False Security Alarms: The Cost to Your Business

A good security system is vital for protecting your business against all kinds of threats. Whether you’re trying to prevent others from stealing your assets or data, stop vandals damaging your property, or monitor members of your staff, having the means to detect illicit activity and raise an alert is always a good idea.

Naturally, you want a system you can rely on – both to go off when there is a genuine emergency and not to go off when there isn’t.

However, false security alarms do happen. This article will examine why that might be, what the cost can be to you and your business, and how you – with a little help from your friends at Scutum London – can prevent them from happening.

Why do false security alarms happen?

There are many reasons for a false security or burglar alarm – Which? reported in 2020 that as many as 20% of false alarms in domestic properties were caused by pets. These are just a few of the reasons why they might happen in a commercial property:

• Low batteries
• Poor installation
• Human error
• Poorly maintained systems
• Bad weather
• Wireless interference
• Random weirdnesses (from helium balloons deflating and insects getting into the workings to mail dropping through the letter box and things falling off shelves for no obvious reason)

Quite simply, the cheaper your security system, the more inexpert the way it’s been installed and the less it’s looked after post installation, the more false alarms you’re likely to get.

What are the costs of false alarms?

• Wasted time and lost sleep – a false alarm is annoying enough on its own. Discovering it’s a false alarm only when you’ve dragged yourself out of bed at three in the morning and made your bleary-eyed way to the office is even worse
• Ignoring a genuine alarm – we’ve all heard of the boy who cried wolf. If you keep getting false alarms, you may stop responding with the same level of urgency by the fifth time – if you respond at all. That increases the chance of ignoring a genuine alarm
• Irritated neighbours and/or police – if loud alarms are going off at all hours of the night, you’re likely to have very unhappy neighbours very quickly, while the police also won’t appreciate being summoned to false alarms on a regular basis and are likely to treat you with far less sympathy should an actual break-in occur
• No police response at all – the police are generally far too busy to investigate every single alarm, for the simple reason that so many of them are false

How can you stop false alarms?

The best way to protect your business is to get a high-quality system installed by a professional company like Scutum London accompanied by a comprehensive after-sales service that includes maintenance and servicing. That will make sure it’s designed and managed specifically for your premises and your situation, rather than being an off-the-shelf product for which you’ll get little recompense should it prove unreliable.

A professional company will also take great care over how and where your sensors are located, to ensure that vulnerable points are effectively covered and to reduce the potential for false alarms from outside interference.

We mentioned previously how the police rarely respond to most alarms – what they do respond to, however, are reports from a security system monitoring station like the one available through Scutum London. These places monitor alarms 24/7, and if they think your alarm is genuine, they’ll alert the police who will investigate under such circumstances.

If you want a reliable security system that will give your commercial premises the best possible protection, then get in touch with our friendly team now to find out more.