Re: 911:: Re: Alarms (was funny but very annoying)

[Guest guest]

--- " W.S. Blevins " wrote:

I cringe every

> time one of those

> fly_by_night companies waste my time by calling one

> in.

To me the absolute worst company is ADT. They don't

get complete information from their customers and they

don't verify that the information is correct. Plus,

the employees that call this stuff in rarely know what

they are doing (they are always having to ask their

supervisor a question during a routine alarm report)

and are often rude, especially when the call doesn't

go the way they think it should.

If I was going to have an alarm, it would be for my

purposes only. In other words, when I am home I would

set it so that if someone tried to get in and I was

asleep or something it would alert me. I don't need

it monitored for that. It would be a waste of time to

have it monitored, in my opinion. And, I wouldn't get ADT.

=====

Kim

I make a difference

Tulsa, OK

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

To be honest, I really though the same thing, until the night the officers

called on scene at one of our farthest geographic points away (about 6 miles

from main campus) and the next thing was gasping breath and one in custody. We

treat any alarm, even at a university, as a true emergency. We have to....the

liability of not doing so is just not worth it. Besides, in addition to

intrusion alarms, we have fire alarms, " blue light " alarms (call boxes on our

pedestrian walkways) and panic buttons in certain offices.

Diane G.

UVM PD

Burlington, VT

> Personally, I find police alarms to be a nuisance and serve little purpose.

> I can count on one hand the number of times that an alarm has resulted in an

> apprehension in the last 15 years. I cringe every time one of those

> fly_by_night companies waste my time by calling one in.

[Guest guest]

Arrrgggghhhhhhh!!!! I hate alarms....Our agency has to respond " hot " to all

of them. We take the stance.....You never know if it is false or not.

Anyways....not too long ago, a famous alarm company put a full page ad in our

local paper....(maybe others have seen it too)

The caption brags....XXXXXXXXXXX.....We catch the criminals.... with that

braggart caption is a picture of a dog...pick the breed...I think it was a

Rottweiler...anyways..

it was bearing its teeth...I think a badge was flung in the pix for good

measure/impact also. It realllllllllllllllllllly tee'd me off

First...No...They dont catch the criminals...They take the alarm...then,

depending on who is working that alarm...will call

us...etc...blahblahblah...you know the story, no need to elaborate....

No Virginia...You dont catch the criminals...the Cops do, and that is

sometimes. And, as we all know...there can be many,many minutes in delay on

us receiving the call from the company...etc. We are all familar with the

stats of true captures...true breaking and enterings...etc. Funny to me

also...in our affluent neighborhoods...where crime is low anyways...or near

nil, almost all of them have alarm systems. I am sure that XXXXX company

brags on that when they do their hard sell. The public outta call (just

kidding) their local jurisdictions to get the truth on that. Just kidding

again...who needs that...but, just venting here.

I would never own a alarm system, personally. My opinion only...and you know

what they say about that...LOL

Cin in good ole Ohio

happy day..be safe

Pray for our troops~

[Guest guest]

--- " Diane M. Gagnon " wrote:

> Besides, in addition to

> intrusion alarms, we have fire alarms, " blue light "

> alarms (call boxes on our

> pedestrian walkways) and panic buttons in certain

> offices.

Fire alarms and panic alarms ARE emergencies--and we

respond to ALL panic alarms regardless of the

citizen's license status. (I imagine the fire dept

responds to all fire alarms, too.) However, the

burglary of an unoccupied residence is NOT a life or

death emergency, and when you consider that most

intrusion alarms are false, well, it just becomes a

waste of time to go to them all. Especially when it

keeps officers from going to real calls.

=====

Kim

I make a difference

Tulsa, OK

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

--- Bob Larimer wrote:

>

> But then I have also called my local 911 center's

> non emergency number and

> given them emergency information (1 wife, 1 vicious

> dog, 2 helpless cats, 1

> freakin big fish, brief medical history, and my cell

> # which is always on)

> so they can add that to their database. So I guess

> I may be the exception

> to the rule - I doubt the average citizen does all

> that...

