Business security
Small business alarm systems: what to buy, and what your city asks.
A business alarm that only beeps and dials no longer earns much. Here is what a small business alarm system should include, and what Kent, Auburn, Federal Way, Renton and Tacoma ask of it before police come.
A small business alarm system needs door contacts, motion detectors that send photos, a keypad code for each employee, a cellular backup path and a monitored central station. In the South Sound, also register it where the city requires and keep sirens indoors in Kent.
By Ivan Rivas, Owner and Sales Engineer · 2026-11-11 · Updated 2026-11-11
What a small business alarm system includes
A small business alarm system is a set of detectors that report to one hub, which tells you and a central station when something is wrong after close.
For a shop, office or small warehouse that usually means:
- Door contacts on every exterior door, including the back door and the roll-up.
- Motion detectors in the stockroom, the office and the main floor.
- Photo detectors where losses happen, so the alarm arrives with a picture.
- A keypad by the staff entrance, with a code for each employee.
- An indoor siren loud enough to cut a visit short.
- A hub with backup that keeps reporting when the power or the internet drops.
- Monitoring, so a person sees the alarm at 3 a.m.
The parts list for the systems we install, and how they connect to cameras and doors, is on the business security page.
Why a plain motion alarm is not enough anymore
Police in the region have stopped treating a single sensor trip as a reason to drive out. Seattle is the clearest case.
Seattle's 911 center took about 13,000 burglary alarm calls from monitoring companies in 2023, and fewer than 4 percent were tied to a crime that led to an arrest or a report. SPD now responds to alarm calls with evidence of a crime in progress, such as audio, video, a panic alarm or an eyewitness, and not to sensor or motion activations alone1.
The South Sound cities have written their own versions. We covered Seattle's change in Seattle stopped answering alarms two years ago. The section below covers the cities we work in most.
What each South Sound city asks of a business alarm
The rules change at the city line, and they are worth knowing before the install, not after the first false alarm.
Kent. The city code says no outside audible intrusion alarm is allowed on commercial, business or industrial buildings (KCC 9.08.04). Police may charge up to $10 for each false alarm2. So a Kent business keeps its siren inside.
Auburn. No alarm may be switched on until its permit is approved, and the installing company collects the first permit fee3. The permit is $24 a year for a home or a business, as of October 20264.
Before asking for police, the monitoring company must confirm an Auburn burglar alarm by a witness, audio, live video, or a second detector or signal, such as two zones tripping or two signals within ten minutes. Police response may be suspended after more than three false alarms in a permit period.
Federal Way. Police may not respond to an alarm that has not been registered5. Registration is $25, as of October 20266.
Renton. An alarm must be registered within 30 days of switching it on, with a fee for the first registration and none for the yearly renewal. Alarm companies are asked to try a phone call before requesting dispatch7.
Tacoma. The monitoring company must verify before police are requested. A person on site confirms, live video or audio shows a crime, two zones trip with enhanced call confirmation, or an older system sends two signals in ten minutes. False alarm fees run from $115 to $315, as of October 2026, charged to the monitoring company8.
Photos with the alarm
Photo detectors give the operator something to look at before anyone is called. The Ajax MotionCam detectors we install send the first photo within 9 seconds of the alarm9.
A photo tells a person from a balloon or a cat. That cuts the false dispatches that run up fees and suspensions.
Photos are not on Seattle's, Tacoma's or Auburn's list of verification methods, so we do not sell them as a key to a police response. Where a response after hours matters most, the stronger answer is a live guard watching the cameras, which is on the remote video monitoring page. How the two layers fit is on the verified alarm monitoring page.
A code for every employee
Each person who opens or closes should have their own code. A shared code cannot tell you who disarmed at 5:40 a.m., and it keeps working after someone leaves.
The Ajax KeyPad TouchScreen holds personal codes for up to 200 users10. Remove a code when someone leaves and nothing else changes. Staff can also arm and disarm from the app under their own name.
Hold-up buttons and duress codes
A register that handles cash needs a way to call for help without a scene. Seattle police respond to all robbery, panic and duress alarms, because those point to a person at risk.
The Ajax DoubleButton is a hold-up device that only alarms when both buttons are pressed together. The buttons are stiff and parted by a plastic barrier, so it does not go off in a pocket11.
A duress code covers the other case: an employee forced to disarm at opening. On the KeyPad TouchScreen it looks like a normal disarm while it sends an alarm to the security company.
Backup when the power or the internet drops
An alarm that reports over one internet line can be stopped by cutting that line. The Ajax Hub 2 Plus keeps four paths open: Ethernet, Wi-Fi and two cellular SIM channels12.
The hub also checks in with every detector on a schedule set between 12 and 300 seconds, so a detector that is knocked off the wall or goes silent is reported13.
Monitoring: who answers at 3 a.m.
Without monitoring, nobody is watching. The siren sounds and the phones you named ring. If nobody answers, nothing further happens.
With professional monitoring, the alarm and its photos go to Becklar, a UL-listed central station staffed around the clock. The operator reviews the photos, calls your contact list in the order you set, and requests dispatch when the alarm is real. Whether and how fast police respond is always the agency's decision.
With cameras and door access
The alarm, the cameras and the doors are layers, not rivals. The alarm decides that something is wrong after close. The cameras show what happened. Door access control decides who may open which door during the day.
A door contact on a controlled door reports to the alarm, so a door forced at night is an alarm, not a line in a log.
What drives the cost
Four things set the price of a business alarm: the number of doors and openings, the rooms that need detectors, the hold-up and keypad points, and whether you add monitoring and cameras. A small shop with two doors is a short install. A warehouse with dock doors and a mezzanine office is a bigger one.
Typical installed figures are on the Ajax alarm cost page, and the instant quote gives a first figure in minutes. The walk-through sets the final scope.
What to ask before you buy
- Does each employee get their own code?
- What does the alarm send: a signal, photos or video?
- Does it keep reporting if the internet line is cut?
- Who monitors it, and is the central station UL-listed?
- Will you register it with my city, and does my city want verification first?
- In Kent: is every siren inside the building?
Where we work
Rivas Technology Group installs business alarm systems from 415 Railroad Ave S, Kent, for businesses in Kent, Tukwila, Renton, Auburn, Federal Way, Covington, Maple Valley, Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner and Gig Harbor. The business security page explains the site assessment, and the instant quote gives a first figure.
