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Ken,
re the June 26, 2012 article on town seems to be getting ready to track and fine false alarms:
Belleville, NJ hiring a 3rd Party to administer their alarm ordinance is not all that unusual in other parts of the country and PNAM is one of the national providers. What is unusual about this is that the alarm company was notified by PNAM and not the jurisdiction, which would normally not be the case. Assuming that Belleville has hired PNAM there must have been a new ordinance adopted by the city and, if so, the enforcement teeth will be in the ordinance.
The account registration is mandatory and does require a list of subscribes with names and addresses submitted in a prescribed format. Typically an alarm site must be registered to qualify for a police dispatch – with the usual exception of a hold up or panic type alarm. This is not an onerous process and the administrators and jurisdictions are on board with the sensitivity of this information. This requirement is typically part of the jurisdiction’s false alarm reduction program, which also typically will have other requirements such as Enhanced Call Verification, and other Best Practices. Give it a chance before objecting too strenuously. These ordinances have been around since the mid 2000’s and have had the best false alarm reductions in the country – 60-85%.
LCR
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Ken,
I personally have concern with the request for such significant detail, particularly when there is a private company involved in the handling of it.
This place must have some serious issues with alarms if they are going to that extent.
Ed
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Ken,
I do alarm work in all 50 states. When I was reading the commentary from an individual dealing with 3rd party false alarm billing/management for an alarm in Township of Belleville, NJ, I knew exactly which company the individual was talking about before I even read the name of the company. PMAM Corporation is in the business of administering false alarm reduction programs for Police Departments. Formerly they were known as ATB Servives (Alarm Tracking and Billing) and are now a part of PMAM Corporation. Unfortunately, a good portion of the managing is actually done by the alarm companies. In my opinion, when a jurisdiction requires some type of alarm permit, it should be the responsibility of the alarm owner (end user) to obtain and maintain the alarm permit. If an alarm user has excessive false alarms, there are often consequences such as a fine. The ability to send a bill for a false alarm to the end user depends upon the info contained within the alarm company's Excel spreadsheet. In essence, there may be implications that the alarm company is partially responsible for the end user to get their bill. As an alarm company, I'm not opposed to helping customers manage their alarm permits. In fact, we offer that service. However, in my opinion, being forced to get in the middle and manage alarm permits because a 3rd party wants it done that way seems a bit far stretched and out of line. Many jurisdictions use this company. There may be other 3rd party companies out there in this business but they are the only one I've run into so far. Based on my experience, there are far more jurisdictions that use this company on the west coast than on the east coast (maybe because the company is located in the western half of the USA). I would guess Police Departments save money by not having to keep an alarm coordinator on staff and not having to send out bills. Its attractive to Police Departments, but a bit messy for alarm companies from a logistics standpoint. Don't be surprised if you start seeing this type company more and more as jurisdictions figure out that they save themselves money by using such 3rd party service.
Thanks,
Mark
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How does Excel attachment sent via unsecured email (to some company you don't know) comply with data safeguarding??? This government is bunch of nuts. One regulation contradicts the other.
Dusan
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