On April 1st 2005 a new Garda policy, with regards to Garda response to monitored intruder alarms, was introduced. It affects the handling of activations from intruder alarm systems as the 2005 Gardaí policy will now allow for a Gardaí response to 'verified' alarms only.

What is a false alarm?
Where the Gardaí arrive at a premises and the Key Holder is not there the activation will be treated as a false alarm. Garda response will be withdrawn when the limit of three false alarms in three months is reached. If Garda response is withdrawn, the alarm system must have verification technology installed before it can be reinstated.

All Commercial systems must have verification technology installed prior to January 1st 2007. After this date, Residential systems will have Garda response withdrawn after one false and will only be reinstated when verification technology is installed.

What is a verified alarm?
A verified alarm is an alarm system that has sent in a second signal to confirm the first activation. Many primary signals are accidental as a result of weather or not switching off an alarm in good time. The second, or ´verifying´, signal will reduce the probability of an activation being false.

The Gardaí will not accept a call from a Monitoring Centre until a Key Holder has been notified and given an estimated time of arrival at the premises.

The purpose of the new policy is to reduce false alarms thereby enabling the Gardaí to respond to real activations more promptly.