Consumers who invest in professional monitoring services for their security systems do so with the expectation of rapid and reliable response in life-threatening situations; in fact, 87% of security owners say reliable and fast response to security events was important to their system purchase decision, according to Parks Associates.

Parks Associates research from Q2 2021 shows about 62% of security system owners experience a false alarm each year, and two in three of them will pay a fine for them; however, in Q4 2023, a quarter of respondents do not believe they will get fined for too many false alarms, and a further 43% are unsure. These findings indicate that consumers are largely unaware of the realities of law enforcement response today and their personal liability for fees and fines should too many false alarms occur.

This same dynamic highlights a critical risk for the security industry – Parks Associates research indicates that system owners are largely unaware of the problem of alarm de-prioritization among law enforcement due to false alarms. Instead, they incorrectly assume that a professionally monitored system will result in faster response.

From the article, "The Smart Money: Deep Dive on the False Alarm Issue" by Daniel Holcomb