February 1, 2012
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Comment on keys to panel
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Ken
re: Greg Walworth County Security Alarms' question regarding a customer having a key to his alarm panel; if he owns the equipment, why should a customer not have a key to it? After all, it IS his equipment. There should be something in his contract stating that only the alarm company may perform work on the system, and anyone else's work would void all liability.
I have a large customer with our systems in six states. Their maintenance people do all maintenance on the systems; plus they are self-insured, so they have assumed all responsibility and liability. We respond for emergency service upon request, and perform annual inspections, and monitor them all with daily test signals. I call each customer whenever they have an alarm or trouble, or put a system in test, to verify what happened. Their corporate legal department is clear on all contracts.
That's my $ 0.02's worth also.
Alan Mills
SWAT Security Systems
Spencer, IN
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making a photo (or video) of a transaction
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Ken
For criminal prosecution, digital photos or video's won't stand up as evidence due to lack of 'chain of custody'. It might work for civil litigation, but digital photo's can be easily photo shopped, so I would not see this as solid proof, if it comes to that stage.
Best regards
Dave
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Comment on camera instead of smoke detectors
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Ken
While we are all putting our two cents in on cameras that look like smoke detectors, I thought I would add mine too. As far as I'm concerned, if a structure, whether it be residential or commercial has adequate fire protection, who cares if a CCTV camera is secreted in a smoke detector? As long as cameras are kept in common areas, or in spots where people would not have a reasonable expectation of privacy (like a dressing room,) what does it matter? Getting sued because "they thought that they had fire protection" when in a structure? That is just crazy. We live in a litigious society, but I think if the states adopted a "loser pays all costs" for legal fees policy, these frivolous lawsuits will all just go away. And regardless of how anyone interprets NFPA 72, if you comply with it for smoke detection coverage, why would anyone from the NFPA care either?
John from NJ
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false alarm or false police report?
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Ken
The Newsletter seems to be the right forum for sharing thoughts about a thin line that seems to separate "false alarms" from "false police reports". All of which is in consideration of recent publicity that show that nearly all calls for help, from abusive monitoring firms, are unnecessary and unsustainable.
It is rumored that municipalities are again considering the use of the controversial enforcement tool available to every police department to manage abusive alarm suppliers.... enforcement of laws against "false police reports".
A related seven year legal feud in Salt Lake City could be resolved within several months that could change our business model forever. (Ya.. it's that serious). It is still in the courts, so can't be too specific, and I am not a legal resource. It sounds like there was a flaw in the language in the City Code that prevented enforcement of a "false police report" in Salt Lake City seven years ago. Several words were accidentally deleted in the printed language of the City Code, which was interpreted to involve only "written communication" and not to include "verbal communication".
The request for alarm response that one night in SLC was verbal communication, not written, thus the misdemeanor action was quickly dropped against the alarm monitoring supervisor who had been arrested, facing up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.. Yet it is still stalled in the courts after seven years and $millions of cost ... maybe stalled in the courts to delay widespread practice by other cities? Quote from Alarm Association leadership..."There will be a seismic shift in the industry if this prosecution is successful,"
The language in the typical City Code across the country includes both written and verbal communication, so the practice by other cities can proceed without the SLC resistance.
Lee Jones
Support Services Group