Video Plays Verifiable Role in Alarm Response
Learn how law enforcement agencies are defining verified alarm and their different response methodologies.
What is a verified alarm? It depends who is asked. From the law enforcement perspective, many police chiefs and sheriffs define a “verified alarm” as a crime-in-progress deserving priority response, and this view is becoming increasingly important.
In fact, the cover story in the June issue of FBI National Academy Associate magazine promotes video verified alarms as a force multiplier for fighting crime. The new best practices created by the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response (PPVAR) are being embraced by the National Academy, which trains the best and brightest of our nation’s law enforcement (sheriffs and police) who then bring these best practices back to their local jurisdictions.
In contrast, for many in the alarm industry a verified alarm simply prevents a needless dispatch to a false alarm. The term verified alarm generates confusion between these groups because of what they actually seek to verify – a crime or a false alarm. The same term is used in two different ways; sometimes broadly referring to false alarm reduction and sometimes narrowly referring to validating a crime-in-progress.
While aggressive false alarm reduction procedures have been crucial to improving traditional alarm systems and reducing user error, this approach is only defensive. Understanding law enforcement’s view of video verified alarms is crucial to an industry looking to build strong partnerships with police and sheriffs to better serve a common customer/citizen with professionally monitored video alarms that deliver priority police response and more arrests.
Proactive Verified Approach With a Narrower Definition
In an era of reduced resources, police chiefs and sheriffs fighting property crime consider video verification as a force multiplier that enhances arrest rates and helps their officers be more effective providing life safety to their community. It is a technology answer that continues to become both more popular and more affordable to mainstream
small commercial and residential property owners.
The alarm industry is a valuable partner in deploying and monitoring video alarms to help police catch the bad guys, according to Police Chief Chris Vinson of Highland Park, Texas. Vinson chairs the Alarm Committee for the Texas Police Chiefs Association (TPCA) and is an expert working with alarm signals sent to the 911 dispatch center. He is also a key member of the PPVAR’s Video Verification Committee, which recently released its document defining best practices for video verified alarms.
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