Lately we have had reports of alarm companies claiming they are Police Approved and/or they install Police Approved alarms.

This can be very misleading to anyone choosing an alarm company or alarm system.

We issued a freedom of information request to the PSNI asking the following simple questions.

Is there such a thing as a Police Approved alarm company ?

Is there such a thing as a Police Approved alarm system ?

We received the following written confirmation back from the PSNI  (Reference Number F-2011-03198)

“Community Safety Branch has confirmed that there are NO Police approved alarm companies or Police approved alarm systems.”

This statement is backed up in Section 7-22 in the PSNI policy directive (PD01/06) on police response to alarm systems which states the following:

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Installation companies, ARCs and Inspectorate Bodies must not use terminology which might raise in the mind of the customer an unrealistic expectation of police response to a security system and will not use the PSNI Crest or ACPO Logo in advertising material. Wording such as ‘Police Approved’, ‘Police Preferred’, ‘Police Compliant’, ‘Meets Police Requirements’ or similar must not be used.

We hope this clears this matter up. If any alarm company states that they are Police Approved or that they install Police Approved alarm systems they are not telling the truth and would more than likely be trying to mislead you.