How does an alarm activation from your home or business reach the monitoring central station? A signal is transmitted digitally via telephone lines to the monitoring company's computer network for decoding into the English language. All of this occurs in under 60 seconds. Their highly trained professionals take over from here.

The operator receiving the signal now has on his/her monitor the name and address of where the alarm originated as well as the type of alarm -- fire, burglar, etc. Special instructions also appear on the screen accompanied by emergency contact numbers and the persons who are to be notified of the alarm activation. Within seconds, the emergency notification number is automatically dialed. The monitoring station's operator has all the necessary information at his/her fingertips to relay to the dispatcher so help will be on its way to you in an instant.

With the rising concern over false alarms and the costly fines associated with them, your alarm dealer can assist you in deciding which signals should be verified before dispatch. With verification, the monitoring station's operators contact the premise before dispatching the authorities to be certain an emergency condition actually exists. A passcode, selected by you, is required to cancel ANY alarm condition. Failure to give the correct code or no answer at the premise results in immediate dispatch. Of course, you can always call the monitoring station on a special 800 number provided to you by Security Alert Services, Inc. to cancel dispatch, test your alarm or to obtain information regarding previous activations.