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ACPO 2000 and DD243:2002 Confirmed Alarms  

In the autumn of 2000, the association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) in England, Wales & Northern Ireland published a unified Intruder Alarm Policy with the intention of reducing wasted Police time responding to false alarms.

On the 1st October 2001 the ACPO 2000 policy came into force with the following effects:-

1. All signalling Intruder Alarm systems (systems monitored by an Alarm Receiving Centre) installed from 1st July 2002, are to be installed to DD243:2002 Code of Practice so that an alarm can be 'confirmed'. The Police require monitored systems to 'confirm' that there is an activation before they will respond.

2. Intruder alarm systems should be designed to generate a confirmed alarm and the system should be designed to reflect the assessed risk whilst still minimising the possibility of a false alarm being caused. There are 3 forms of confirmation technology, Audio, Video and Sequential.
   
   Confirmation of an alarm also extends to the signalling. Line faults from alarm systems installed after 1st October 2001 will not be Policed. The risk to premises is overcome by installing dual signalling Redcare GSM. activation before they will respond.

Three levels of Police response are defined.

Level 1 = immediate Police response. (1 – 2 false calls)

Level 2 = Response may be delayed due to other priorities. (after 2 false calls)

Level 3 = NO Police attendance, keyholder response only. (after 5 false calls)

Personal Attack

As a new introduction by ACPO, Police policy within England, Wales & Northern Ireland may also limit false ‘personal attack’ activations to two in any rolling 12 month period, before withdrawing response to that element of an intruder alarm system.

Re-instatement, following withdrawal of police response for the PA element, can only be obtained immediately by upgrading this element of the system to ensure that the following police requirements are in place:

1. No ‘single push’ PA devices
   
2. No time delay devices
   
3. Portable PA devices must not have other functionality
   
4. Users are fully trained
   
5. Duress facility is engineered ‘off’ unless high security
   
6. PA devices on control panels should be engineered to prevent activations as a result of watchdog failures or power problems.
   
7. PA activation from control panels should be segregated from the main keys, be dedicated and operate by two buttons with a synchronised push.

For users that do not wish to upgrade their systems to all of the above, or have already been upgraded, re-instatement will occur after a 3 month period. However, these requirements may vary by police force area, but in most areas numbers 1-5 are mandatory.

Re-instatement following lowered response level

If your alarm has lost police response or the response level has been lowered, the system has to be free of false calls for a three month period before you can regain the previous level of response.

Additionally, when a system is at Level 3 (police response has been withdrawn) reinstatement will only allow confirmed calls to be passed. If you do not have a confirmed system this will require an upgrade to an intruder alarm that has alarm confirmation technology and most police forces permit immediate re-instatement following the upgrade.

Keyholding

Police policies require that you have two keyholders who have been trained to operate the intruder alarm, are telephone subscribers, have adequate means to attend the premises at all hours, have access to all relevant parts of the premises and can attend within 20 minutes. Persistent failure to attend within 20 minutes can lead to withdrawal of police response.

For a FREE, no obligation, Security Audit of your premises, please call 08704 422 999

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