CCTV & Intruder Alarm Monitoring
Advanced Overwatch operates its own 24-hour CCTV Monitoring Control Room. Intruder and fire alarm monitoring is provided through an NSI Gold certified Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), and we also partner with third party ARCs in the UK. We arrange monitoring for homes and businesses across Northern Ireland, with the coverage and response plan agreed for each system.
Thousands of premises secured since 2017
Know who receives the alert.
Two monitoring services, with clear responsibility for each.
CCTV monitoring
Video monitoring is provided through our own 24-hour CCTV Monitoring Control Room. Camera checks and response actions follow the service agreed for your premises.
The survey establishes equipment suitability, monitoring coverage and how activations will be assessed.
Your CCTV system
Suitable equipment and connectivity
Our own control room
24-hour CCTV monitoring
Agreed action
Keyholders and escalation plan
Intruder alarm monitoring
Intruder alarm signals are handled through our monitoring partner’s NSI Gold certified Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC).
The signalling arrangement and escalation plan are agreed for your system. Police response is not automatic.
Your intruder alarm
Suitable signalling connection
Our monitoring partner
Alarm Receiving Centre
Agreed action
Keyholders and escalation plan
The route shown explains responsibility. Your service agreement sets the monitoring hours, contacts and actions for your premises.
The response plan is part of the system
Agree these arrangements before connection, then review them when your premises or contacts change.
- Coverage
- When monitoring is required.
- Contacts
- Who can be contacted for your premises.
- Keyholders
- Who can attend or authorise action.
- Escalation
- What actions the system and service support.
When you cannot respond yourself
Monitoring provides an agreed route for events to be reviewed. The survey determines which service, or combination, suits the property.
Rural properties
Where the people responsible may be away from the building.
Yards and compounds
Where an agreed review and escalation route is needed.
Vacant buildings
Where there may be no regular onsite presence.
Stock-holding premises
Where monitoring forms part of the wider security systems plan.
From your existing system
to an agreed service
Some existing systems can be monitored after assessment. Suitability is confirmed through the survey.
Survey
We assess your equipment, connectivity and monitoring needs.
Connection
Suitable equipment connects to the appropriate monitoring service.
Response plan
We agree monitoring hours, contacts and escalation arrangements.
Commissioning
We test the agreed functions and relevant connections before the service starts.
Ongoing care
We discuss maintenance and review requirements as premises and contacts change.
Standards and questions to ask
System standards and police response
Monitored intruder and hold up alarm systems follow the BS EN 50131 series for the system itself, with BS 8243 covering systems designed to generate confirmed alarm conditions. Police response is not automatic. It depends on the system meeting the confirmation requirements and on a unique reference number issued by the police, and it can be withdrawn where false calls persist. That is why verification and false alarm management are part of the service rather than an afterthought. For a longer read on how monitoring works in practice, see our guide to alarm monitoring in Northern Ireland.
Before agreeing the service
Worth asking any monitoring provider: where the control room is and who owns it; whether the contract is monthly, annual or longer and what notice period applies; whether the signalling path is included in the price; what happens if the broadband fails; how false activations are investigated; and whether police response depends on confirmation.
Advanced Overwatch is SSAIB certificated (NIRE127) specifically for Intruder Alarm Systems, Visual Surveillance Systems (VSS) and Access Control Systems.
The NSI Gold certification described above applies to our monitoring partner’s ARC.
Security system monitoring, your questions
Why does monitoring matter?
Police evidence finds actively monitored CCTV outperforms passive recording, because monitoring turns an alert into a response while the incident is happening.
Who actually watches my system?
Advanced Overwatch operates its own 24-hour CCTV Monitoring Control Room. Intruder and fire alarm monitoring is provided through an NSI Gold certified Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC), and we also partner with third party ARCs in the UK.
What happens when an alarm triggers at 3am?
An operator verifies the event, then follows your agreed plan: audio challenge where fitted, keyholder contact and escalation to the emergency services when justified.
Can you monitor a system you did not install?
In many cases, following a survey. We assess camera systems for connection to our own CCTV monitoring centre, and intruder systems for signalling to our monitoring partner’s ARC.
Does monitoring reduce false alarm callouts?
Verification can help reduce unnecessary callouts. The checks available depend on the system, and no monitoring service can guarantee that every false activation will be filtered out.
What does alarm monitoring cost?
It depends on what is being monitored, how many signals the site generates, whether cameras are included for visual verification and what signalling path the site can support. We do not publish one figure, because one figure would be wrong for most sites. We survey the system and give you a fixed quote after a free survey, with the contract term and the notice period stated up front.
How do I choose an alarm monitoring company?
Ask where the control room is and whether it is owned by the company you are contracting with, what the escalation plan looks like in writing, how false activations are investigated, what the notice period is, and what happens to your monitoring if the signalling technology changes. Then ask for those answers in writing before you sign.
Does NSI Gold accreditation cover your own CCTV centre?
No. The NSI Gold accreditation described here applies to our monitoring partner’s ARC, which provides intruder alarm monitoring. Our own CCTV monitoring centre is a separate service. Advanced Overwatch is SSAIB certificated (NIRE127) specifically for Intruder Alarm Systems, Visual Surveillance Systems (VSS) and Access Control Systems. NSI Gold accreditation applies to our monitoring partner’s ARC, not to Advanced Overwatch’s own CCTV monitoring centre.
Discuss monitoring for your premises
Arrange a free survey of the system and the service you need.