Want to present a webinar / more on alarm registration fees and false alarm fines February 3, 2022

KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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Want to present a webinar / more on alarm registration fees and false alarm fines
February 3, 2022

Want to present a webinar?

          Want to present a webinar?  Contact Ken Kirschenbaum by tomorrow.
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Announcing webinar series 2022. Still time to schedule your webinar presentation. Contact Ken Kirschenbaum to participate in our webinar 2022 series.
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Webinar Title: Specialized financing techniques for the Security Alarm Industry
When: Wednesday, February 9, 2022, at 12:00PM Eastern time
Topic Details: Financing option to grow equity without selling RMR accounts and no chargebacks, holdbacks, Recourse or Risk Presented by: Tony Smith, President of Security Funding Associates (SFA)
Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq.,
Who should attend: Company owners and CFOs
Register here:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8814691682009291276
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Webinar Title: what's new in the 2022 updated contracts
When: February 15, 2022, at 12:00PM Eastern time
Topic Details: most important updates in the 2022 contracts
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq. Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum
Who should attend: Company owners, CEOs, Managers, sales personnel
Register here:   https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1716607451924079886
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Webinar Title: why use Disclaimer Notice and join Concierge Program
When: February 16, 2022, at 12:00PM Eastern time
Topic Details: when, how and why to use Disclaimer Notice / why you should join Concierge Program
Presented by: Ken Kirschenbaum, Esq. Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum
Who should attend: Company owners, CEOs, Managers, sales personnel
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7741884992648350732

Webinar Title: common issues in buy-sell deals
When: February 22, 2022, at 12:00PM Eastern time
Topic Details: common issues to consider in smaller buy-sell transactions
Presented by: Jesse Kirschenbaum, Esq.     Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum
Who should attend: Company owners, CEOs, CFOs
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1255265567049106699

more on alarm registration fees and false alarm fines from article on January 18, 2022

Ken:
          We appreciate your publishing SIAC’s perspective on the false alarm issue. We did want to provide some additional context to some of the issues you raised.
          We agree that public safety agencies consider responding to alarms as part of the basic service citizens support with their taxes. Their concern is responding to false alarms. Approximately 98% of alarms are not triggered by criminals but rather almost always through user error. Better technology and video and audio have been great assets but will not completely eliminate the problem. Alarm registration and fines are an effective way to deal with problem users who are diverting police time from other duties.
          Cities with alarm ordinances have an administrative process for appealing fines if police have missed evidence of a break-in. A picture of a broken window that officers may have missed or filing a police report can be utilized to appeal a fine. We are not aware that this has been a significant issue.
          There is no debate over the fact that alarm systems deter crime and help protect life and property. A Rutgers University study, sponsored by the industry, showed that alarm systems deter crime homes without displacing the crimes to other properties without alarm systems.  But industry opponents have successfully used the false claim that alarm owners are receiving additional police services when officers respond to false alarms. The revenue from registration and fines helps offset those costs, significantly reduce false alarms and has been an effective way to counter that argument.
          By working with law enforcement to reduce false alarms the industry through SIAC has been able to maintain the police response the public wants and is funding in the vast majority of the country while helping our law enforcement partners conserve resources.
Stan Martin, Executive Director
SIAC

Ken
          I enjoy reading your columns. Feel like I am going to law school one blog at a time. SIAC is in touch with local law enforcement all over the country and has a staff that includes former police chiefs. The model ordinance, with fees and fines, is widely accepted as a best practice in cities and counties that have an alarm ordinance. Always glad to answer questions or provide information on the issue. Thanks.
David Margulies
SIAC

Response

          We can all agree that false alarms are something we'd like to do without.  Customers don't like them.  I defended a case where a physiatrist and members of his family sued an alarm company for false alarms claiming the false alarms caused him to suffer a heart attack. [I won that case].  Alarm companies don’t like them because they generate extra work and cause friction with customers.  First responders don’t like them because it causes extra work and causes them to respond unnecessarily, often putting them in unintended danger.  Municipalities don’t like false alarms because it causes extra expense.
          We all look forward to a time when technology affords an end to false alarms.  Until then, we have to live with them and look for ways to reduce them.
          Fining citizens and anyone else with a target on their back, like alarm companies, has become too easy for municipalities.  Red light cameras where posted speed limits range from 15 to 45 miles an hour; red light camera ticketing anyone going more than 15 mph in a school zone, even when the school is closed; red light cameras in case you don’t come to full stop before making a right turn at a corner, or a stop sign; false alarm fines; alarm permit fines; alarm permit fees.  We’ve become numb to these confiscatory disguised taxes and revenue raising shenanigans; complacent, even complicit.
          If an alarm is causing signals without apparent justification then the alarm company and first responders should ignore the signals; that is consequence enough to the offending end user.
          Maybe the alarm industry should take a different approach and support the false alarm reduction agenda in their own new way.  How about a provision in the alarm contract that simply permits a $2 or $5 or $10 charge for every false alarm, even those canceled after the signal reaches the central station, and have those charges appear on the next invoice?  Just let me know and I’ll include such a provision in the next set up contract updates.

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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com