24/7 Alarm Monitoring
Your Alarm, Watched Around the Clock
Prism delivers 24/7 alarm monitoring UK-wide through our exclusive partnership with EMCS — the UK’s largest independent Alarm Receiving Centre — so every Prism-monitored system is professionally watched 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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Exclusive Partnership
Powered by EMCS — The UK’s Largest Independent ARC
An alarm that triggers but goes unnoticed provides little real protection. Professional monitoring ensures that when your alarm activates, a trained operator responds within seconds — assessing the signal, contacting keyholders and dispatching police or a guarding response as required.
Prism has partnered exclusively with EMCS (East Midlands Central Station Limited), based in Nottingham, to provide our clients with access to one of the most capable and certified alarm receiving centres in the UK. With NSI Gold certification and BSIA membership, EMCS processes over 311,000 alarm signals per month with an average answer time of under 30 seconds.
311,415
Alarms processed/month
<30s
Average alarm answer time
NSI Gold
ARC Certification
24/7
365 days a year
The Process
How Alarm Monitoring Works
Alarm Activates
Your Prism intruder alarm, panic alarm or hold-up alarm activates and immediately transmits a signal to the EMCS control room via a secure digital communications path.
Operator Response
An EMCS operator answers the alarm signal within an average of 30 seconds. For video-verified systems, they review live or recorded footage to confirm whether the activation is genuine.
Keyholder Contact
EMCS contacts your nominated keyholders in priority order. You set the contact sequence during setup — meaning the right person is always called first.
Police Dispatch
Where a police Unique Reference Number (URN) is registered and the activation is confirmed genuine, EMCS can request a police response directly — prioritising your call with the force.
Monitoring Options
What We Can Monitor
🔓
Intruder Alarm Monitoring
Connect your Prism intruder alarm system to the EMCS control room for around-the-clock professional monitoring with police URN response capability.
📷
Video-Verified Monitoring
EMCS operators can view live or recorded CCTV footage when an alarm triggers, providing confirmed-activation monitoring that dramatically reduces false alarm police responses.
🚨
Panic & Hold-Up Alarms
Discreet panic button monitoring for staff protection in shops, banks, offices and lone-worker environments. Activation triggers immediate keyholder and police response.
🔥
Fire Alarm Monitoring
Direct connection to the EMCS control room for fire alarm signals, enabling automatic notification to the Fire & Rescue Service as part of a Category P fire alarm system.
📱
App-Based Alerts
Receive instant push notifications on your smartphone whenever your alarm activates, is set or unset, or a fault occurs — keeping you informed at all times via the EMCS mobile platform.
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False Alarm Management
EMCS’s dedicated false alarm management protocols help reduce unnecessary police call-outs, protecting your URN status and avoiding costly fines for repeated false activations.
Police Response
What is a Police URN?
A Unique Reference Number (URN) is issued by your local police force to premises with a monitored alarm system installed by an NSI or SSAIB-approved company. It acts as your unique identifier with the police, ensuring that when EMCS requests a response on your behalf, the police can quickly locate your record and prioritise accordingly.
Without a URN, the police may not respond to alarm activations at your premises. With a URN registered by Prism and managed through EMCS, you have the highest level of police response support available.
Note: URN registration requires your alarm system to have been installed by an NSI or SSAIB-approved company. As Prism progresses through our accreditation process, all newly installed monitored systems will be eligible for URN registration.
EMCS Certifications & Memberships
Add Professional Monitoring to Your System
Speak to Prism today about adding EMCS monitoring to your existing or new alarm system. We’ll handle the setup — you get the peace of mind.