Whitefront
Well-Known Member
"Immediate attention" and "police response " is key. The average time for the police to respond to a burglary in 2022/3 in England was nine hours and eight minutes.
Firearms possession and burglar alarms
- Thread starter little hawk
- Start date
Hod
Well-Known Member
While not defending the police who nowadays appear to have burglaries way further down the priorities list than I’d like, I’m assuming that this average time includes reports of burglaries that are discovered after the fact? And therefore wouldn’t require an emergency response as such?
Whitefront
Well-Known Member
Probably. But unless the police turn up within, say, 10 minutes, they are not going to catch the burglars in time. And the chance of this happening (certainly, in most of rural Britain) is vanishingly small. The burglars know this, so alarms are of limited deterrent value. Even so-called monitored alarms generally require a civilian call centre to contact the police in the same way - and with much the same results - that you or I can.
Hod
Well-Known Member
I’ve always thought monitored alarms somewhat pointless for this reason. Even more so in this age of even the most basic home cctv/alarm/ ring doorbell systems you can have connected to your phone at relatively little cost.
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
The firearms security handbook gives guidance on the matter but alarms are not mandatory
I was a key holder on a monitored house system. One winter's night, it was pouring with rain, and I had a call to say the alarm had gone off. My friends were away on holiday, so I drove to the house, about 5 minutes away. It's in an isolated spot, so I was a bit wary! When I got there, all was well and no sign of any problems. I was there for about 10 minutes and left to go back home. On the way, I passed a police car slowly making its way up the valley road. I turned round and, a few minutes later, caught up with it and flashed my headlights at it. The guy stopped, and I asked if he was responding to a burglar alarm. He said he was, but couldn't find the place. I told him I'd been there and that all was well. He rightly said he'd go and check, and that was that.
My point is that it took about half an hour until the police, quite understandably, finally got to the house. By which time any intruder would have been long gone. During the summer, one occasionally hears a burglar alarm go off in the day, no one takes any notice for at least ten minutes, so again, it really is pretty useless having alarms fitted if you live in the country!
My point is that it took about half an hour until the police, quite understandably, finally got to the house. By which time any intruder would have been long gone. During the summer, one occasionally hears a burglar alarm go off in the day, no one takes any notice for at least ten minutes, so again, it really is pretty useless having alarms fitted if you live in the country!
"Basis in law" - I don't know ... however ...
A&S required me to add a full-house, professionally installed alarm before granting a variation which took my holding over 6 firearms (rifles+shotguns)
Dunwaters
Well-Known Member
True, but our regulations specify what is required of a “ monitored alarm “.
An app that you self monitor doesn’t meet the specification.
Mine was 10 and over fifteen had to be monitored
FWIW i have a monitored alarm which defaults to the police on the activation of two devices. We have had two 'accidents' and have had a police car on the drive within five minutes. I live in a rural area, not particularly remote but we don't see police cars round here very often except when theyre on blues and twos either chasing a miscreant,, or on their way somewhere else in a hurry.
We may have been lucky, but my suspicion is that having FAC on the premises may be a factor.
Can I ask which alarm company you are using please?
It may have already been said -
No legal requirement- but it is a point on the matrix of security - as you mentioned crime rate, type of firearms, number of firearms etc etc
One thing that was on the sheet when I just had mine renewed was self monitored alarms - and cctv ie I have a ring camera in my “gun room / it’s a cupboard”
If it goes off I’m notified - and as it’s just me with access I’m notified - which is better then monitored as I know exactly if it’s me or if I need to be worried.
No legal requirement- but it is a point on the matrix of security - as you mentioned crime rate, type of firearms, number of firearms etc etc
One thing that was on the sheet when I just had mine renewed was self monitored alarms - and cctv ie I have a ring camera in my “gun room / it’s a cupboard”
If it goes off I’m notified - and as it’s just me with access I’m notified - which is better then monitored as I know exactly if it’s me or if I need to be worried.
timbrayford
Well-Known Member
Firearms security handbook 2020
The firearms security handbook provides guidance on storing and transporting firearms.
Whitefront
Well-Known Member
That sounds good. I have never heard of a commercial monitored alarm system that "defaults" to the police, but I think I know what you mean. They require filtering and verification through a civilian handling centre first. These top level services tend to have a v expensive subscription, possibly only affordable by an RFD rather than an ordinary certificate holder. Here are the details of one of the more reputable: When Do The Police Respond To A Burglar Alarm? | Banham Note that there is no actual guarantee of a police response/time.
Also note that after three false alarms in one year, the contract defaults to a lower level response.
But in any case, in many rural areas, there is simply no night time police presence - whether in cars or a station - for many miles, even if they were alerted. Furthermore, as far as I can see, the police generally won't treat a reported burglary as really urgent unless the intruders are actually present in your home at the same time that you are.
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What I mean is that on the first alarm we get a call from a monitoring station, if we get two devices into alarm they call us if we do not pickup for any reason then the police are called.
If we hit a panic button then the police are called. It appears on our system, that if two contact devices activate simultaneously (we have 2 on our garage door) this appears on the system as a 'panic button' and the police are called (that's how we know how quickly they can arrive!!!
)Apologies if i gave the wrong impression.
Re costs we pay for it through our business covering office/home We also have accredited keyholders for home/office for when were away/unavailable, together we pau c.£1k pa, plus we have keyh0olders for each place another £1k ish.
Breaking it down without key holder c.£500pa for alarm maintenance and monitoring station iirc.
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I think a smoke cloak or similar is extremely effective.
www.smokecloak.co.uk
They are armed when the intruder alarm is triggered and have their own PIR which triggers the unit to release the smoke.
security smoke system | security fog | fogging security | smoke security
Install SmokeCloak Security Fog system on your premises and within seconds of a break-in the protected area is filled with an impenetrable cloud of fog.
www.smokecloak.co.uk
They are armed when the intruder alarm is triggered and have their own PIR which triggers the unit to release the smoke.
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