MERCURY SWITCHES FOR BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS IS ONE OF A SERIES OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EQUIPMENT STANDARDS DEVELOPED BY THE LAW ENFORCEMENT STANDARDS LABORATORY AT THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS AND ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE. THESE DEVICES CAUSE THE INITIATION OF AN ALARM SIGNAL TO A POLICE PANEL, CENTRAL STATION, OR LOCAL AUDIBLE ALARM DEVICE. INCLUDED ARE REQUIREMENTS AND TEST METHODS FOR PERFORMANCE, ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES, AND MATERIALS. THE STANDARD FOR THESE DEVICES WAS DEVELOPED BY RESEARCHING LITERATURE AND COLLECTING AND EVALUATING EXISTING STANDARDS, SPECIFICATIONS, AND REPORTS ON THE USER ENVIRONMENT REQUIREMENTS. LABORATORY TESTS WERE PERFORMED ON SAMPLE EQUIPMENT TO DETERMINE THE STATE-OF-THE-ART AND TO EVALUATE THE RECOMMENDED TEST METHODS. THE REPORT CONCLUDES THAT IN ORDER TO MINIMIZE FALSE ALARMS FROM MERCURY SWITCHES USED IN BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS, THE FOLLOWING FACTORS MUST BE CONTROLLED - COMPONENT MATERIAL, CONFIGURATION, ACTUATION ANGLE, DEACTUATION ANGLE, ENDURANCE, TEMPERATURE EXTREMES, CORROSION, SHOCK, VIBRATION, DIELECTRIC STRENGTH, AND RAIN, AND DUST. USE OF THIS SYSTEM IN PROCUREMENT OF MERCURY SWITCHES FOR BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS WILL ENSURE THE SWITCHES WILL HAVE A LOW PROBABILITY OF GENERATING FALSE ALARMS IN MOST LOCATIONS WHERE SUCH DEVICES ARE USED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED) (SNI ABSTRACT)