Home security system - is it worth paying for police monitoring?

[Rocket Man]

Following a recent attempted burglary I asked for some advice about burglar alarms. After getting several quotes I'd chosen a system (Texecom Ricochet) and a trusted installer. However, a friend has strongly advised me to go with ADT to have a system with police response. I was sceptical that the police would actually respond but they have security cameras and he saw them respond within 5 minutes when an alarm was triggered. So now I'm wondering if that might be a better solution. I don't see much point in paying for an ARC (alarm receiving centre) but if the police actually do investigate then it might be worth paying for that peace of mind. Anyone have any experience of ADT?

[mart broad]

We have an ADT system that monitors to both the Police and Fire with a smoke alarm in addition to our hardwired ones which IMO is very important as we have four small dogs ( the system is pet friendly so they can roam when we are out) and whilst i have no real interest in possessions our animals are important.An alarm that just sounds or goes to your phone is IMO useless in our last property i got a call whilst in the USA from my Son saying that the alarm had gone of the Police attended and so did he ( he is a key holder)

We paid £99.00 for installation, all networked no wires and £29.00 pm for monitoring and service.

[Bonzodog]

They are a large company with on call engineers 24/7.Alarm calls go to the arc first.As I’ve said in the past ,a determined thief will still have a go and good quality locks should also be installed.

[g40steve]

The popo don’t have time to check house alarms, they don’t even investigate minor crimes due to cuts??

[oldoakknives]

You need to be in an area with good mobile signal coverage as their system requires a mobile signal to work properly. I think from memory it needs at least two good signals from different providers.

[Bonzodog]

You need to be in an area with good mobile signal coverage as their system requires a mobile signal to work properly. I think from memory it needs at least two good signals from different providers.

A dialer can be installed connected to main phone line.

[oldoakknives]

A dialer can be installed connected to main phone line.

Defeats the object of the alarm if the phone line is down. (Cut)

[SydR]

Defeats the object of the alarm if the phone line is down. (Cut)

I got a system installed by a third party company, which provided two way comms, and they challenged anyone present when the alarm went off. Wrong password, or ‘under duress password, they called the Police reporting persons present on-site.

Anyway they relied on the phone line but fitted a dummy one and rerouted/ hid the live one. The dummy one could also be linked to the alarm’s tamper circuit.

[j0hnbarker]

We recently moved house and in addition to replacing all the cheap euro cylinder locks with Ultions, I had a local company install a wireless alarm that is set up with the monitoring and the Police response. Not sure how ADT work but you have to take the monitoring company subscription as it is they who contact the Police when the alarm is triggered. There was a flat one-off fee to register with the local Police and they insist that you have the alarm serviced twice a year to reduce the potential for false alarms. There's also an annual fee to the monitoring company on top.

I think it is worth it for peace of mind. I work nights on occasion, and we have a separate outbuilding with my motorbikes and a home office, so it's nice to know the whole house is covered.

Yes, determined thieves will break your windows to get in, but if they see quality locks and a decent alarm they will most likely look elsewhere for an easier target.

[Bonzodog]

Defeats the object of the alarm if the phone line is down. (Cut)

That’s how they used to be before mobiles .

[Christian]

Didn't realise they still had products that would summon the police these days...thought the police would be too overstretched to even consider this.

Back in the 80's, my family moved into a house with a panic button linked to the police, no cost or subscription. As a kid, the lure of pressing a big red button was too much and I remember a couple of times police cars pulling up outside and mum having to tell them it was a false alarm.

[oldoakknives]

That’s how they used to be before mobiles .

Yes, they probably did.

[Estoril-5]

is there two-tiered police system?

If you pay they will definitely turn up, and if you dont it depends if they are overstretched or not?

[Bonzodog]

Yes, they probably did.

I’ve installed many over the years.

[oldoakknives]

I’ve installed many over the years.

No doubt. Many many years ago I fitted car alarms, pretty basic by todays standards although cutting edge at the time, but most would be outdated today. Unless mobile signal coverage was an issue which couldn't be overcome, I can't see the point in only having phone line connection. If you're paying for a monitored alarm it would seem sensible to have one which didn't solely rely on a fixed phone line.

[thegreatdogwood]

The popo don’t have time to check house alarms, they don’t even investigate minor crimes due to cuts??

This

Most alarm installers advise not to bother paying extra for the police line as (at best) somebody is likely to turn up long after the intruder has left the site.

[PhilipK]

Our insurance requires that we have a monitored alarm system (ours is with ADT).

We had one false alarm (it was a hardware failure within the alarm system, not anything that we had done) which resulted in a police attendance. We received a letter afterwards from the local constabulary saying that their policy was that if there were 2 or more false alarms within a specific period (can't remember how many months), they would no longer attend the premises.

[Mj2k]

. As a kid, the lure of pressing a big red button was too much and I remember a couple of times police cars pulling up outside and mum having to tell them it was a false alarm.

Ah yes, we had one of those with similar outcomes!

Off topic but linked to resources, last summer a friend’s gran ‘fell ill’ at a family gathering (drunk as it emerged from boxed wine!). First responders on site were across the board - they had a police car, ambulance & full on fire engine all arrive! Kids loved it & the forces were great. My friend was waiting for the coast guard!

Amazing support, and very embarrassing to find it was the alcohol. In my moment of need / alarm going, I’d love that level of response!

[Kevin]

The police don't monitor anything.
They used to when alarm systems were quite rare and required end to end phone line connections.
They were known as Home Office panels and were all done away with in the late 70s.
A third party central station will monitor the connection and banks and other high risk systems (generally better maintained, far less false alarms and higher premiums) will always have priority over domestic systems.
They are probably still better than a bell on a wall that everyone ignores.

