On Inspection

The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) mission to reduce false intruder alarms is intertwined with the goal of ensuring people and property are kept safe from unwanted intruders, together with the effective deployment of police responders.

Certification has made a compelling contribution in this area since the 1995 introduction of a unified police intruder alarm policy, whereby the security industry, working in close partnership with the police service, tackled the untenable situation in which (at that time) more than 90% of activations were identified as false alarms.

Accounting for up to 25% of all emergency calls to the police, high burglary rates and notoriously unreliable intruder alarms had been the recipe for a huge waste of police resources being deployed to the wrong place at the wrong time at no small cost.

To address the problem, the Association of Chief Police Officers (the NPCC’s predecessor) stipulated requirements in conjunction with industry for the installation and monitoring of alarm systems ‘on police response’ to be undertaken only by approved service providers.

Becoming approved necessitated signing up to third party certification and involved ongoing independent inspection, in which the National Security Inspectorate (NSI) – at that time NACOSS – played its part. Since those days, the false alarm rate has reduced by over 90% and the deterrent effect of now reliable approved alarms serves its purpose. Burglary is no longer atop insurers’ lists of leading priorities, fewer police officers are deployed on wasted call-outs and there have been immense savings to the public purse.

Site surveillance

Approved alarm systems are still ripe for continual improvement in terms of deterrence and policing effectiveness.  The recently revised BS 8418:2021 Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Detector-Activated Video Surveillance Systems – Code of Practice is the first of two fresh catalysts for delivering more progression.  

Introducing fundamental change, BS 8418 will appeal to many by placing properties protected by a Remote Video Response Centre (RVRC) on police response, where previously it was not an option. In addition to previously police-recognised systems, now categorised as ‘Type A+’ (ie those well suited to higher-risk commercial, industrial, military and similar sites), the new ‘Type A’ category of system defined in BS 8418:2021 is set to attract the attentions of those facilities and premises managers as well as owner/occupiers with simpler installation technology requirements.

Allocations of police URNs to sites where a video surveillance system is installed and monitored by an approved Alarm Receiving Centre/RVRC will increase substantially as buyers and operators of sites with detector-activated CCTV monitoring systems understand the cost/benefit deliverables BS 8418:2021 ‘Type A’ represents in summoning police response.

Code revision

For its part, the NSI has also revised its existing NACOSS Gold and Systems Silver Supplementary Code of Practice for the Planning, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Intruder Alarms (NACP 11).

In practical terms, NACP 11 is refreshed and simplified, being reborn as NCP 120 Issue 1.

The main requirements introduced in the new publication include:

• a documented process for the ‘handover’ from one approved company to another NSI approved company where ongoing maintenance is involved

• compliance with the NPCC’s (or Police Scotland’s) security system requirements

• compliance with specific requirements from BS 7671

• the clarification of requirements found in BS 9263 for on-site maintenance visits

• the inclusion of example forms and certificates

• any replacement components fitted during a corrective maintenance visit must be functionally tested

This modernisation brings the Code up-to-date, clarifying required proactive maintenance actions. It includes a new requirement ensuring customers are made aware of any process – and, perhaps, its related costs – when a system is ‘taken over’ by a new contractor. This is more pertinent than ever in today’s world where cloud services are widely used.

Effective deterrent

Third party certification continues to play a key role in the ongoing reduction of false alarms, duly benefiting the buyers of security systems seeking effective deterrence and response should an alarm be triggered. Approved installers continue to deliver compliant systems including the new ‘Type A’ video surveillance systems that are eligible for police response. 

Richard Jenkins is Chief Executive of the National Security Inspectorate (www.nsi.org.uk)