What Happens if an Intruder Destroys My System?

If an intruder destroys your system, then you will still receive automatic emergency dispatch from a central monitoring station. This is thanks to Advanced Protection Logic (APL) for AlarmNet Systems and Crash & Smash (C&S) for Alarm.com. Both features work in a relatively similar manner.

To understand APL and C&S, one should first understand Entry Delay periods. When you fault an Entry/Exit Zone while your system is Armed, an Entry Delay countdown begins. The end user is expected to Disarm their system before this countdown expires. If the system is not Disarmed in time, then an alarm signal will be sent out to the central station. A trained dispatcher will then contact the end user to make sure that everything is okay. If the dispatcher is unable to reach the end user, or if the end user reports that they are in danger, the dispatcher will contact the local authorities for emergency dispatch.

But many users wonder what happens if the panel is destroyed during the Entry Delay period. The concern is that the system cannot send out alarm signals if the panel and/or communicator are destroyed. However, alarm system manufacturers thought of this problem. These companies designed their panels with a special feature to ensure that alarm signals are still sent out in these situations. Systems that use AlarmNet call this feature Advanced Protection Logic. For Alarm.com Panels, it is called Crash & Smash.

Upon entering an Entry Delay countdown, the system will immediately send a signal to either the Alarm.com Servers (for ADC) or the AlarmNet Servers (for TC2). The purpose of this signal is just to inform the corresponding server that the system is now in its Entry Delay countdown. Both the Alarm.com Servers and the AlarmNet Servers are intelligent enough to know that either a Disarm or Alarm event must logically follow. If the server does not receive a Disarm or Alarm notification after a certain period of time, then the server will recognize that the panel must have been destroyed. The server will then send a signal to the central station requesting emergency dispatch.

Advanced Protection Logic and Crash & Smash can also work during intrusion alarms that do not follow Entry Delay periods. If a system has Alarm Report Delay enabled, then the system will wait a brief period before sending out an intrusion alarm. This is a very short period of time that is usually about 30 seconds in length. During this time, the user can Disarm their system to stop the alarm from being sent out. If the panel is destroyed during the Alarm Report Delay Period, then APL or C&S will still protect the system. Please note that this only occurs if Alarm Report Delay is enabled for the system. Alarm Grid recommends disabling this feature if possible.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind with Advanced Protection Logic and Crash & Smash. The first thing is that the Alarm.com Servers and the AlarmNet Servers do not send signals to a central station the instant that the regular Entry Delay period expires. Possible latency in sending signals, due to such things as cellular signal quality, is also accounted for. Slightly more than a minute of additional time is added to the normal period before the central station is notified. The purpose of this is to prevent false alarms.

Users should also be aware that APL and C&S do not work with self-monitoring plans. This is because the end user will not receive APL or C&S reports from Total Connect 2.0 or Alarm.com. The AlarmNet Servers and the Alarm.com Servers will contact the central station directly during an APL or C&S event. For that reason, you need a central station monitoring plan for APL or C&S to work. More information can be found on our alarm monitoring page. Additionally, these features do not work with phone line monitoring. You need an IP communication path or a cellular communication path to use APL or C&S.