False Alarm Quiz

This is an "open book" quiz. We want you to have this information to help reduce false alarms more than the false alarm fees.The answers and link to the quiz are below. 

Take the quiz

What is a false alarm?

The City of Owasso's Alarm Ordinance defines a false alarm as: “any Alarm Response that is not triggered by criminal or suspicious activity. Alarms triggered by faulty equipment, human error, animals, etc. are all considered to be false alarms for the purposes of this section.”

Did you know?

Three main causes of false alarms are: 1) user error, 2) installation/service errors, and 3) equipment failure.

• More than 80 percent of all false alarms are caused by user error
• There are easy steps you and your alarm dealer can take to prevent false alarms
• False alarms present a serious threat to the effectiveness of our local police, fire and EMS departments, as well as to the safety of our citizens
• False alarms are costly and dangerous because they divert police officers from proactive crime prevention efforts and can divert public safety responses from true emergency calls

Major causes of false alarms:

• Unlocked or loose doors/ windows
• Children, Neighbors, and Visitors
• Cleaning Crews/ Repairmen/ Pet Sitters
• Pets or other wildlife
• User Error
• Equipment Malfunction

Before you activate your alarm system:

• Are you and others who use the security system fully educated on its proper operation? This may include domestic/cleaning crews, children, neighbors, caretakers, employees and temporary staff.
• Make sure you securely close and lock all protected doors and windows.
• When leaving your home or business make sure the door you leave through is closed tight.
• Keep pets, balloons, fans, heaters, etc. away from motion sensor areas.
• Know and rehearse the process to cancel an accidental alarm. Anyone with your key should know this process.
• Know how much time you have after you arm your system to leave, and to disarm your system when you enter.

Know what to do if you set your alarm off accidentally:

• First, don't panic. Carefully enter your disarm code to reset your system.
• Wait for your Alarm Company or central monitoring station to call, give your password or ID card number.
• Do not leave your home or business until you have talked with your monitoring station! If they do not call you within a minute, have the number posted by your control panel and contact them to cancel.
• You should arrange to have your alarm monitoring station call you or another designated person first before the police are called whenever your alarm is activated.
• DO NOT call 911 to cancel alarm activations--you must call your alarm company.
• If you are aware of a problem with the system, you can call your alarm company to cancel the police dispatch and to ignore subsequent alarms until the problem is repaired.

At home:

Avoid objects that trigger your alarm:

• Unlocked, loose fitting, or open doors or windows. Always keep doors and windows locked when the alarm is in an "ON" mode to reduce the chance that friends, neighbors or customers enter and cause the alarm to activate.
• Unsupervised pets - If you have pets, take special care to purchase an alarm system that is tolerant of pets. You may not want to purchase motion detectors if your pets have free run of the house when the alarm is on. Also, sometimes barking dogs can activate glass break detectors.
• Balloons that move can cause motion sensors to go off.
• Drafts that move plants and curtains.

At your business:

Watch for these pitfalls that may activate your alarm:

• Swinging doors or windows
• Banners or signs
• Mylar balloons
• Plants or curtains caught in drafts
• Stacked items, such as boxes, which may fall, setting off motion detectors
• Unsupervised guests (like cleaning crews)
• Untrained, unaware or uncaring employees
• Alarm equipment, such as motion sensors or overhead door magnets, being hit by forklifts

Contact your alarm company:

• If you plan any improvement or renovation projects, such as changing phone systems, reconfiguring a room, adding a wall, rearranging cubicles, installing skylights or ceiling fans, or even fumigating.
• If you plan to change your alarm system batteries. This can cause an interruption in your system’s power supply which may trigger an alarm activation.
• Also alert your alarm company if you hire domestic help or acquire a pet.

Review with your alarm company the procedures you expect them to follow when your alarm activates:

• The Owasso alarm ordinance requires alarm users to instruct their monitoring company to call you first to confirm you want a police response.
• Do you also want them to attempt to call more than one person on your contact list before requesting emergency dispatch?
• Do you only want the police notified if exterior and interior zones are both activated?
• Put your instructions in writing.

With people:

Enhance your alarm system’s potential:

• Train responders with keys on complete system operation.
• Ensure that anyone authorized to use your alarm system is properly trained in its usage.
• Use dead bolt locks.

 False alarms:

• Divert emergency resources away from true emergencies.
• Are a nuisance to you and your neighbors.
• Make your security system less reliable.
• Costs you and your community money.

Recommendations:

• Have a maintenance contract with a licensed alarm company and have your alarm system checked every year.
• If you are apprehensive about using your system, call your alarm company TODAY!
• Do your part to prevent false alarms.

Alarm Registration:

• Annual alarm registration for residential users is $30 and $100 for business users.  Remember to renew every year or you will face a failure to register fee of twice that for every false alarm if you are unregistered.  Your registration will expire one year from the date you first registered.
• Remember to update your alarm registration with any new information, such as a dog in the backyard, or a person with special needs in the home.  This is valuable knowledge for first responders and will help keep everyone safer.
• Alarm registration allows you 2 false alarms at no charge for residential accounts, and 3 false alarms for business accounts during the registration year.

Alarm Appeals:

• If for some reason a mistake has been made and you are invoiced incorrectly you may file an appeal online or via mail.  For example, if your alarm was actually the result of criminal activity that was later verified, or if some circumstance beyond your control like a major storm knocked out power to the neighborhood and the alarm company reported it as an alarm tamper you can document the issue and it will be evaluated.
• Generally false alarm fees can be addressed in an initial appeal, but the failure to register fee might require a secondary appeal.