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Optex detection technology helps secure false alarm performance award for Banham

Reliable and proven intruder detection technology from Optex Europe has been praised by a leading security installer for playing its part in winning a significant performance award from the Metropolitan Police for reducing false alarms.

The installer, Banham Alarms, received a Gold Award in the Metropolitan Police Service's annual Alarm Performance Awards scheme for the lowest false alarm rate, and highlighted Optex' detectors as being a major contributory factor in their success.

Alarms Director, Jimmy Wilson said: "However good your service might be, and the quality of the installation, it all falls down if the reliability and performance of the detection technology is not up to the mark.  With the pressure on police resources, and the threat of being taken off police response and thereby invalidating your insurance, the need for reliable detection performance is essential."

"We have been using Optex Passive Infrared (PIR) intruder detectors since 1998, as the company is well-known amongst installers for having a superior range of products that are reliable, competitively priced, and supported by a team who have a thorough knowledge and understanding of their industry and their technology."

"The decision to choose Optex has been vindicated on many occasions, and this is now the eighth year in succession that our efforts in reducing false alarms have been recognised by the Metropolitan Police."

Over the last ten years the Metropolitan Police Service has recorded a massive drop in the number of false alarms produced by the 274,000 monitored systems.  The ever-improving performance of companies installing and monitoring alarm systems means fewer false alarms demand a police presence, which in turn frees up officers to attend true alarms and incidents and provide greater safety to the public.

At the same time the reduction in the number of false call-outs also produces more efficient use of public funds.  According to a spokesman, The Met estimates the cost of officers attending false alarms has fallen from the equivalent of £32.85 million in 1996 to around £8.85 million in 2006.