Like SIAC, The Monitoring Association (TMA) offers a course on how to reduce false activations of alarm systems. We both get the message out and have resources available to the electronic security industry to help on this educational front.
Even with our successes in sharing this information, more needs to be done. One area where we believe (and we’re working on this) improvements can be made is encouraging and supporting municipalities implementing that work to enhance user awareness.
Alarm user error is the major reason for false activations. It stands to reason that programs educating users on how alarm systems work and what they can do to avoid mistakes is a good one for municipalities to offer and promote to the alarm owners in their communities.
Marketing (getting the message out) is critical here. That’s part of the reason for this SIAC blog we publish a couple of times a month – to share information with others so we continue to see improvement on the alarm management front in communities across the U.S. But the success of these messages depends on how far the information penetrates.
We encourage our readers to help us out here. Share this blog on your social media networks – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter….. The more we collectively reinforce the importance of user education on the proper operation of alarm systems, the better off our industry will be. With municipalities taking up this educational mantle, we gain support for this effort, and build positive momentum.
The Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Mesa, AZ Police Departments are all good examples of local law enforcement agencies that offer some form of alarm awareness program. It’s a start. With your help promoting this message to others, we can get these programs in front of more municipalities across the U.S.