Associations News
TMA’s alarm validation standard receives ANSI accreditation

The Monitoring Association’s standards committee says it has received confirmation that its TMA-AVS-01 Alarm Validation Standard has received official ANSI accreditation.

Initiated in 2020, the standard provides a method of creating an alarm scoring or classification metric for unauthorized human activity detected by alarm systems. According to TMA, the alarm scoring will assist law enforcement with resource allocation and Call-for-Service prioritization. The standard is available for download.

“I am extremely proud of the Committee’s work to bring this game-changing standard to completion. My sincere thanks to those in the security industry and the public safety community who participated in this collaboration,” said TMA-AVS-01 committee chair Mark McCall. “Now begins the equally important work of implementing this standard into both communities, bringing significant benefits to both and to our mutual customers.”

The TMA-AVS-01 Standard Committee was composed of more than 60 participants, representing a group of stakeholders including security industry professionals, law enforcement and public safety.

According to the association, TMA-AVS-01 establishes standardized methods for calculating an alarm score, or classification level, that results in a repeatable metric that estimates the validity or potential threat level of an intrusion alarm activation using historical and real-time data.

Once completed and implemented, Call-for-Service to Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs)/Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) will include a standardized scoring metric that will assist public safety departments with their alarm response policies.

The standard identified four alarm Levels:
· Alarm Level 0 – No Call for Service
· Alarm Level 1 – Call for Service with limited to no additional information
· Alarm Level 2 – Call for Service with confirmed or ‘highly probable’ human presence with unknown intent
· Alarm Level 3 – Call for Service with confirmed threat to property
· Alarm Level 4 – Call for Service with confirmed threat to life

Related:

TMA developing new Alarm Verification Standard