KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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more on false alarms, fines, mpers false alarms, what can alarm industry do
September 15, 2017
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more on false alarms, fines, mpers false alarms, what can alarm industry do / follow up on Sept 7 2017 article
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Ken,
This is for Detective Robinson regarding his suggestion for MPERS in the September 7 2017 article :
Robbie, ...... just like Maxwell Smart, agent 86. In the TV series "Get Smart"
" YOU MISSED IT BY *** THAT MUCH *** !
Why not apply your suggested process for MPERS false dispatches to ALL dispatches?
You just have to make a tiny shift in thinking about the over all false dispatch problem to grasp it but ....... it would work. And it has worked for many years in places and has totally reduced false dispatches to a level that police will respond willingly and work hand in hand with Central Stations and alarm companies controlling crime. I believe it might also finally allow false dispatches to be quantified instead of using the mythical 98% false dispatch rate that plagues us now.
The good guys stay monitored with good police response and others without monitoring get the type of response that everyone gets now .... that is ..... response, if it's available or convenient ..... if at all.
The Central Stations are the key to the false dispatch problem if they would only step up and take the lead ..... I would guess that CSAA has the means but not the courage to institute this as a standard in the monitoring trade. I don't know anything about that organization but I naturally categorize organizations that exist with out any show of worth, in the same category as The National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association ( Presently using the alias ESA to disassociate itself from it horrendous past of doing nothing for the trade and working alarm companies for decades)
Gene
Reliable Alarm
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Response
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I don't like it but it's obvious that AHJs equate money revenue generation scheme with crowd control for the populace. False alarm fines pale in comparison to the red light and speed cameras installed in many municipalities. Studies are now surfacing that maybe the red lights are not a traffic accident deterrent; just a money raising opportunity and sadly, for the municipality, is seeing less revenue as drivers adjust to the cameras.
If AHJs think fines are the answer, then why shouldn't the alarm industry get out in front of that idea and start charging their customers for false alarms. Not just false alarms, all alarms. And, not just all alarms, but every call made to the central station. I haven't asked any of my central station clients to check but I am sure they get thousands of calls a day. Someone needs to design software to charge the calling number. Actually someone wrote in that the numbers should be programmed to a 900 number, not 800 number.
Not that you hire me for marketing advice, but you could charge less for monthly monitoring if you are going to pick up money per call, and it would be the "false alarm offenders" footing the lion's share of the extra revenue.
You may not like this idea, or any idea regarding false alarm fines, but the fines are a reality and not likely to go away. It's an easy way for AHJs to collect revenue, and until they figure out how to assess the real property where the alarms are installed as a government lien against property with priority of real estate taxes, the AHJs are going to look to the easiest link, and that's the central station calling in the alarm [though I think the property owner would be a better candidate for the fine - but that won't work for the mpers accounts]. Central stations are of course going to pass the fine on to the dealer, who in turn is going to pass it down to the subscriber, so it eventually gets to where is should be. Maybe all we need to do is add a surcharge to the AHJ fine. The AHJ fine is already going to be a sore spot for the subscriber, may as well add salt to the wound.
I'd like to see comments on Robbie's comments regarding mpers false alarms. Is it really a problem? I can see in home pers systems causing false alarms, but how does someone carrying around their smart phone cause a false alarm by activating the distress signal. Presumably the central station is going to talk to the person before dispatching. Anyone have comment on this issue?
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
516 747 6700
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com