What Happens After Alarm Activation?

If you’ve followed our blog at all, you have a good idea how we go about designing a security system. This process includes installing equipment in locations that make your alarm as effective as possible. Furthermore, the process also involves working with you to create the desired user experience. However, we find it equally important to educate customers on what happens if an alarm does take place. After all, this is where the rubber meets the road, and adrenaline can run high in these situations. For these reasons, we prefer taking a proactive approach to dealing with this scenario. Today, we aim to show you what happens after an alarm activation, to help you prepare for this scenario as you create your own security plan.

First, we’ll explain the difference between when an alarm for a non-monitored system occurs versus a monitored system. We strongly recommend that our customers take advantage of our monitoring services to create the proper response to an alarm if necessary! From there, we’ll discuss some actions that you can take to silence the alarm if desired. These include both in-house and remote options for disarming. Then, we’ll shift our focus to creating the proper central station response, ranging from cancelling the alarm to using your smartphone to send the authorities as quickly as possible. Now, let’s dive in with a look at monitored versus non-monitored alarm activation.

Monitored Versus Non-Monitored Alarm Activation

Many of our customers opt to have their alarms monitored by our central station. This service involves having us connect your security system to our central station via your phone lines or an independent cellular dialer. Recently, this latter option has gotten quite popular, as more and more homes lack traditional phone lines. In fact, we recommend using our cellular dialer, powered by Alarm.com, to monitor your security system. Doing so allows your system to remain monitored even when your phone lines go down.

Additionally, our interactive cellular monitoring even allows you to control your alarm remotely with a smart phone, as detailed in our recent post, Signs You Need a Security System Upgrade!  If you have a monitored security system, it will contact our central station upon activation. From there, our central station calls your home to check on the situation. If necessary, our central station will even create an emergency police or fire department dispatch.

Despite the security benefits of alarm monitoring, some of our customers do not opt for this feature. Instead, they have what we refer to as “local” alarms. Local alarms create a siren response upon activation, but do not create a central station response. Therefore, they will not create an emergency dispatch if your alarm goes off. At this point, we’ve gone over the basics regarding how security systems react to alarm events. Now, let’s look at your next steps if you experience an alarm activation!

Turning Off Your Alarm

In this section, we will discuss a couple ways that you can silence your siren after an alarm occurs. We refer to this action as “disarming” your alarm. Whether you have a monitored security system or not, you will at some point want to complete this step. Our customers use a couple methods to do so, so let’s begin this discussion with a look at our most “traditional” method of disarming your security system.

Using a Keypad to Disarm Your Security System

Regardless of what type of alarm you have, all security systems include some type of keypad. This piece of equipment allows you to “interact” with your alarm system. In most cases, disarming an alarm involves hitting an “off” or “disarm” button, followed by a customizable numeric code. Alarm users follow this process to silence their siren after an alarm activation. Newer alarm systems, such as the model pictured by QOLSYS, utilize a modern touchscreen interface rather than a numerical keypad for this task.

Often, our customers provide the same code to everyone that uses a security system. For example, homeowners often follow this practice. Other times, customers create many codes for different individuals. This allows them to add and delete codes as needed. Our commercial customers often follow this practice as a way to keep their buildings secure. After all, business owners do not want former employees to have a code that they can use to disarm their old employer’s security system down the road! More often than not, people imagine keypad disarming when they envision silencing a security system’s siren. However, we do offer a couple other popular options. Let’s take a look at those next!

Remote Alarm Control

Sometimes, customers wish to control their alarm remotely. We offer a couple ways to provide this service. For example, we offer wireless key fobs that offer remote alarm control. These devices allow customers to disarm their security system in advance, as long as they are within 100 feet or so of their property. Doing so can avoid the need to rush in certain situations. For example, imagine sitting in your driveway with a car full of groceries. Of course, you could enter your home, drop your bags of food, and rush to your keypad to disarm the alarm system. Or, you can simply complete this task from your car with the press of a button before entering your home.

Furthermore, we also mentioned our interactive cellular service earlier in this post. If you have our interactive cellular service, you also have an Alarm.com account. This account allows you to use any internet-connected device to control your security system. On the way to work and realizing you forgot to arm the alarm on the way out? No problem! Simply pull out your phone and use the Alarm.com app to do so. Additionally, this feature allows you to disarm the security system remotely without giving out an alarm code. This proves especially useful if you have house sitters or contractors that need access to your home. Now, let’s look at a couple steps to deal with a potential emergency dispatch if your monitored alarm does detect a potential break-in.

Confirming or Cancelling An Alarm

If you have a monitored security system, our central station will attempt to contact you upon receiving an alarm signal. At this point, you have a couple options. If you know your alarm was activated in error, you will want to cancel an emergency dispatch. False alarms happen for a variety of reasons. These include both systems malfunctions and user errors. However, perhaps you do not know what activated your security system. In this case, you will want the proper authorities sent to your home! In this section, we share how you can get the proper central station response after an alarm. Let’s get started with a look at how you can go through our central station directly to make this happen.

Communication with our Central Station

As we pointed out above, our central station will call you upon receiving an emergency alarm activation. Of course, customers can choose which number the central station calls. Customers with home phone numbers generally choose to have our central station call this number. However, customers without home phone lines must use cell phones as their primary alarm communication. In the case of a false alarm, you can simply pick up the phone and cancel the alarm. This involves providing our central station with your “passcode.” Passcodes take the form of a word or group of numbers that helps confirm your identity. Giving the “all-clear” and providing your passcode will negate a potential emergency dispatch.

However, perhaps you receive a central station phone call while away from the home. In this case, you may want to request the appropriate police or fire department response. Customers with home phones generally receive emergency calls after a dispatch when they are away from the house. This is due to the fact that the central station has already called the home and received no answer. At this point, the central station calls for emergency response before calling your cell phone. However, you can still cancel this response if you suspect a false alarm. This process involves simply providing your passcode and asking to cancel the emergency response. Now, let’s look at how you can use our interactive cellular monitoring to make this process more efficient!

Immediate Smartphone-Based Alarm Cancellations

Our interactive cellular monitoring provides quite a few benefits to customers. We already mentioned the ability to remotely arm and disarm your security system. Furthermore, this service creates customizable alerts that get sent from your alarm right to your phone! These alerts include events such as suspected break-ins, as well as other important notices. For example, alarm status updates such as low sensor batteries and users arming and disarming your security system can create alerts, if you wish. Finally, your Alarm.com app allows you to quickly confirm or cancel alarm activations.

In the case of an alarm, the pictured Alarm.com menu will pop up on your phone. Once this happens, you can verify or cancel the alarm with one touch of a button! Awhile back, we created a post sharing Best Practices for Creating a Quick Alarm Response. In that post, we shared how a “confirmed” alarm dispatch can carry more weight than one created because a customer did not answer their phone. Therefore, adding this monitoring service can make your security system more effective. The ability to confirm a police dispatch in response to an alarm adds a huge security benefit to interactive cellular monitoring!

Putting it All Together

We hope that this post helps you understand what an alarm activation entails, and how you can react as well. As always, we encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. While on site, we can work with you to find solutions to any and all of your existing security concerns. Additionally, we can suggest additional security measures based on our own observations of your property. Over our 38 years in business, we’ve helped over a thousand homeowners like yourself add security and peace of mind, as well as the user experience they desire. Together, we can create a complete plan to keep your home, your valuables, and your family as safe and secure as possible!