Active Perception takes an action though, unless you are dropping that requirement.
Also, asking the PC to make the Perception roll puts them on alert.
In narrative mode, ie outside of combat, and action for rolling Perception is unnecessary. Yes, rolling puts the PLAYER on a alert, but the PC is assumed alert when checking passive perception (if the PC is not alert, no passive perception). Having the PLAYER put on alert is an issue of meta-gaming PLAYERS, not with traps or rolling perception.