I don't think we have a database for that.

Interesting idea, though.

1 freakin big fish, huh? At least it's not a

snake--most officers seem to be afraid of those.

=====

Kim

I make a difference

Tulsa, OK

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

>I just think there's a liability

with refusing to respond to a request for service, even if it comes from an

alarm company.

>Several years ago we had an officer who responded to a alarm that went off

several times a week. He walked up to the house (for the hundredth time),

started his perimeter search and then screamed for back up. It was a

burglary in progress with three armed suspects.

It's a perfect example of the " hundredth call syndrome " .<

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It's also a very good example of an irresponsible home owner

and alarm company putting an Officers life in danger.

If your department would have had an alarm policy, like others

have talked about here... it probably would have not happened.

I'm not against responding... But I'm certainly for policies that

require the homeowners, businesses and alarm companies

to be responsible.

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

--- Amber Steinfort

wrote:

> How would you know the residence is unoccupied? I

> don't see how you could not

> respond to burglar alarms at a residence...business

> yes, I can understand

> that, but a residence?

>

> Maybe it's a " real " alarm and they don't answer the

> phone bc they are laying

> on the floor beaten and bloody...dying....at that

> point, who gives a flying

> #$* & if they paid a " license fee " ...do you refuse

> medical calls for drug

> addicts that overdose?

We don't do medical dispatching, so I can't answer

that question.

You have to draw the line somewhere. Most of the time

when an alarm goes off and there is someone there (and

it wasn't accidentally set off) the person there will

either call 9-1-1 or tell the alarm company to send

police. Most people who have alarms only set them

when they are away. Most burglars prefer an

unoccupied house.

>

> Burglaries of residence are a much more serious

> class of criminal

> offense..and many time are life threatening. In

> fact, my state requires that

> all convicted burglars give a DNA sample bc many go

> on to commit rapes and/or

> murders...burglary was just a starting point for

> them.

Just because most serious criminals (rapists,

murderers) start out with burglary, doesn't mean all

burglars become serious criminals.

>

>

> how do you know it's a real call until you get

> there?

There is no way of knowing this, unless you are God.

However, if a person took the time to dial 9-1-1 and

answer questions (even if they didn't answer them

truthfully in order to get a faster response) then

something is most likely going on. However, an alarm

going off is not that.

There is a mistaken belief that burglar alarms are the

equivalent of a 9-1-1 call. This is just not so. A

burglar alarm does not equal an emergency. PEOPLE

have emergencies, not alarms.

=====

Kim

I make a difference

Tulsa, OK

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

> well, I hope you are never in a situation where you

> legitimately cannot

> verbally communicate your need for

> assistance....signals, SOS, alarms,

> holding your throat while turning blue bc your

> choking on a chicken bone,

> etc...I'd like to see the law that states you can

> only report emergencies by

> dialing 911 (most of our life and death emergencies

> come in on a business

> line, not 911-or via alarm)........

As I said, there is a difference between panic alarms

(which all medic alert, etc are considered) and

burglar alarms.

An alarm is a convenience provided by a private

company who has no right to guarantee police response.

If it were provided by the police department or the

PD offered to have it hooked directly to their 9-1-1

system, that would be different. But, it is not.

Panic alarms, fire alarms and medical alarms should

always be responded to.

You also have to take into consideration that

municipalites all across the country have similar laws

about alarm responses and no one is complaining. If

it were as much of a problem as you make it out to be,

there would have been a hew and cry already. So,

obviously it is not a problem.

Of course, I am probably not going to change your

mind, so we should probably agree to disagree on this one.

=====

Kim

I make a difference

Tulsa, OK

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

> PEOPLE have emergencies, not alarms.

True...but alarms may indicate that an emergency exist.