Why Two Way Voice?

You are visiting our site searching for information so you can make the right choice when it comes to security. We have taken the time to explain in great detail how alarms are monitored. Reading this page could one day save your life or the lives of a loved one or co-worker.

Two-way voice response allows the monitoring station operator to verify an emergency situation or a false alarm without having to call the protected location. Through a two-way voice system the operator has the ability to listen in to the protected location through the alarm panel during a break in or other emergency. The two-way voice system can only be activated when an alarm signal is received at the central station.

In the case of an alarm a monitoring station operator will communciate with you via the alarm panel and will ask for your password in the event of a false alarm. In the event where no password is given and the operator hears movement in the home or office the authorities will be dispatched.

With a two-way voice system you can also give the operator a preplanned emergency codeword instead of your usual false alarm codeword to signify that someone is holding you against your will. The operator can still listen in during the emergency without alerting the intruder to our presence. This allows us to relay to the police exactly what is going on inside the location which greatly aids the police in handling the emergency.

Two-way voice can also aid people with medical problem that may need assistance in the case of a medical emergency.

For all these reasons and more two-way voice response is the most important part of any security system, and will result in faster, more efficient security service for you.

Other companies utilize digital response methods, dialer delays, and Enhanced Call Verification processes which drastically prolong response time.


When a digital alarm is triggered the system waits 20 seconds or more before sending a signal to the central station. When received at the central station the operator will call your business, ringing the phone 4 times (another 15 seconds), and if the phone goes unanswered they will then try to contact you, or someone else on your call list to ask if all is well. Then, and only then they will contact the authorities to alert them of an intrusion. Minutes have gone by before the authorities are alerted. The police, know that 99 times out of 100 that a digital alarm signal is a false alarm. They will place this call as a low priority. At that point your digital alarm system is probably the only thing the crooks have not looted. What if there was a medical emergency and you couldn't answer the phone? What if you were being held hostage? Who would know?


Because false alarms are at epidemic proportions, alarm verification is the hot topic at virtually every law enforcement agency in the country. The time is coming where most or perhaps all communities will require a higher level of alarm verification before responding. In other words, if the alarm company cannot verify that a crime or emergency is in progress, the police will not respond! Don’t believe us, read the headlines!


First it was Las Vegas, then Salt Lake City, and now Los Angeles. Like a virus, verified response – the requirement that an alarm be physically confirmed prior to police dispatch – is spreading to other communities across the country. The false alarm virus is spreading and will likely kill the alarm industry as we know it unless something is done right away. (Security Systems & Integration, April 2004)

At last count, 47 cities, both large and small, throughout the United States, are considering adoption of some form of verified alarm response.

(Security Systems & Integration, 7/02)

Oakland May Not Respond to Alarms:

Jan 21, 2003, Oakland CA – Besieged by escalating violent crime and dwindling resources, Oakland Police is the first big Bay Area law enforcement agency to consider no longer responding to every burglar alarm. (SS &I 4/27/04)



False Alarm Update: Winnipeg, Canada:

Police in the Canadian city of Winnipeg have announced that they will soon no longer respond to burglar alarms that have not been verified by an alarm provider. (SS&I, 12/9/03)



SSN, Aug, 2002: Alarm industry tackles verified response issues: it’s been called the greatest issue facing the alarm industry, but the proliferation of policies that severely limit or eliminate response from local police or fire officials has seemed to be reaching a peak, industry veterans said, as municipality after municipality considers or adopts non-response policies.



SSI, Jul 2004: Milwaukee going to verified response: Police in Milwaukee say as of Sept. 19, they won’t respond to burglar alarms unless they are verified by an alarm company representative at the site of the call. The verified response policy…applies to all home and commercial burglar alarms in the Milwaukee area.



SSI, Jun 2004: False alarm update: verified response in effect in Yakima: Verified response is now in effect for Yakima, WA. Yakima officers will no longer respond to home and business burglar alarms without verification from the company that supplied the alarm.



SSI, Jul 2004: The city council in Raleigh, NC has approved a new false alarm structure that could mean as much as a $500 fine for a false alarm call and also calls for voluntary verified response among alarm owners.



SSN, Sep 2003: St. Louis, MO: Thanks to a renewed insistence that alarm companies have identification numbers for each customer and keep records of installation permits, police here will no longer respond to all alarms at residences in the city.
Vacaville, CA – Police officials here will present a verified response policy to the City Council this month. Under the proposed policy, alarm companies would be required to verify the need for police response by talking with a resident, neighbor or private security guard before calling the police. (SSN, 12/03)



January 18, 2004 – Broomfield Police Department, Letter from the Chief of Police Thomas C. Deland:

In an effort to reduce the number of false alarm responses and more efficiently deploy police resources, the Broomfield Police Department will institute a new Alarm Response Procedure. The new policy mandates a police response whenever the alarm company….can provide additional information that confirms criminal activity is occurring at the site of the alarm. Methods for confirming criminal activity include….audio devices monitored by the alarm company.



SSN, May 2004: Salem police are no longer required to respond to unverified burglar alarms, due to a policy enacted by the city council.



SSN, Dec 2002: Olympia mulls response issues: Local officials here are mulling their options, including verified response, as law enforcement and city officials try to find a solution to the false alarm problem.



SSN, June 2002: Verified response policy takes effect in one Canadian province: Nova Scotia alarm dealers here are struggling to deal with a new blanket policy that required alarms to be verified before provincial authorities will respond.



Costs of Guard Response May Be Too Great for Some Providers:

The profitability of patrol guards is at the center of the issue of verified response. No company wants to relay the additional costs to customers who could be priced out of a security system altogether. (SS&I, 9/03)



False Alarm Ordinance Watch:

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachments here will no longer respond to non-verified alarms. (SSN, 12/03)




With 2 way voice response you eliminate the prehistoric monitoring methods used by other companies and you protect yourself properly.
Examples of 2 way technology can be found now in automobiles that have OnStar service, or medical alarm systems like LifeAlert.

With 2 way voice response there is no delay in the dialer, and because we can verfiy an intrusion without having to contact you first we are able to notify the police immediately and inform them that the emergency has an audio verification. That now becomes a high priority call, creating a much faster response.

2 way voice monitoring will always cost more than digital monitoring because 2 way is the highest quality monitoring service available.

Some national alarm companies refuse to offer 2 way voice because the equipment they install does not have the capability to monitor via 2 way voice, and their central station isn't formatted to accept those signals. A very select few do offer it but at a much greater cost than their normal monitoring rates, AND they still program the 20 second dialer delay in those panels.

National alarm companies use equipment that was engineered in the 1980's. They use this equipment due to cost. Their average alarm system comes as a kit and has a wholesale cost of about $50.00.
The motion detector on the two- way voice system we install has a wholesale cost of more than triple their kit cost.


Don't place your security in the hands of a company simply because they run the most TV commercials or newspaper ads. They need to saturate the market with advertisments to compensate for the low quality systems they offer.

At 24-7 Security quality is our only concern, and it's the only thing we offer. If you would like a system of lesser quality then we wish you luck in your search.