CCTV footage from Jukō, a coffee shop on Gloucester Street in Belfast city centre, shows a gang using a wheelie bin to reach the front window before one suspect kicks through the glass and climbs inside. He grabs the tip jar, attempts to force the till, and then the intruder alarm sounds. He’s back out through the smashed window within seconds. As Belfast Live reports, this is one of a series of similar attacks on hospitality businesses across the city centre. The alarm worked. The question worth asking is what happens between the moment a sounder activates and the point where someone actually responds.
What the Jukō incident actually shows
In this case, the alarm did its job: the intruder fled before he could do more damage. That’s a reasonable outcome, and the immediate deterrent effect of a sounder is real. But for an alarm system to deliver on its full purpose, the signal needs to reach an Alarm Receiving Centre reliably and quickly, not just make a noise on site.
In a break-in scenario, the window between the alarm triggering and any meaningful response is short. If the signalling path is slow, interrupted, or fails silently, the ARC may receive the alert too late, or not at all. The intruder in this case fled on his own. That won’t always be the outcome.
This is what makes the transmission layer matter in practice. The sounder deters. The signal to the ARC enables a coordinated response, whether that’s police notification, a keyholding visit, or remote video verification. Both parts need to work.
The signalling path is where things can go wrong
Alarm panels and sounders have become reliable over many years. The part of the chain that tends to create problems is signalling, getting the alert from the premises to the ARC in a way that’s fast, verified, and resilient.
That’s where the discussion moves from the siren to the signalling infrastructure behind it. As the UK moves towards the completion of the PSTN switch-off in January 2027, many copper lines have already been retired and more sites are migrating to IP-based signalling. For installers, this means any site still relying on a PSTN path is increasingly at risk, not just of future compatibility issues, but of a failed signal when it matters most.
IP signalling, with a secondary mobile path as backup, addresses this directly. If the primary connection drops, the signal routes via the secondary. The ARC receives the alert. Response can begin. For hospitality businesses, retailers and other commercial premises, that resilience is worth having.
What installers should take from incidents like this
When a business owner sees footage of their own premises being burgled and asks whether their alarm system is working properly, the honest answer usually needs to cover more than just the panel and the sounder. It should include how the signal gets out, where it goes, and what happens if the primary path isn’t available.
For installers reviewing commercial accounts in areas with active break-in patterns, it’s worth checking:
- Whether the site is still reliant on a PSTN path that may already be at risk
- Whether there’s a verified secondary path in place
- Whether the ARC is receiving test signals as expected
Grading requirements under EN 50136 set out what’s expected in terms of signalling resilience for different risk levels. A small retail or hospitality premises operating in an area with a documented pattern of break-ins is a reasonable candidate for a conversation about whether the current signalling setup is adequate, not just compliant on paper, but genuinely fit for purpose when an incident occurs at 2am.
A practical takeaway
The Jukō incident ended without serious consequences partly because the intruder reacted to the sounder. But that’s not a reliable model for every scenario. The chain from alarm trigger to ARC notification to response needs to hold at every link. For installers working with commercial clients, particularly in hospitality and retail, the PSTN migration is a natural point to review the whole signalling path, not just swap out the communicator and move on.
AddSecure’s NGP range is designed for exactly this kind of review, covering IP and dual-path configurations that keep signalling intact when a single connection fails. The range and grading options are set out in the NGP installer brochure, which is worth having to hand when you’re having these conversations with clients.
If you’re reviewing commercial accounts ahead of PSTN migration, speak to the AddSecure team about dual-path IP signalling options and which NGP configuration suits each site’s risk level. Get in touch to find out more.