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QUESTION
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Ken,
Thank you for all your help with producing my contracts, answering my calls, and your wonderful news letter you take so much time to produce. You really provide an invaluable service to all of us in the security industry. With your news letter in mind I have two questions for you:
1. If an employee or family member does not want an alarm system for whatever reason(typically financial reasons) but they would like me to give them a yard sign or stickers for their windows. Can I do this as a favor without having liability if the person has a break in?
2. I have a commercial customer who purchased an Burglar Alarm System from us and would like in addition to this purchase for us to install “FAKE” cameras so that their employees think they are being monitored but are not. The reason they do not want to install real camera’s are because they can not afford to do so. If we install the camera’s do we have liability for the fact they are fake? Does it make a difference if the customer purchases them and our technician installs them?
Sincerely,
Lee Barnes
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ANSWER:
Providing yard signs and decals to home owners will not expose you to much liability. It would be prudent to have a contract or at least Disclaimer Notice signed whereby the home owner acknowledged that no protection was being installed. Your exposure may come from a third party on the premises who relies upon the fake security. Not a likely scenario.
Dummy equipment in a commercial premises is different. You don't know who is going to be on the premises and who is going to rely on the security.
I did an article on this topic which is posted on my web site- where you can find most of my email articles. Go to http://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/earticle80.htm.
My prior response to this issue is still my opinion. Here it is:
Answer:
The issue is how does dummy equipment mislead subscribers or other
potential third parties into a false sense of security. A false sense of
security relied upon by another who has a right to rely on that security
may very well expose a party responsible for security. Thus a landlord in
a building known to be dangerous who installs dummy CCTV in the laundry
room to entice tenants to continue using the machines so that landlord can
profit or comply with lease terms for services, may suffer consequences of
liability if a tenant is injury and thought that a guard was watching the
CCTV.
If you install dummy equipment, and I don't recommend it, you should be
certain to specify that in the contract and installation specifications.
Using the new Disclaimer Notice is also a good idea since it will point out
all the security the subscriber has elected not to get. Add the dummy
equipment on that form. Get your contract forms at www.alarmcontracts.com
I thought we had a great deal of emails dealing with lawn signs for
homes with no alarm systems. I think everyone agreed that it's not a good
practice from a security point of view, or a business point of view. You
want to be thought of as a professional; you need to act like one. I can't
imagine a client coming to me, paying me, and telling me it's alright for
me to advise only half the information or the wrong information. Same goes
for you. Professional alarm installers don't sell alarm stickers instead
of security systems, and they don't install dummy equipment. If the
subscriber can't afford a system then put a more modest system in. If you
do install dummy equipment be certain to spell it out in the contract.
Maybe I will have a new paragraph heading called Additional Terms for
Dummies.
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