The Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) announced a nationwide initiative to promote the adoption and implementation of Enhanced Call Verification (ECV) to further reduce police dispatches to invalid security alarm activations. ECV is proven to reduce police dispatches while maintaining the crime deterrent affect of alarm systems.
SIAC also announced the development of a centralized national ordinance tracking database to provide standardized information regarding alarm ordinances and dispatch policies relating to the alarm industry. SIAC made the announcements at a press conference at ISC Expo East in New York on November 4, 2004.
"Enhanced Call Verification (ECV) is the most effective program ever developed to reduce police dispatches to invalid alarms," said SIAC Executive Director Stan Martin. "For years, the focus was on the reduction of the percentage of alarms that were deemed false, but the percentage rate was found to not be relevant to gauging the effective alarm management programs."
When the International Association of Chiefs of Police Private Security Liaison Committee (IACP PSLC) moved the focus to reducing alarm dispatches two years ago, the alarm industry response was the development of ECV. Although ECV is in the early stages of implementation, there is already evidence that the program is having a significant impact, with reductions of 25-50 percent in some jurisdictions.
"Studies indicate that an alarm company using ECV can eliminate up to 50 percent of alarm signals that would traditionally have resulted in a call for service because the signal was verified on the second call," said Martin. SIAC is launching a national initiative to encourage alarm companies to adopt ECV into their dispatch protocols and also urging law enforcement to adopt ECV as a dispatch policy.
SIAC also previewed the development of a centralized database for alarm ordinances and alarm dispatch policies for the United States and Canada. SIAC is coordinating the development of the Ordinance Tracking Information System (OTIS) and expects the central database to be available online in the first half of 2005.
OTIS will provide law enforcement with comparative information on ordinances, particularly for cities of like size, for the purpose of developing and revising alarm ordinances.
"OTIS is a research tool for alarm companies operating on the local, regional and national level," said Martin. "It will help law enforcement, policymakers, and monitoring companies find information on alarm ordinances in other cities so they can apply it successfully to their own community."
