When I first entered this industry the police responded to burglary via 999 calls made by the public or by automatic means, but no longer.

Now, even with the public as eye witnesses, the reply may often be "Stick your head in the firing line as we are too valuable to be put at risk" – or words to the same effect.

And so, in due course, police abandoned (in reality) attending domestic burglaries and in some areas simply issued a crime number via a phone call.

Then came the URN for police response, that, when combined with DD243, reduced the probability of arrest of the burglar even further. And so to today ... Now a URN is required for CCTV (under BS 8418, the standard for remotely monitored CCTV systems) with the added protection to the criminal of audible warning letting them know they have been detected and giving them the opportunity to escape and commit more crimes.

In my opinion the police service is not assisting our industry or our customers.

James G Torrance (Snr BSC/DipII Sec) thealarmengineer@aol.com

  • (An extreme view, James ... Certainly not one that our writer on BS 8418 on page 44 would agree with ... So what do other readers think? – Ed)

Source

Security Installer