What Happens When My Alarm Goes Off?

You have a smart home security system, you’re comfortable using it, and you registered it with your city (if required). Everything is good to go, but you might be wondering what happens when your alarm is triggered – on accident or by an alarm event. When your alarm is triggered, here’s what’s happening behind the scenes at Brinks Home™ and our Alarm Response Center (ARC).

1. Alarms can be triggered by a multitude of things. In fact, it’s fairly common to forget that the system is armed and accidentally set off an alarm by opening a door or cracking a window. False alarms may also happen if you’ve armed your motion sensors while pets are home, set off a connected smoke detector, or let in a trusted neighbor to deliver the mail while you’re on vacation.

2. After the alarm is triggered, you should attempt to disarm through your system’s panel, if you’re at home. Even though you may be frazzled, it’s important to stay calm so that you can correctly put in your security code.

3. If the panel is unable to be disarmed, Brinks Home is notified. This is more common than you might think: Approximately 6,200 high priority notifications are sent to the ARC each day.

4. Once the alarm signal goes off, our ARC is notified. The ARC is based in the U.S., with highly trained dispatchers on call 24/7/365. It is UL-certified, which means it’s been vetted and approved by the Underwriter Laboratories, a third-party certification company that's been around for over a century.

5. When contact is made, within 30 seconds a licensed Emergency Dispatch Operator (EDO) in the ARC will call you to ask if you if need help. Depending on whether it is a false alarm or a real emergency, the EDO will take one of the following steps:

• If it’s a false alarm – you will be asked by the EDO to provide your safety code word. This is the word you gave Brinks Home during your alarm activation. Once verified, the EDO can end the alarm alert, and connect you with our highly trained technical support team for any system problems.

• If it’s a true emergency – the EDO will dispatch emergency service personnel if requested by you, a family member, or if the safety code word cannot be successfully verified. If you are not home to disarm the panel and the EDO cannot reach you, they will dispatch emergency personnel.

Security systems exist to ensure your peace of mind. With professional, 24/7/365 monitoring and dedicated tech staff, Brinks Home is committed to protecting you, your family, and the things you value most.

Lauren Slade is a Dallas-based writer and editor.