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REDUCING FALSE ALARM DISPATCHES
<br />Is Your
<br />and Increase
<br />Efficiencies?
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<br />y Wendy Makousky, WN lnter~~a~~anal Response and Glen Mowre , Chief De_ ~~~ ~ ~_ _ ._. _ ~ ~ f~ ~~r
<br />y p y ~Ret,~, Charlot~e~Mecklenburg, NC, PD; SIAC
<br />~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~e~~ ~~~ police Association ,~~ C '
<br />~ hiefs~,
<br />~~~ the ~~~~~~~~~ ~`~~~~ic Security and ~'echnolo
<br />~cia~~~ ~"~~ ~f.~`~'A~ ve formed gY
<br />~ an Alarm
<br />,Manage~~. ~mlftee fo held departments seek new
<br />ways to ,~~~~~ ~sfs and find additional revenue sources,
<br />Across t~e ~~~,~~~, law enforcement agencies are
<br />discoveri,~ ~ ~~ way of reslaondin to monitored
<br />g alarm
<br />systems ~~~ ~~e~~,~ rnmunifies that increases the olice
<br />de~partn~e~~ ~ ~ `sheriff's office ' ' p
<br />s effzcrenc~es and
<br />generates ~~~~~~~al revenue.
<br />The MN C~t;.~~~ ,.,t c~ ~=,~NESTA have partnered with the Securit
<br />y
<br />Industry ~ ~~-~ ~~~ ~ ~~lltian ~SIAC) to work with local governments
<br />and their ~~ rr ,~ ~ sir; ~-:~ rnent departments to assist in the
<br />r
<br />reduct~or ~~= ~~,; ~1~ ~~~~patches, Minnesota is one of 13 scat
<br />es
<br />that have an r'~~ f~.~; iT`; r l?nagement Committee, Work is bein
<br />done at the national level with the Natio g
<br />nil Sheriffs'Association
<br />NSA), the International Association of Chiefs of Police ~IACP), the
<br />international Gty and County Managers Association ~ICMA},and
<br />the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials,
<br />International MAPCO} to assist with the reduction of false alarms
<br />dispatches,
<br />MN ChrefsAlarm Management Committee chair, Saint Peter
<br />Police Chief Matt Peters states; "The public continues to demand
<br />higher levels of security~for their homes as well as businesses, As
<br />we see this increase in the number of alarms installed by the
<br />public, we also tend to see more false alarms. In these da s of
<br />dwindling resoufces, workin coo erativ y
<br />g p ely Mth the alarm
<br />industry is essential, A successful alarm ordinance can help
<br />reduce operating costs because you will see the reduction of
<br />false alarm dispatches, An ordinance can be fashioned to
<br />suspend police response to alarm abusers or in other cases allow
<br />for cost recovery! This reduction offalse alarms is also a serious
<br />safety issue for responding street cops, Once false alarms are
<br />reduced they now know they are responding to the real deal,
<br />This certainly wrll lessen responding officer complacent
<br />Y
<br />As discussed in an earlier Minnesota police Chiefarticle, the
<br />committee formulated a resolution which jointly supported
<br />Enhanced Call Verification ECV}, ECV requires alarm tom anies
<br />to attempt to veri an alarm b call' p
<br />fY y ing the site and the alarm
<br />user by telephone to determine whether an alarm signal is valid
<br />before requesting dispatch, Telephone verification shalt re wire
<br />as a rnin~mum, that a second call be mad q r
<br />e to a different number,
<br />ifthe first attempt fails to reach an alarm user who can ro erl
<br />identify themselves in an ahem t to p p y
<br />p determinewhetheran
<br />alarm signal is valid, except in the case of apanic orrobber -in-
<br />progressalarm, or incases where acrime-i - y
<br />n progress has been
<br />verified by video and/or audible means, In jurisdictions where
<br />ECV has been implemented, up tosixty-percent sustained
<br />reductions have been realized, N1N Chiefs and MNESTA assed
<br />the resolution at their membershi me p
<br />the NS p et+n9s, Both the IACP and
<br />A have passed ECV resolutions,
<br />The committee's next step was to develop a model Alarm
<br />Ordinance, Asa guide, thecommittee used a model ordinance
<br />jointly developed by the IACP's Private Sector Liaison Committee
<br />and the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association ~BNFAA},The
<br />committee's recommended ordinance which included
<br />registration guidelines, a graduated fine structure, new
<br />equipment standards,suspension of response to chronic abusers
<br />Fall 2009
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