[Marsymars]

In my city, monitored alarms aren't worthwhile for non-commercial properties. For the police to respond, your alarm has to be registered, and registration requires authorized first responders with keys to confirm that an alarm is false or valid before police are called/dispatched.

[kotaKat]

Some alarm vendors will offer "video verification" which typically satisfies that requirement in most markets that require it. Many Alarm.com-based vendors (like Surety Home) can enable it on your system.

[Marsymars]

I’ve read through the city bylaw here, and there doesn’t seem to be any affordance to “video verification”. The only thing that’s easier with a professional company is that if you have a monitored alarm without security staff in the city, you must provide the police with contact info of two authorized keyholders, while you only need to give them the contact info of a single alarm company that’s capable of responding to alarms on a 24/7 basis.

The only notable exception I can see is that monitors of alarms at financial institutions are allowed to contact police directly without sending someone else to investigate first.

It generally feels like the city/police here has decided that alarms are not a thing for the police to deal with, unless it concerns banks.