SP Simon Roberts makes a presentation to staff from alarm receiving centres

Police responded to some 40,959 false alarms in 1999, down on the 48,839 cases in 1998. The figure represented a 22 per cent drop on 1993 which recorded the highest number ever at 52,886.

Crime Prevention Bureau Superintendent Simon Roberts announced the encouraging figures during a presentation ceremony March 9. He awarded the top five Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs), which monitor intruder systems, with Force certificates of appreciation for attaining the lowest False Alarm Ratios in 1999.

"Such declines must also be viewed against a 12 per cent increase in the number of monitored alarm installations between 1995 and 1999, with 24,932 installations recorded by the end of last year," Mr Roberts said.

"The 1999 figures converted into an overall False Alarm Ratio of 1.65, that is, the number of false alarms per installation per year. This has been achieved through the co-operation of the monitoring companies, the Hong Kong Security Association (HKSA) and Police."

During 1999, the HKSA with the backing of CPB and alarm-monitoring companies, tested newly-formulated Codes of Practice, including the verification of alarm calls wherever possible before a police report is made and ARCs submitting a monthly analysis of all reported alarm calls.

Mr Roberts said this information, which he hoped develops further, was important in finding and resolving the reasons for false alarms. These efforts were being complimented with increased inspections by CPB of alarm installations meriting the lowest police response level.

"Unfortunately, the number of false alarms responded to by police still represents 99.5 per cent of all monitored Burglar Alarm Sounding (BAS) cases. Only 226 BAS cases responded to in 1999 were genuine alarm calls," he added.

Being a common problem in many countries, different jurisdictions formulate different policies to tackle false alarms. While some have opted for fines, others have transferred the policing to the private sector. Hong Kong introduced the three-level Phased Police Response Policy in 1994, following a similar yet less-restrictive operational deployment policy as that used by the police in the United Kingdom.

Mr Roberts urged all parties to continue improvements and sought the co-operation of ARCs to further reduce the problem, proposing a False Alarm Ratio of 1.5 or better be achieved by each ARC this year.

"It is further proposed this target is lowered to 1.0 for 2001, as improvements would not only be beneficial to Police but also to the monitoring companies through reduced costs from more effective resource management. Continued co-operation in tackling the false alarm problem will result in a better-protected and policed society."



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