What to do if your alarm is activated

Guidelines to follow

Protecting your property is as important as ever right now. The economy is in turmoil and whenever times are tough financially for people, the crime rate inevitably will rise. A monitored alarm system is becoming a necessity in homes everywhere. People who would normally not think of committing such crimes will do so to help them make ends meet. This is why it is extremely important to help protect your home as much as possible. This is even true if you live in a suburban area or gated Estate with a low crime rate. Crimes are also happening in places where they would normally not occur.

Every homeowner should have a BALLID monitored alarm system installed on their premises. These systems are the ideal way to monitor and help protect your home while you are sleeping or away. There are many different features and options that can be included depending on how much money you want to spend. Motion sensors and cameras can alert your security company’s operators. They can dispatch armed response, have the police or fire department to your home to help depending on the situation.

Most people have security systems installed and never have to worry about them again. Most homes will not experience a home invasion once they have a security system installed because the fact that they are there can be a great deterrent.

You still need to know what to do in the rare case that your alarm system is activated. This can happen for two reasons. It may go off if there is an incident in your home or if it is accidentally tripped in some way.

Procedure to follow should your alarm be activated:

In the event of your alarm being activated, DO NOT attempt to investigate yourself, wait for the control room call.

Know Your Code – If you trip the alarm by accident you will get a phone call from the Ballid Control Room. They will ask you for a code. This will prove to them that you are the owner the home and give them clearance. If you forget the code or if it is not a resident the Control Room Operator will dispatch armed response to your home.

Stay on the Phone – In the event that you do have a home invasion while you are at home, you should stay on the line with the Control Room Operators. Communication is the key during a home emergency. If you have all the information about what is going on during a home invasion, you will be more likely to react safely.

Some systems can even be synced up with your smart phone to allow you to monitor your home no matter where you are.

Identify the zone – In the event that your alarm has been activated look on the keypad and identify which zone has been triggered. In most cases when one zone on the alarm have been triggered it is a high possibility that it could be a false alarm. When multiple zones are triggered it is a possibility that there could be an intruder. After approximately one minute deactivate your alarm and immediately activate it again.

Armed response – The response officer will be dispatched and inspect the premises for any signs of forced entry and then feed back to our control room. If there are no visible signs of attempted burglary or suspicious circumstances, the response officer will leave a ‘drop-off slip’ containing the full details of the call out and leave the premises. (Unless otherwise indicated)

In the event of any visible signs of burglary or suspicious circumstances, the client will be contacted on the alternative numbers provided i.e. work or cell phone.

Panic Signal – If you have pushed your panic button a response vehicle will be dispatched to your residence immediately, following which, BALLID ALARMS will attempt to contact you. The above procedure applies to all panic activations including fire and medical.

Ambush Duress Signal – In this situation, you may have been followed into your residence by an intruder and ordered to deactivate your alarm. You will have a special alarm code to enter that will alert BALLID ALARMS that you are under duress. The special code will deactivate your alarm as if it was your normal code but BALLID will be alerted of your situation and all response vehicles will be dispatched immediately. BALLID will not attempt to contact you in this situation.

Do not write your code down and leave it lying around. A burglar could access it.