Verified response isn't usually something that the security industry typically promotes. Instead it's the kind of policy that, when proposed by town mayors and police chiefs, usually elicits grassroots opposition from within local and state alarm associations and creates letter-writing campaigns from alarm owners.

So, it came as a bit of a surprise to those closely following police response issues when Pennsylvania-based alarm company Sonitrol released a whitepaper last week that lauded praises on the effectiveness of verified response policies.

The published survey is mostly a 17-page booklet of glowing praise for verified response policies, citing statistics such as drops in dispatch rates and impacts on police time, and filled with quotes from police departments quoting how much verified response helped them out.

Yet, despite the whitepaper's rosy disposition on verified response, it also brings up issues of those policies' effects on burglary rates. While a pool of 20 cities is hardly large enough to make sweeping generalizations on how verified response will affect burglaries, it is interesting to note that some cities saw major increases in burglary rates after verified response polices were put in place. For example, the survey notes that Salt Lake City's burglary rate jumped by 13 percent following the new policy. In Fremont, Calif., the rate increased by 14.4 percent; in Eugene, Ore., the rate increased by 11.3 percent, and in Arvada, Colo., the increase was just over 10 percent. To be fair, other cities with verified response policies claimed a decrease in burglaries. For example, Salem, Ore., dropped its burglary rate by 23 percent and Westminster, Colo., saw a rate decline of 14.6 percent. (All percentage increases and decreases were based on the rate change in the first year of a verified response policy's implementation.)

The survey also touches briefly on the challenge of what "verified" means. Typically it's assumed that a private guard will be dispatched to reconnoiter the home or business in question, but with technology improvements, alarm system owners are now commonly allowed to use video and audio surveillance for "verification". Sonitrol, of course, sells audio surveillance as part of its intrusion alarm systems.

Still, what does electronic surveillance mean for verification? According to Stan Martin, the executive director of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC), a group that has become a watchdog for alarm response policies, says that today's verification techniques can present their own challenges.

"Law enforcement wants us to be certain of criminal activity [before reporting an alarm signal], but there are millions of existing alarm systems that aren't set up for verification," said Martin. "Then you have the challenge that your average home could have 10 to 15 rooms, and your typical commercial building could have even more."