Installers in the West Mercia area have responded angrily to a new go-it-alone policy over alarm response announced by West Mercia Police.
The 'reduced' response policy has been labelled "totally inconsiderate" and "impossible to carry out" in the time given. Although the police say they gave installers ten days notice of the changes, a number of companies told Security Installer they had much less notice.

Coming in the wake of the controversial West Midlands Police policy to respond only to confirmed alarms at certain times, West Mercia Police also broke from the official ACPO party line and changed its alarm response policy.

'Just three days before'

West Mercia sent installation companies a letter dated 22 September saying that from 1 October:

  • Level 1 response would only be given to personal alarm activations, confirmed alarms, or others where a decision has been made based on local intelligence.

  • Level 2 response would be given to all other alarm activations, although these would be met as a priority wherever possible.

    Said David Tod, proprietor of Tod Security Systems based in Abergavenny: "This is ludicrous. We are disgusted. It has shown this police force to be extremely unprofessional. We received this letter just three days before the policy was due to start. The police are treating the installer and the end user with no consideration at all. It's just 'You do what we say'. "They could at least have consulted with us. We had to phone all our customers only two days before the policy was due to start". He said his domestic customers had not been too much of a problem but commercial customers, especially those with "budget" systems had been "very worried". Customers with newer systems had especially resented having to pay out again. "There was no way we could do this in two days. It has left us wide open. We would need at least two months' notice,"he said.

    Greg Thruston, proprietor of Crimestop Security Installers of Birmingham also said the letter came long after the day it was dated. "We got this letter the day before it was due to start. Realistically we'd need a good six months to get the work done. Like the West Midlands, West Mercia haven't given anybody enough time. How can they have considered either the installer or the customer? We've got to go round to our customers and change from a ten minute response to an instant response. We've been deluged."

    Said Valerie Slater, MD of Select Alarm Systems based in Bilston: "Our customers are not happy about having to have another passive in every room. It means them having to pay out more money when they are already paying for RedCARE. "It's left to the installer and we are getting the blame. The customer thinks it's the installer trying to make money but we are the piggies in the middle. We've already had the threats from West Midlands, and now this."

    The action was described by the British Security Industry Association as a "disappointment".

    BSIA Customer Relations Director, Stephen Adams, said: "Once again we are faced with reduced response levels being given at very short notice, with alarm companies having to alert their customers only a few days in advance of the policy coming into effect. Unlike the West Midlands situation, there will still be a response offered, but priority responses have been reduced. ARCs will not need to filter calls because response decisions will be made by the police".

    Policy not as extreme

    BSIA alarm companies discussed the issue at a meeting last month but the policy is not considered to be as extreme as the West Midlands policy because the force will still respond to all alarms with URNs, 24 hours a day. The association decided to closely monitor the effects in the region because priority given to alarm response had "clearly been reduced".

    The BSIA was also due to write to the Chief Constable of West Mercia Police to express its disappointment over the short notice to installers and that no warning was given directly to end-users. As with West Midlands Police, there was no discussion with the industry before the policy was changed.

  • At the meeting between West Midlands Police and the BSIA on 31 August it was agreed that both parties continue to liaise on the key issues involved and seek solutions. The force would continue operating under the ACPO policy until the new policy is published. In the meantime, the ACPO 2000 policy on alarm response was due to be considered by Chief Constables last month for implementation next year. It is expected to cover the requirement for confirmation technology for some types of systems.

    • Source

    Security Installer