How does round the clock protection and automatic linkup with the local emergency services sound to you? As an adjunct to a home security package, that’s very appealing. And it is exactly what intruder alarm monitoring is all about. There are several recognised UK companies that carry out alarm monitoring. They run 365 day 24-7 monitoring centres, which are staffed at all times. The staff in the intruder alarm monitoring centres are among the most heavily vetted, through CRB and secondary security checks, in the UK – so you know there is no weak link in the chain. The difference between bells only alarms and alarm monitoring is one of speed and professionalism. Where your home is guarded only by a bell alarm, you are reliant on friends and neighbours to respond and alert the police should you not be around. This, of course, potentially puts your friends and neighbours – or you, if you are at home – in harm’s way. A monitored alarm system, on the other hand, relies on satellite staff alerting professional law enforcement officers, who will attend the scene as soon as the presence of an intruder is confirmed. With most intruder alarm monitoring, this confirmation comes from a sequential validation – in which sequential sensors are tripped within the home. As soon as this happens, your monitoring staff calls the police.