The Monitoring Association (TMA) Standards Committee has confirmed that its TMA-AVS-01 Alarm Validation Standard has received official American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accreditation.

Initiated in 2020, the standard provides a method of creating a scoring or classification metric for unauthorized human activity detected by alarm systems. The scoring will assist law enforcement with resource allocation and call-for-service prioritization.

“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,” TMA-AVS-01 Committee Chair Mark McCall commented. “Now begins the equally important work of implementing this standard into both communities, bringing significant benefits to both and to our mutual customers.”

TMA-AVS-01 establishes standardized methods for calculating a 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 response policies.

The standard identified four alarm levels:

• Level 0 – no call for service
• Level 1 – call for service with limited to no additional information
• Level 2 – call for service with confirmed or ‘highly probable’ human presence with unknown intent
• Level 3 – call for service with confirmed threat to property
• Level 4 – call for service with confirmed threat to life

“ECCs/PSAPs are the leading-edge in processing citizen calls for service and communicating active alarm event data to law enforcement responders,” said David Holl, Director of Public Safety, Lower Allen Township Department of Public Safety (PA) and one of the TMA-AVS-01 Committee Co-Chairs.

“TMA-AVS-01 will shift the paradigm and provide enhanced strategic information to greatly improve officer response logistics, officer safety and impact more efficient and effective alarm call management. The development and evolution of this scoring standard has been an impressive collaborative effort of the alarm industry community and public safety professionals. It will change the way we all manage and respond to alarm events.”