Revisions to the latest, 2014 ACPO Security Systems Policy have been detailed for SSAIB registered firms by Technical & Operations Manager Dave Profit, who described them to attendees at the inaugural Installer Forum held at the BT Tower in April.
As Dave explains, the new Policy contains a number of changes including a requirement (listed under clause 2.1.2) for alarm receiving centres to conform with BS5979 (cat II) or BS EN 50518. Additionally, unique reference numbers will be issued by ACPO to systems at these recognized ARCs. In the case of stolen vehicle tracking systems the URN will be issued by ACPO to the operating company or monitoring centre – not to each vehicle.
Meanwhile, clause 2.3.2 states that once accepted, companies issued with URNs under the Policy are responsible for updating their procedures to take account of future amendments to the 2014 Policy – which will take effect at six-monthly intervals, in April and October of each year.
Moving on to clause 2.6.3, dealing with notices to install a Type A security system, Dave points out that this will result in the issue of a URN which must be subsequently quoted in any communication regarding the installation. An activation received from an ARC/RVRC (remove video receiving centre) without a current police URN will be treated as a Type B system and not receive a police response unless there is additional evidence of a criminal offence in progress.
Variations to any system’s original URN application details must now be notified to the chief office of police within 28 dates via an appendix F form (a change detailed in clause 2.7.1 of the 2014 Policy). Meanwhile, new clause 2.8.2 covers the availability of keyholders and states that if a keyholder is not available for any reason, such as sickness or holiday, a replacement must be provided to cover the period of unavailability.
Police response
Continuing to requests for police response, there is a new clause (2.8.5) stating that these should only come from the ARCs. Keyholders should not contact the police asking for their attendance unless they have already arrived at the premises and there is either a crime in progress or one has been committed.
In terms of false alarm filtering/monitoring, clause 2.10.1 now has a new requirement that companies’ false alarm ratios may be monitored, with police forces reserving the right to suspend companies who consistently exceed the force average. There are also important changes concerning administrative charges, detailed in clause 2.11.5, which states that the admin fee charged by forces must be clearly highlighted in writing to customers purchasing systems. Misinterpretation of the fee amount charged by the police will be a deemed a fraudulent action and may result in legal action being taken against the offending company.
All new intruder and PA applications will only qualify for a URN and police response in future if they have been installed to the current required standard (the PD6662 scheme for application of European standards for intruder and hold-up alarm systems – for more details see Appendix F and Annexe C ‘Standards Matrix’ in the Policy).
Advertising restrictions
Advertising terminology is also addressed in the latest Policy’s clause 4.5.2, which says wording such as ‘police approved’, ‘police preferred’, ‘police compliant’ and ‘meets police requirements’ must not normally be used. However, companies registered with their local force under the security systems policy (Appendix B) to install Type A remote signalling systems may still use wording such as ‘police compliant’ and ‘meets police policy requirements’ provided they also include in the advertising material that they are registered under the Policy in this way. Nevertheless, the terms ‘police approved’, ‘police preferred’ or ‘working in conjunction with the police’ must not be used in future, even though generic photographic material or images of police officers or vehicles are still allowed within advertising. It’s a tricky area, so if in doubt Dave Profit suggests seeking police approval before issuing any advertising material containing such terms.
On a related topic, clause 4.5.3 introduce new requirements covering telesales, requiring companies involved in this area to comply with the following:
The supplier must not make any representations stating that the produce is approved, endorsed or authorised by the police.
Each supplier should comply with relevant legislation relating to telesales/telemarketing.
Each supplier should also monitor its sales staff and the content of sales calls made, and be able to identify individual telesales operators while avoiding any instances of high pressure selling, for instance by recording the calls made.
The clause also reminds suppliers to be aware that any complaints made to the police force regarding sales tactics may in turn be redirected to the relevant regulatory body for investigation.
Appendix C
A fresh focus on disclosure of convictions has also been thrown by the 2014 Policy, which states in Appendix C (xii) that in the event or a request for a police check from a foreign national who has not been in continuous residence in the UK for the past five years the application will also require that a relevant overseas criminality certificate (OCC)/record check is attached. This will need a form of authentication and be translated into English by a translation service that’s a member of either the Institute of Translation & Interpreting Companies or the Association of Translation Companies.
Appendix C additionally states (xiv) that in exceptional cases where a government body does not exist or is unable to supply an applicant with an OCC, an applicant may be able to supply a sworn oath in place of an OCC.
The Appendix also says that any employer knowingly employing someone with an unspent criminal record that would otherwise preclude them from working within the alarms industry will be considered for removal from the police list of compliant companies.
Finally, Appendix C contains a new ‘Form A’ proof of identity requirement, comprising one photo ID (eg a passport or photocard driving licence – otherwise, the person’s birth certificate) with one other ID containing the person’s current address, such as a utility bill. Photocopies of the relevant pages of these documents must accompany this Form A.