What is a nuisance alarm?

• A. An alarm caused by a power outage
• B. An alarm that always requires maintenance
• C. An alarm with a determinable cause not related to intrusion
• D. An alarm in which a cause can be determined but is not related to an intrusion (i.e. fan, weather, mouse)

Answer: (D)

A nuisance alarm is one that goes off because of something non-intrusive in the environment or the equipment, and you can identify the cause. It’s not a real intrusion, but it triggers the alarm anyway. The best description is an alarm where you can determine the cause and it’s not related to intrusion, such as a fan, weather, or a small animal. This conveys that the alarm is a false or non-security-triggered alert, something you can pinpoint but does not indicate a break-in. The other scenarios involve conditions that aren’t about a non-intrusion cause, or are less precise about the non-intrusive nature, so they don’t fit the nuisance-alarm concept as well.