ACPO Security Systems Policy
Security Systems are one of the many but essential tools in the fight against crime, in particular, burglary and theft. The British Crime Survey shows that intruder alarms do reduce the likelihood of burglary.
The ACPO Security Systems Policy is a public document designed to give details of police response and the requirements for the private security industry involved in providing the installation, maintenance and monitoring of such systems.
The direction which the policy has taken can be summarised as follows:
- To reduce the number of false calls passed to the police.
- To relate the policy to police response to electronic security systems and not just intruder alarms.
- To place technical requirements into nominated standards and codes of practice.
- To place responsibility for compliance with those standards in the hands of approved Independent Inspectorates. Enforcement of standards should not be a police function
- To place the supervision of those Independent Inspectorates under UKAS standards.
- To avoid the repetitive discussions over technical and administrative matters which do not affect the nature of police response or the level of false calls passed to the police.
- To achieve a unified approach to the administration process
- To maintain the credibility of security systems as crime prevention and detection methods
ACPO Security Systems Policy January 2013
ACPO Security Systems Policy (Appendix F) January 2013
ACPO Security Systems Policy Appendix F document Key January 2013
ACPO Security Systems Policy Appendix G January 2013
Advice to installers who wish to be compliant with police forces in order to install, maintain and monitor security systems for police response
- The security company must first of all be certified in accordance with the policy by a certification body accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service). Details of such bodies can be found in Appendix 'H' of the policy.
- When accredited, the security company needs to apply to the Home Force where its principle operating offices/registered office is based requesting to go on that force's compliant list of companies. The letter of application must be accompanied with Appendices 'B' and Appendix 'C' of the policy.
- Once a company has been accepted by their own force, they can then request to go on the compliant list of other forces using Appendix 'B'.