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DIY FROM ONE POLICE OFFICER'S PERSPECTIVE
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Ken,
    I was encouraged by one of your readers to respond to the DIY debate so here goes.
    It seems to me that the battle is from within the industry itself with a lot of finger pointing.  After all this is America and if you can build a mouse trap (good or bad) and find someone willing to pay you for it, you’re in business.  The interesting thing to me is the fact that somebody in the industry has to manufacture the DIY products, well known and respected central stations are monitoring the DIY products and I know some traditional alarm companies have been selling all in one pre-programmed wireless panels (i.e. Lynx, Simon) out the back door for years.   
    I get the fact that there are a lot of installation companies out there that take pride in their work and craftsmanship, but the DIY buyer was probably not in their customer base to begin with.  The funniest / saddest DIY customer situation I have come across so far was a husband and wife “hoarders” who installed a DIY because a regular alarm company could not / would not go into their property.  Do you know anybody that is knowingly marketing alarm systems to hoarders? 
    The other growing group of DIY customers is apartment dwellers that could not get a standard pro system because they do not own their residence or can not sign for an extended 3+ year RMR contract.  Is a traditional security company losing customers because a DIY is marketing to this transient population?  I’ve dealt with traditional alarm companies who had their sales people lie on the contract to get their commission paid because they sold a 3 year contract system to an apartment renter hidden as a “condo owner” that moved out in 6 months.  Where is the RMR or ROI for the traditional alarm company on that deal?
    In Phoenix we do not have a specific enforcement code just for the DIY, we treat them the same as all alarm systems.  The standard method of false alarm reduction is to fine the abuser.  I have heard discussion that some jurisdictions may try to discourage the DIY by not giving them a free first or second false alarm.  The financial pain method for reducing false alarms crosses over on both sides of the debate.  For the money conscious DIY people, they seem to be more averse to paying extra for false alarms and are more likely to stop using the alarm or at least stop having PD dispatched.  On the other end of the spectrum, commercial accounts with complicated pro systems treat the false alarm fees as just the cost of doing business, no big deal, it is a line item on a budget sheet and they let the false alarms runaway because they get a real cop to drive by instead of paying a security service.  Who is more of a pain for the PD?
    In Phoenix we require inspections of any alarm system with 10 or more false alarms in the past 365 days.  That includes DIY or proprietor systems.  I am yet to have a DIY on my inspection list for excessive false alarms.  99% of my work is inspecting pro installed commercial accounts.  The occasional residential inspection is usually due to false alarms caused by construction, realtors or vacant properties. 
    The biggest problem we have had with the DIY pro monitored alarms has been systems that keep getting relocated by the owner and they don’t update the address with the central station.  Case in point, I had a home builder “house flipping” with four DIY pro monitored alarm systems that he used during construction and he lost track of which system was where as he flipped from house to house.  PD was getting dispatched to the old address where the alarm used to be and officers were confronting the new home owners, sometimes at gunpoint.  Imagine their surprise when officers remove them from the house they own, search it and try to sort out why they are inside the residence that, according to the information we got from the professional monitoring center, is not their house.  In today’s political environment towards cops a confrontation like this can turn into a real bad situation pretty fast if the new homeowner is not inclined to cooperate with PD and is acting like an uncooperative “suspect” by not following verbal commands. 
    Remember, the officer was dispatched to an alarm activation and has no idea what the legal standing is of the person(s) they find at the residence.  Not everybody is willing to do what a police officer tells them to do, especially if they are legally inside their own home and in their mind they are defending their right to be inside the house they own.  Maybe they left the door unlocked and the officer finds them standing in the house holding a knife because they were preparing dinner.  Sometimes you just have a really bad day.  I hate to say it, but it seems inevitable that someday we will find out just how good your DIY monitoring contract is at protecting the central monitoring station if this goes really bad and someone gets killed.
    Thanks,
Detective H.W."Robbie" Robinson #5002
Phoenix Police Code Enforcement Unit, Alarm Inspections
Phoenix, Az
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RESPONSE
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    I appreciate your participation on this forum; I encourage you to send in your thoughts.  Thanks
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CENTRAL STATION RESPONSE - DANGEROUS VERIFICATION PROCEDURES
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Ken,
    I use a 3rd party monitoring center.  I have instructed them to NEVER call the premise or the call list in the event of a Hold Up Alarm (commercial accounts), panic alarms (for residential) or a duress alarm.  They have honored this without exception.
    However I have some rural upstate central dispatch centers that call the premise on a hold up alarm and one that did it on a duress (hostage at keypad disarming) alarm to “verify” the alarm and check on the wellbeing before dispatching officers.  As a former reserve police officer of 15 years this is causing me to go ballistic.  It’s asking for a disaster when a dangerous situation becomes even more dangerous because of the central station's actions. 
    How do you recommend I get these centers to NOT call my customers on a life safety alarm, but if they wish to verify burg alarms to do so??
    Thanks for your input.
BS
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RESPONSE
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    If your central station can't, won't or doesn't comply with accepted industry response procedures then you need to get a new central station.  Check out The Alarm Exchange [if any of them on the Exchange don't properly monitor then they need to be identified and taken off The Alarm Exchange.  There is no ECV [electronic call verification - calling on telephone] for hold up, panic or duress.  If these centrals are government agencies that you are required to use in a municipality then you might want to try Video verification; that won't require a call to the premises.      I just installed the DragonFly video system in my home.  Not fully activated yet so I'll keep you posted.  To become a DragonFly dealer contact Bart Didden at bdidden@usacs.net or 877 872 1266.
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