False alarms in the Met Police area have dropped by 22,000 to 150,000 in the last 12 months following the introduction of the ACPO 2000 policy.
And the Met are hoping to have the false alarm rate down below the 100,000 mark by the end of 2002.

Commander Ron McPherson, giving a post dinner address at the Metropolitan Police Alarm Performance Awards 2002, said: "Reducing the false alarm rates in the capital is an ideal that we all aspire to. That said, it's easier to talk about doing it than it is to achieve that goal. Certainly, it can have a massive impact on what the Met can achieve as a police force, freeing us up for other work in the community.

"That's excellent news. We are hoping to get false activations down below the 100,000 mark come the end of this year."

This year's winners of the awards, presented at New Scotland Yard, were:

    Large Companies:
  • Gold Award: Chubb Electronic Security
  • Silver Award: Banham Alarms
  • Bronze Award: ADT Fire and Security

    Medium Companies:

  • Gold Award: Tara Alarms
  • Silver Award: Spy Alarms
  • Bronze Award: London East Security

    Small Companies:

  • Gold Award: Security Masters
  • Silver Award: Cox Security
  • Bronze Award: Cartell Security Systems

The awards, sponsored by BT RedCARE, are designed to recognise the lowest false alarm rate per system per year, each award having a three-year lifespan. They were presented by Inspector Kevin Mann of the Met and Steve Church of BT RedCare who added: "These awards are unique in the UK. It's a scheme that should be copied by other police forces on a nationwide scale."

  • Meanwhile, BT RedCARE has achieved Secured by Design accreditation, making it the first alarm signalling service to gain police preferred specification.

    Developed by ACPO and backed by the Home Office, the initiative is "known to reduce crime by half" says BT RedCARE.

    It was achieved after rigorous testing by a leading independentl test centre against EN50131 'Alarm Systems-Intrusion Systems' Said Simon Scott, General Manager: "This is a major accomplishment for our business and one that we are extremely proud of. This highlights BT RedCARE's dedication to improving standards and providing fail-safe alarm signalling services".