An empty building is not protected by cameras that nobody is watching. It is protected by a system that knows the site should be clear, notices when it is not, and gets a person to look. That is still the job of an intruder alarm. CCTV without that signal is a recorder. An alarm without a picture is a noise that people learn to cancel.
Plenty of commercial sites still run a panel from a previous tenant, a shared unset code, and a keyholder who lives 40 minutes away. The alarm goes off. Nobody believes it. The next one is real.
What the alarm is for
After close, you want to know about a door, a break-glass, a roller shutter, or movement in a room that should be empty. You do not want a PIR covering a loading canopy that moves all night. Zone the building so a warehouse aisle is not the same as the office, and so a cleaner can unset the floor they are on without opening the whole site.
Confirmation matters. A single unconfirmed activation on a windy unit will not get a police response. Dual-path signalling, confirmed activations, and a camera the operator can open from the same event are how you get something done at 2am.
Pair it with pictures and a person
The useful stack is the one we described for control rooms on unmanned sites: alarm event, matching CCTV view, and an SLA for what happens next. Video analytics can cut the rubbish on yards; they do not replace a proper unset and a perimeter that is actually set.
If you already have cameras on a warehouse, read how yards get hit after hours. The alarm is the thing that says the building itself is the target, not only the trailer on the apron.
Keyholders and codes are where it rots
People leave. Codes stay. The alarm company still has a mobile number from 2019. Audit who can unset, who is on the keyholder list, and whether the signalling path still works. A system that looks fine on the wall can be dead on the ARC.
A practical checklist
- Is the alarm zoned for how the building is used now, not how it was in 2016?
- Can an operator see the matching camera from an activation?
- Are unset codes individual, and revoked when staff leave?
- Is the signalling path dual, and has anyone tested it this quarter?
- Who is actually going to attend, and how long do they take?
- How many activations last month were real, and how many were cancelled?
Talk to Dacha SSI
Call 0333 344 5526 or use the contact form.
