A Homeowner’s Alarming Tale

We have always felt very safe having a monitored alarm system in our home. Within seconds the alarm company calls the police in the event of an alarm. We pay for this service through the alarm company and then, as required by law, pay $30 for a permit to the Police Department.

We were cited by the police for having two “false alarms,” and charged $172. This is when our inquiries to the Police Department got most informative. First of all, there was no proof that they were, in fact, false alarms. Most important, the response time by the police was more than two hours in each instance. I understand this is not a priority for the Police Department, but if the city wishes homeowners to pay for this service then the response time must enable protection if necessary.

In my correspondence I was first told 60 to 90 minutes is a reasonable response time. I later was told that three hours is within reason. I doubt that the general public is aware of this response time. Why should we pay for this service? It appears quite useless to me. We will either be dead or our house emptied of our possessions by the time the police arrive.

The most humorous bit of information we discovered was that we may attend “alarm school” to waive one false alarm. Am I missing something here? If the police come three hours after an incident and somehow determine it is a false alarm, we need to go to school . . . to learn what?

We are now anxiously awaiting a hearing with the Police Permit Review Panel to consider revocation of our alarm permit as a result of failing to submit a notice of defense in time. Please educate unsuspecting homeowners.