Ken
A comment about the recent question that in some jurisdictions, "False" alarms may now be considered a crime. We should start using the proper term to describe what happens when the systems that we all install do what we never want them to do - signal an alarm when no real threat exists. We need to start calling these signals......"UNWANTED ALARMS", since they are not in fact false since they are really happening, just not for the reason that these systems were installed in the first place.
Frank Scotti
President
Balco Alarm Services Corp
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Ken:
Another way to create jobs...You know how much paper work is generated by these ordinances, who has to track them, file them, follow up etc. No wonder they charge for responses. I agree that a false report and a false alarm are two different things. It appears they could have used you, Ken, in marking up the language. In Birmingham, Alabama, I was part of the discussion and writing the false alarm ordinance years ago. We were getting the ordinance one way or the other, but interjected in the ordinance was a provision that if the system was serviced by an alarm company and this service ticket along with the false alarm ordinance was sent to the communication department at Birmingham Police Dept. your false alarm score was set back to zero and the clock started over. This cut false alarm dispatches dramatically as quoted by Lt. Melton who was in charge at that time of false alarm enforcement. That kind of ordinance did more to cut police responses than any fine or threat ever did. Too bad more departments don't take that position.
The term "False Alarm" is misleading, the panel did see a condition it was programmed to respond to and carried out it's programing. The fact that no damage or person or living thing was detected by the authorities deems it false. Alot of authorities around here will cut some slack during bad weather and mark it down as weather related.
John Elmore
Security By Elmore
Birmingham, Alabama
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Police complaints for false alarms - is it now a crime?
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Hi Ken;
False alarms a crime? You are the attorney here, but in my experience, one of the elements of a crime for it to be a crime there has to be some sort of intent. Was the central station operator trying to harass the Indio police department? I think not. And what will they do if the central monitoring station is in another state? I don't think the courts or the taxpayers will stand for it. I think that too many police departments that are pushing for verified response are seeing it as a money maker for the town. It is rare that I will make a service call for the first false alarm. Too many times I rushed out to a customers home or business to find an errant mylar balloon floating in front of a motion detector or some other anomaly that the customer should have seen first. Now I wait for the second false alarm from the same zone and correct the problem. But in towns with verified response, the customer is already into the fine schedule. It's a no win situation for the alarm company, the customer or the central monitoring station. If as the alarm company you charge the customer for a service call to pop a mylar balloon, you aren't likely to keep that customer for too long. With the emergence of video monitoring and being able to view a couple of cameras on your Blackberry, that type of verification will likely solve this dilemma. But there is no free lunch.
John from NJ
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Ken,
As you may or may not know, Fontana were sued by the local Alarm association in Southern California for fining alarm companies directly for false alarms. I don't know all the details, but I believe Alan Pepper's office handled the case, and the city had to pay all the attorney fees (a LOT). You may want to reach out to get the results of that case, if you do not already have it.
Thank you ..
Michael Smith
SCN Security Communication Network, Inc.
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Ken,
I believe that Las Vegas PD tried to press similar charges against a central station and an employee, which turned out to be the owner's son, early on in the verified response saga. I don't know what it cost to defend the case but it turn out favorably for the central station and the employee. It was always felt that the LVPD was trying to set an example with this case. It is unfortunate that these things (verified response) still exist when there are so many examples of workable solutions around the country. I guess you only have to look as far as the economic crisis California is in to understand their direction. I don't know if this is the Indigo PD's choice or a direction of "no choice". The political stance will be it is because of the false alarm issue to save face with their constituents rather than say they are broke and can not afford to provide the services. It is a proven fact that a properly run program generates more than enough money to offset the cost of response if the money would just go to the proper place within the local government.
Portland Paul
Technical Services Inc.
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Lead Paint:
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correct link http://www.epa.gov/EPA-TOX/2008/April/Day-22/t8141.pdf
Charles Turk
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I think that “LH” in Arkansas is missing the boat. If I were sitting on the board, I wouldn’t care about the number of holes drilled, either. What does “disturbing” mean? It certainly means a drill hole. But, I would also suspect that “disturbing” would also mean the fishing of a wire through a wall (lots of square feet), the insertion of screws into a wall, etc. Don’t put blinders on folks. If you’re doing anything more than wireless (with double-sided tape), then you’re going to be “disturbing” the material.
David Myers
Myers Protection Services
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What's a trunk slammer?
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Dear Ken:
Regarding the ‘Trunk Slammers’ Thread:
In my humble opinion the wording of ‘Trunk Slammers’ has nothing to do with the size of the firm. It is an attitude. Are your personnel NICET Certified. Are your personnel NBFAA Level I or Level II Certified? Are you a member of NFPA? Are you a U.L. listed / certified Company? Are you licensed and carry both Workers Compensation (even if a one-person company) and E&O / Liability insurance? Do you use proper agreements?
After 41-years, I have seen what the proper ATTITUDE accomplishes….
Respectfully,
Joseph (Joe) Pfefer
President
Jade Alarm Co.
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Ken:
On “Trunk Slammers” I do understand that most of us started as what people consider a “Trunk Slammer”, but what I consider a “Trunk Slammer” is the guys who continue to try to be a 1 or 2 man show even after years and years of installing and continue to give our industry a bad reputation.
However the other side of the coin is that these “trunk slammers” do provide us with additional work and hurt themselves over the long run. If you build your business right and hire the right people, you can ignore these guys. Why lower your price to try to match these guys? When you do that, don’t you see where there is a chance to make more mistakes and take more shortcuts so you don’t lose money?
Build your business so you can pick and choose what projects you want and leave all the crap work to the “trunk slammers”.
On the RJ31X issue, since POTS lines are going away anyway, get a panel that uses cellular, or buy a cell dialer add-on, it may be more equipment cost, but the monitoring is not that much more expensive, and I can almost guarantee the customer is willing to pay a little extra for it. You installation time will go down and you don’t have to worry about some dumbass technician not putting in the RJ31X correctly.
TG