[Pennywise]

We install CSL pro units, they have 2 international sims in them and will use the stronger and have the other as backup, it is also networkable, have about 60 systems around Europe. We use a monitoring station without police response, it can become a bit of a pain as quite often user error causes issues and false alarms.


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[Omegamanic]

Our insurance requires that we have a monitored alarm system (ours is with ADT).

We had one false alarm (it was a hardware failure within the alarm system, not anything that we had done) which resulted in a police attendance. We received a letter afterwards from the local constabulary saying that their policy was that if there were 2 or more false alarms within a specific period (can't remember how many months), they would no longer attend the premises.

It says something similar to that about Police call outs in my ADT alarm manual.

[mangoosian]

We had a fixed line system but swapped to a mobile based one.

1) harder to circumvent
2) the fixed line system was ringing through a checkup call every day and was adding £10 per month
3) the fixed line could/did have problems with virgin phone lines (was told this 7 years ago when installed) so mobiles removes any issue.

Regarding police response, we have friends who live a street away and have had police response within a few minutes. I think the police response is dependent on location and availability.

[SydR]

Regarding police response, we have friends who live a street away and have had police response within a few minutes. I think the police response is dependent on location and availability.

^^^this.

A few years ago Mrs Syd were due to a attend court, witnesses for the prosecution. The evening before court someone turned up to ‘discuss’ the case.

Phoned 999 and three Police officers came running round from the station, 250 metres away, before I’d even finished the call.

[craig1912]

We have had an ADT monitored alarm for 20+ years. It’s linked to the monitoring centre by landline.
Only had one false alarm when my son accidentally set it off. They phone the house/mobile and if no answer or they can’t be certain who they are talking to then they call the police. In our case the police were round in a few minutes.
Generally they are OK and service it a couple of times a year.

[Estoril-5]

So has anyone who has a monitored alarm been triggered and no one showed up, or for a period of time?

[The Doc]

I'm interested in this too.

The info that I think is missing, is "how far from the police station are you?"

My new house is really rural, and I can't see police getting there in under 15 mins, unless they happened to be in the Blacksmith's Arms in the village, you know, checking the beer security.

So. I'm thinking don't get monitored because any intruder will be long gone before any constable arrives. Our area is also very low crime (not including chainsaw/quad bike thefts)

If my wife gets an intruder whilst she's upstairs in bed, she can dial 999.

I want deterrent rather than response, I think.....

[tomp]

I wouldn't bother. The police don't attend crimes of that sort of nature anyway round here. We have had two burglaries and nether had an officer turn up when reported. Not even a courtesy check. Wife got driven into by a man leaving the pub day before yesterday who promptly drove off without stopping. Low speed impact but the witnesses that were there said he had been drinking. I called them 10-15 mins after it had happened and they didn't send anyone. Just said you'll need a crime number for the insurance. Know his name as people there knew who he was and a pic of his car luckily. Doesn't instill much confidence.

[j0hnbarker]

There are a lot of posts on here from people who don't say whether they have a Police monitored alarm and I'm not sure that's helpful.

OP - if you're happy paying for a monitored alarm, that is one where you will be called by a monitoring station when your alarm is triggered, then the additional Police response is a one-off fee (£55 here in Derbyshire) that represents a small fraction of the total installation costs of the alarm and the ongoing annual monitoring station and alarm service package fees.

I wanted it for the reasons set out in my original response. The additional one-off £55 was good money spent in my opinion.

[Meesterbond]

We've had both systems... originally had an ADT alarm which was really poorly installed. There were units which were slightly too far from the base station and when the system did its automated call back to the central station it would often fail resulting in the monitoring station calling us to advise us of the problem. Unfortunately those automated calls happened at about 3.15am and if they weren't able to wake me or my wife they'd then go round the rest of the key holders.

So we ditched that and went to an unmonitored RISCO system. A much more modern system than the one ADT installed but not having the monitoring station really puts the onus on you to do something about it if you get an alert and you're not at home.

Anyway, when we moved we had a Texecom system installed with 24/7 monitoring and they will refer to the police. Our insurance insisted on a monitored alarm and the Texecom system seem pretty good. We've got CCTV as well so hopefully if someone does try to break in we'll know about it.

[The Hack]

I can only speak from my experience in West London (Ealing area), but I had a Pyronix wireless alarm system installed and paid £20/mth extra for Police monitoring. There was a false alarm triggered one Saturday morning by a Window cleaner and there were 3 police officers there in 10 mins. This was in the middle of last year.

I’m sure it depends on how busy the local plod are at the time if any alarm being triggered. However, after 3 false alarms the Police put your property on a blacklist and don’t attend as a matter of priority.

[Vanguard]

This

Most alarm installers advise not to bother paying extra for the police line as (at best) somebody is likely to turn up long after the intruder has left the site.

Totally agree, every time my office has been burgled we've got there before the Police and it took us 30 mins to arrive, don't assume they will do anything useful when the alarm monitoring company call them.

[oldoakknives]

I wouldn't bother. The police don't attend crimes of that sort of nature anyway round here. We have had two burglaries and nether had an officer turn up when reported. Not even a courtesy check. Wife got driven into by a man leaving the pub day before yesterday who promptly drove off without stopping. Low speed impact but the witnesses that were there said he had been drinking. I called them 10-15 mins after it had happened and they didn't send anyone. Just said you'll need a crime number for the insurance. Know his name as people there knew who he was and a pic of his car luckily. Doesn't instill much confidence.

I called the police twice to attempted burglaries and each time they turned up within 15 minutes. If they know that the burglar is present they seem to respond well.
There’s probably a different response to ‘I’ve been burgled’ and ‘I’m being burgled’