Which of the following best describes a nuisance alarm?

• A. An intrusion caused alarm
• B. An alarm that cannot be investigated
• C. An alarm with a determinable cause not related to intrusion
• D. An alarm that always requires maintenance

Answer: (C)

A nuisance alarm happens when something triggers the alarm but the cause is non-threatening and can be identified. The best fit is an alarm with a determinable cause not related to intrusion because it acknowledges a real, knowable reason for the trigger that isn’t an intruder. This helps explain why it’s not a true intrusion and guides corrective action—like cleaning a sensor, fixing a draft from HVAC, or relocating a sensor—so the nuisance doesn’t recur. The other descriptions describe different issues: an intrusion-caused alarm is a genuine security breach; an alarm that cannot be investigated suggests an untraceable fault; an alarm that always requires maintenance implies a chronic malfunction rather than a non-intrusion trigger with an identifiable cause.