When your security alarm system suddenly goes off, it can be jarring. Your heart rate accelerates. You react as if you are experiencing a real threat. What happens if it isn’t?

The issue here is that false alarms feel real in the moment, which causes confusion, stress, and even wasted resources. Not only are these alarms a hassle to deal with, wasting your time and energy, but false alarms make up for 94 to 98 percent of all burglar alarms responded to, leading to a waste of $1.8 billion in police time and resources. What’s more, false alarms can be costly to homeowners because police departments start charging after multiple dispatches.

The solution is to explore why they happen and then use this information to determine how to prevent them from happening. Here’s more information:

Know your causes

The first step to preventing false alarms is to figure out why they occur in the first place. For this, you can assess your own log of false alarms, as well as determine the typical causes. Common false alarm triggers include user errors, system malfunctions, improper system placements, pets, and more.

In an ideal world, you would assess your most common triggers as you are setting up your security alarm system. This should reduce the frequency of false alarms. Then, if a false alarm does occur after that, you can address the cause and make adjustments accordingly.

Plan for user errors

The main cause for false alarms is user error. How could this happen? Perhaps your child, or a new employee trying to arm or disarm the system with an incorrect passcode.

Or, it could include forgetting to allow third-parties legitimate access to your space, such as cleaning crews. If they weren’t properly trained on how to gain access, this could also trigger a false alarm.

The best thing you can do to prevent these types of alarm triggers is to take time to train anyone who might be using the alarm in arming and disarming them. Including how long a system takes to arm, the passcodes and how to deal with any errors that may come up on the system display. If you have a monitored system, ensure anyone using the system knows the password to share with the monitoring center when they call upon an alarm sounding. This will prevent an unnecessary dispatch and save you, as a homeowner, from being liable from any potential fines. 

Ensure proper installation

How your equipment is set up also matters for preventing false alarms. For example, sensor placement is something that needs to be heavily considered when installing an alarm system. Sensors trigger off of sound and or movement, so where and how they are installed is incredibly important.

Make sure your sensors aren’t near anything that might move. This could be a moving sign, an air vent that could blow debris onto the censor, or any other sort of decoration that could cause a trigger in the system.

Since equipment inconsistencies or errors that originated at the installation level are a common cause of false alarms, take extra care that censors are chosen correctly and placed in the right spot. When you work with a home security company like American Alarm, we’ll cover false alarm fines. We’re confident in our systems, service, and monitoring and are prepared to cover the costs in the rare instance of a false alarm caused by equipment malfunction. 

Plan for pets and animals

Pets, or any other animals that might be roaming around your alarm system area and causing alarms to trigger as well. If you have pets, there are pet-friendly systems designed to discern between animal and person, so that alarms don’t trigger for that reason.

To prevent false alarms, make sure your alarm system is secure, well maintained and suited for your lifestyle or business. That way you have peace of mind knowing your system won’t trigger false alarms or waste the time of first responders. Eliminate the unneeded stress by trying your best by optimizing your emergency alarm systems.

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