Loudoun County Alarm Monitoring

Loudoun County Monitoring Plans

Feature Explanation

E-mail & Phone Alerts UL Listed Central Station Phone or Internet Internet Monitoring Cellular Monitoring Arm / Disarm via Phone & Web Remote Z-Wave Control Image Sensors Video Surveillance Cellular Communication Internet Communication

Loudoun County Licensing and Alarm Permit Info

False Alarm Prevention Tips

Why is false alarm prevention important? There are two main reasons: deputy safety and making good use of dwindling resources. It is important that all alarm users become aware of the increasing burden false alarms place on police and sheriff's departments throughout the country. False alarms, for the most part are avoidable! If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem. Following are some tips to help you avoid common mistakes that cause false alarms.

• Train every person that has authority to enter your home or business on how to use your alarm system. Make sure that your children, neighbors, temporary staff, cleaning crews, baby-sitters, employees or anyone else knows how to arm and disarm the system. You can setup temporary permissions for users as well depending on the system using what is often referred to as the baby-sitter code. In more modern systems this is more often referred ot as the guest code or a temporary user code.
• Let everyone who has the authority to enter your home know the proper procedure for cancelling a dispatch.
• Make sure that you're using a high-quality system such as Honeywell, 2GIG, DSC or Qolsys. These systems are high quality and have proven themselves in thei rability to prevent false alarms. These should help prevent system-caused false alarms.
• Review with Alarm Grid the procedures you wish for us to follow when an alarm activates. Set your call order, add or remove contacts, and tell us how you want each zone to behave. We can dispatch police, fire, or medical attention depending on what zone is alarming. You will work with us upon your activation and during the time you are monitored by Alarm Grid to ensure that your system is in proper working order and that we know about all your zones.
• Be careful with your information. Your false alarm password, which is given to the central station if your system goes off, should only be made known to those who need to know it. That said, please let anyone with the authority to be on the property know what passwords or codes they need to demonstrate that they are allowed to be on the property. This is especially important when you are not in a position to be reached by authorities. This is most often a problem when the homeowner is on vacation and inaccessible and someone they have asked to take care of the home enters the premise without a full understanding of the alarm system and dispatch procedures.
• Keep alarmed doors and windows locked when the alarm is on. This will reduce accidental alarms by friends and family who might enter the home unanounced but who pose no threat.
• Install and use deadbolts for premise doors and windows.
• Make sure yoru doors and windows frames are kept in good condition. Warping or dirt or peeling paint can cause sensors to become misaligned with their magnet or to fall. This will cause a false alarm.
• Be careful where you install your motion detectors. Vents, drafts, windows that the sun shines through, jumping cats, large dogs, and stairs being within view are common causes of false alarms. These alarms can be prevented by selecting good corners for installation of the motions.
• Pet immunity is a feature of most modern motion sensors. Honeywell, 2GIG, Qolsys, and most third-party brands have motions that will accommodate pets of all sizes and activity. That said, cats are almost never friendly to motions since they jump a lot. If you're installing motions, it's a good idea to install motions with some degree of pet immunity. This will also future proof your system in case you get a pet, or you move and someone else with a pet inherits your system. We strongly recommend getting a motion with pet immunity.
• False Alarms are your responsibility. No matter who causes them, if they are the result of your system, they are your responsibility. Alarm Grid does its best to help mitigate false alarms, but it is up to you to manage your system and to prevent any possible false alarms. The systems we sell are excellent quality. If they are defective and within our return window, we will gladly help you replace the product. But the burden of ensuring your system is not causing false alarms is on you.
• Replace batteries in your system and peripheral sensors per the recommendations of the manufacturer. Also, realize that manufacturer estimates on battery life are estimates. While it is a good idea to replace batteries that last longer than the recommended time, heavily used zones will sometimes see batteries that wear out before the recommended time. If the systems indicates that a sensor or a part of the system needs a battery, replace it right away - even if it is sooner than the recommended battery replacement schedule.
• Test your alarm system regularly. Call the number you see at the top of the site and select the central station's extension number. Tell our central station partner that you want to "put my alarm system on test for [X] hour(s)." During the specified period, you can set your system off and no dispatches will not be done.

If You Accidentally Activate Your Alarm, If you set off a burglary alarm by accident in a home or a business, try to contact the alarm company immediately if they do not call you. DO NOT CALL 911. If you cannot recite the property's password or code word over the phone to the alarm operator, the sheriff's office will be dispatched!

Responding to alarm calls is serious business for the sheriff's office. Every year, law enforcement officers are killed while responding to these types of calls. Until proven otherwise, we must assume that we are dealing with a crime in progress. Keep this in mind when you accidentally activate your alarm.