CSAA Signals
Vol. 10, No. 1 —January 13, 2004
440 Maple Avenue East, Suite 201, Vienna, VA 22180
703-242-4670; Fax 703-242-4675

Vienna, Va., January 13, 2004--In response to a number of requests from public safety officials, the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) announced today that it is designing an On-Line False Alarm Reduction Training Course. The goal is to give the law enforcement community and the alarm industry, another tool with which to reduce false alarms.

Although this course will be designed to help the chronic abuser, anyone wishing to better understand alarm systems, central stations and the PSAP role will be able to take the course from the privacy of their home or office.

It is commonly believed that up to 80% of false alarm dispatches are caused by actions or the lack of action by alarm users. Education classes for alarm users have a proven track record of success in reducing false alarms. In some cases classes have achieved a near 100% success rate in eliminating continuing false alarms from graduates of the program. .

According to CSAA’s Executive Vice President, Steve Doyle,."this course will give both law enforcement community an altermantive to repetitive and controversial punitive fines."

Classes for traffic offenders and other violators have a long history of usefulness. This, however, is the first time that a false alarm reduction course will be delivered on-line when the AHJ directs an individual to take the course, pass an exam at the end of the course and present a copy of the Certificate of Satisfactory Completion back to the AHJ in lieu of paying a fine or to restore police response in cases where it had been suspended.

Some leading AHJ departments have implemented a classroom-style education program for alarm abusers with great success. However, the great majority of responding departments have not yet used this proven method of false alarm reduction because of resource or budget constraint, or because the number of false alarms is not large enough to justify the expense of time and money to create a classroom course. For these departments, this new, easily accessible web-based educational program delivered through the CSAA website, www.csaaul.org, can prove to be a cost effective and convenientsolution to the alarm abuser problem.

The projected time to take the CSAA Distance Learning False Alarm Reduction Course (FARC Level I) is approximately 4 hours. The anticipated method of delivery would present a minimal administrative burden on any AHJ. Upon successful completion of the course, the web-based administrator of the FARC will automatically generate a successful completion certification document as well as, if requested, e-mail notification to the appropriate AHJ. It is also likely that some responsible entities such as commercial facilities, schools, government institutions, convenience stores, etc., may also require their managers and staff to proactively complete the course prior to their access or use of the security system. It is anticipated that many additional law enforcement jurisdictions will avail themselves of this proven method of false alarm reduction because of the ease of delivery and lack of administrative burden and expense.

.The Course will be available through the CSAA website and through links from the AHJ websites as well. For more information, contact Steve Doyle at 703-242-4670 x13.