Automatic Intrusion Alarms

Nationwide studies have shown that the false alarm rate for automatic intrusion alarms is over 98%. Police response to alarm calls usually involve at least two marked patrol vehicles making a "code run" (traveling with lights and siren above normal speed limits) to the location of the alarm. This results in a lot of wasted officer time, to say nothing of the increased risk to the responding officers and the motoring public. An increasing number of police agencies in the U.S. and elsewhere have developed Verified Alarm Response policies to attempt to manage the situation. The key feature of these programs is that an alarm must be verified as being legitimate before police officers are sent.

Alarms are typically "verified" by private security companies; however they are sometimes verified by neighbors or other citizens in the area of the alarm.

The Yakima Police Department's Verified Alarm Response program began on June 2, 2004. During the first year of the program, Yakima PD's response to alarms was reduced by 87%. The department still responded not only to verified alarms but also to panic alarms, bank alarms, etc. The overall burglary rate for the City during this same period decreased by 4%.

The total number of alarms responded to during this first-year period was about 500. Of these 500, only about 2% were found to actually involve criminal activity.

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