The Crime Prevention Bureau (CPB) recently paid tribute to Central Alarm Monitoring Stations (CAMS) for their contributions to reducing false alarms.

In a bid to save police resources in dealing with false alarms, the CPB has been encouraging subscribers to install up-to-standard intruder alarm systems, and running a Prevention of False Alarms Award scheme to recognise the efforts of the outstanding CAMS. Under this scheme, Gold, Silver and Bronze awards are presented to CAMS with remarkable performances in their respective categories, i.e. the group with 100-500 subscribers and the group with more than 500 subscribers.

At the award ceremony held on March 28, Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Wong Fook-chuen presented awards to the companies of each category, and complimented them for continuing to support and assist the CPB in minimising false alarms.

"Although it is the Hong Kong Police that runs the Phased Response Scheme (PRS), it is the efforts of the private security industry that has actually brought the false alarm rate down, reflecting not only improvement in technology but also the levels of their service and commitment. In 1989, there were 12,024 alarm installations in Hong Kong with 47,423 false alarms per year. To minimise the resources wasted in dealing with false alarms, a 3-Phased Response Scheme was introduced in that year, resulting in encouraging improvements. With the co-operation of all the parties involved, the current PRS with four response phases was launched in 2004, resulting in further drops in false alarms in the last few years.

"At the end of last year, only 16,669 false alarms were recorded, representing a substantial decrease of more than 30,000 cases, despite the increase of alarm installations to 28,478. The rate of false alarm was reduced from 0.90 per installation per year in 2004 to 0.59 per installation per year in 2007. This is a remarkable achievement the security industry can be proud of and, as a result, the Force has saved thousands of man-hours in deploying frontline officers to deal with false alarms," said Mr Wong.

"Operated by licensed security companies, 27 CAMS are utilising advanced systems incorporating sophisticated detectors and remote monitoring functions to protect premises such as private dwellings, business organisations, schools and government facilities. The CAMS can keep alarm systems under surveillance and verify whether any activation is genuine before a request is made to deploy frontline police officers to the scene for follow-up investigation, thereby reducing the demand on police manpower," said CPB Superintendent Mark Medwecki.

Winners of the Prevention of False Alarms Award with Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Wong Fook-chuen and CPB officers