Hello Ken,

    “Lee” did not give you the full and correct wording of the Indio CA police policy, thus creating a false interpretation for your readers. The exact wording of the Indio Police Department Policy, with the missing key words underlined, reads

    “317.5 FILING A FALSE ALARM REPORT - The Indio Police Department will file charges with the Riverside County District Attorney’s office against any alarm or monitoring company who falsely reports a burglary alarm as a panic, duress, or robbery alarm for the sole purpose of circumventing our Verified Response policy, in violation of section 148.3 of the California Penal Code” (emphasis added).

    This is a clearly different context regarding a criminal act that no reputable alarm company should ever do.

    I have personally met with Indio Police Chief Ramos, and have had discussions with Police Captain Banasiak for over a year. Through the Inland Empire & California Alarm Associations, and SIAC we are working cooperatively with Indio police as we proceed through a trial process of their hybrid alarm response policy. Burglar alarm calls are all broadcast, and response is based on an intelligence component of information, public safety, and community knowledge by their police officers.

P.S. - Indio began this trial alarm response policy on March 1.

Regards,

Jon Sargent,

 Immediate Past President

California Alarm Association

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and follow up by Jon:

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Ken,

    We have been working closely with Indio California Police for over a year on how they can best handle alarm responses in their city. On March 1st they began a six month trial period using a new hybrid alarm policy; a portion of which included limited response to some alarms. Burglar alarm calls in Indio are actually all broadcast and police response is based on an intelligence component of information, public safety and community knowledge of their officers.

    A week ago I had another follow-up meeting with their Police Captain Richard Banasiak. The progress he has been making is truly thinking outside the box beyond a "cookie cutter approach" for handling alarms. During this trial he has taken a scientific approach to alarms and burglaries overall in Indio, and is engaged in very detailed studies that include examining what is driving their false alarms, why are they happening, why so many repeat and more. He has drilled down into the details through "Compstat" weekly briefings, bringing to light a myriad of information that is being used in their deployment tactics for the benefit of their community. The changes Captain Banasiak is working through will transform their direction towards a new Burglar Alarm Response Tactic, it will include Best Practices, and eliminate the negative verified response element.

    During a time of municipal budget cuts, reduction in services and other rough changes it is refreshing to be working with a police department in partnership dedicated towards Public Safety in a new vein.

Jon Sargent, Immediate Past President

California Alarm Association

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Comment on VT alarm company who lost monitoring to local police dept

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Ken

   Our local city ( Police Dept) looked into monitoring alarm and found there is a law that if there is an established alarm company within 50 miles, the city would be infringing on private business. Also his Father must have had pull with the PD because some one had to pay for the operators handing calls. He should be in title to his equipment BUT his customers or renewal is lost because he should have used a monitoring company.

ccopeland