May, 2003

Thou Shalt Not Have False Alarms [Business & Finance]

Too often the time of security companies and Gardaí is wasted by call-outs triggered by alarm systems that have cried wolf.  With break-ins and vandalism an ever-increasing burden for Irish business, a Carlow-based security firm may have the answer, reports Fearghal O'Connor.

Wailing alarms have become a regular part of life in most built up areas.  They are so common that passers-by now pay little attention to flashing lights and ringing bells emanating from darkened premises.  Indeed the skepticism may be well-founded.  Garda figures for 1999 show that of 135,000 alarm call-outs that year, 117,000 were false alarms.

If anything, this figure gives solace to burglars when they set off an alarm system. More and more, intruders can ignore expensive security systems because they know that those supposed to respond will believe that a break-in is probably not underway. However, if the building happens to be protected by Netwatch, intruders will quickly realise that they are up against a whole different level of security.

"The concept for Netwatch came about after a friend of ours was attacked by intruders after responding to an alarm at a building to which he was a keyholder," explains David Walsh, a director of the fledgling Carlow-based security company.

The system uses ISDN technology to monitor premises from a remote command centre. Intruder alarms are situated on the exterior of the site and CCTV cameras watch over everything.  As soon as the alarm is activated, a warning is sent to the command centre in Carlow.  The entire premises is instantly surveyed using the live video feed.  Netwatch can then call both the local Garda station and the keyholder to explain what is happening.

This has obvious benefits in the case of a false alarm.  However, the system really comes in to its own in the event of a real break-in.  The ISDN lines allow two-way communication: the command centre can actually speak to an intruder and warn them that they are being monitored.
 

The alarms are usually on the perimeter fence - this allows us to detect intruders before they can get to their target and commit the crime," explains Walsh.  "When we pick up somebody breaking in initially, we can watch them and set off the traditional alarm to see if that scares them off.  If that doesn't work, we communicate with them directly.  We will warn them that they are trespassing and that the police will be called.  Sometimes they think that it is just a recording to scare them away but when you give them a full description of themselves, they absolutely leg it.

We'll say something like, 'I can see you clearly, you are wearing a blue jacket and a peak cap'.  It never fails to work.  On every single occasion since we started last October, the intruder has quickly left the premises when we started speaking to them."
 

The Netwatch system has already received a lot of praise from Gardaí.  "When we ring them, we are ringing as eye-witnesses with visual verification that we are dealing with not just another false alarm," continues Walsh.  "In fact, two police forces in Britain have actually come out and said that they will no longer respond to alarms without visual verification.  Not only can we provide that, but we can even e-mail them a picture of the intruder to help speed up detection.  We will stay in constant contact with them or with the keyholder as they approach the building to keep them informed of what is happening inside.  This makes a big difference to a businessperson who is tired of coming in on a Monday morning and looking at tapes of the latest break in over the weekend."

This level of security is proving very attractive to a wide variety of Irish businesses.  Netwatch now employs ten people and has installed its state-of-the-art security systems in 80 sites throughout Ireland since its establishment six months ago.  Typical customers include factories, warehouses, stud-farms, garages and large retail premises.  The company is currently in discussions with Carlow Chamber of Commerce about installing the system throughout the town centre to combat anti-social behaviour at the weekends.

The big advantage of the Netwatch system is the peace of mind that it provides.  It is also much more cost-effective than employing on-site security guards.  Not surprisingly, this type of security is already big business in the US, the UK and France.  Netwatch is unlikely to have the Irish market all to itself for too long. Nevertheless, the Carlow company has implemented a high-tech security system that will be hard to beat.