An Alpha Code is a three letter code issued by the Licensing and Regulation Division to licensed and graded security monitoring companies to allow them to obtain police assistance for Category 'A' alarms.
Category A alarms
There are five different types of category A alarms, these include:
- holdup alarms
- fixed duress alarms
- high-risk premises alarms
- multi-sector or multi-break alarm
- communication failure.
Category ‘A’ duress alarms only include those that have a dedicated duress alarm button installed in the secured premises.
Victoria Police will not respond to alarms caused by power failures or telephone/broadband outages.
It is the responsibility of the alarm monitoring company to ascertain if a power or other infrastructure failure caused the alarm prior to contacting Triple Zero (000).
Any person or business that requires Category 'A' alarm responses should only use security monitoring companies that hold a current Alpha Code.
See the list of Victorian private security companies holding current Alpha Codes below.
Victoria Police's alarm-response procedures
The Victoria Police alarm response procedures are developed in partnership with the private security industry. They determine that alarms are allocated into three defined categories, with Category ‘A’ alarms being the highest.
The procedure is:
- Once the security company has identified the need for Victoria Police assistance, they will call Triple Zero (000) and recite their Alpha Code.
- Victoria Police will then be deployed to the address to manage the matter.
Before obtaining an Alpha Code
Prior to obtaining an Alpha Code you must consider the following:
- If your security monitoring business is based in Victoria, you will need to be the holder of a Victorian Private Security Business Licence.
- If your business operations are based in another state but you have Victorian clients you may be eligible to be issued with an Alpha Code.
Alpha Codes can only be granted by Victoria Police to licensed and graded security monitoring businesses.
Obtaining an Alpha Code
To obtain an Alpha Code you must apply to the Licensing and Regulation Division by:
- post to Licensing and Regulation Division GPO Box 2807, Melbourne, VIC 3001
- or email.
Requests must be marked for the attention of the Compliance Support Unit and contain the following:
- full business name and address
- details of the monitoring company's primary contact, including contact details and email address
- authority/permission to add the company details to the Victoria Police website as an Alpha Code business
- copy of current grading certificate
- copy of current business licence if not licensed in Victoria.
Upon receipt of all required information, an Alpha Code will be issued to the monitoring company together with specific information relevant to Victoria Police's alarm response procedures.
Please note
There is no cost to obtain an Alpha Code from Victoria Police.
Where a company ceases to operate a monitoring centre, and/or no longer requires an Alpha Code, they must notify the Licensing and Regulation Division as soon as possible in writing to:
Licensing and Regulation Division
GPO Box 2807, Melbourne VIC 3001.
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