in their home! Our clients are based in Milton, Oakville and Burlington among other locations. If you would like to know more about our smart home offerings, or have any questions please do not hesitate to drop us a line!