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Seattle Cops Try to Avoid False Auto Dialer Burglary Calls

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October 20, 2010

Seattle Cops Try to Avoid False Auto Dialer Burglary Calls

By David Sims, TMCnet Contributing Editor


Here’s a question that was posedrecently: Do Seattle police still rush respond to house security alarms? The answer will reassure Seattle residents: “Yes, depending on what happens before the alarm is reported.”


Let the Seattle city government explain:

If someone in the home pushes the panic button, officers will be dispatched immediately to an active burglary call. Seattle Police’s Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said: “If a burglary alarm is sounded and a home-monitoring company such as ADT makes two calls trying to verify the alarm's validity, police say officers will respond as though it's an active burglary.”

But here’s where it gets tricky: A company reporting a burglary or intrusion alarm that hasn't made two phone calls attempting to verify the validity of the alarm “won't have their call accepted. They will be told to make the two phone calls, then call back,” Seattle police said.

Why? That policy was started on Jan. 1, 2009, to reduce false alarm responses: “False alarms cost the city an estimated $1.2 million in 2007 and took the equivalent of 12 full-time patrol officers off the street, according to city data,” the police said.

The problem was actually addressed long before that. On Jan. 1, 2004, the city’s website explained, the City of Seattle adopted an ordinance to help reduce false alarm response to automated burglar alarms: “Prior to 2004, the Seattle Police Department responded to an average of 25,000 alarm calls a year. Currently, we respond to almost 15,000 alarm calls a year.”

Almost 98 percent of these alarms are false, sending officers away from areas that they are needed to locations that do not require an emergency police response, city officials say, adding that we’re talking a real problem here: “This cost to the city is approximately $1.2 million in 2007 and effectively took 12 full time patrol officers off the street.”

So to provide better police service, the Seattle Police Department needs to further reduce responses to events where police services are not needed.


David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Jaclyn Allard







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