Detroit Police won't respond to most burglar alarms unless a crime has been verified by an alarm company

[Jenna]

The department says more than 98 percent of alarms its officers respond to are false. Under the new policy, an alarm company must verify that the alarm isn't false before contacting police.

More here: Detroit police to limit burglary alarm response - chicagotribune.com

[121Traffic]

That's nothing new really. Most decent sized cities around here are the same way for the most part. The time lapse is so significant that you aren't going to catch anyone off a burg alarm anyway. They spend 10 miutes trying to contact a property owner befire they call us. The exception for us is glass break alarms...those are reported by the alarm company within seconds.

[Xiphos]

That's awesome! Wish we did that. We're not the alarm company's bitch, checking their garbage for them. You go check your faulty wiring or your customer's stupid dog running around inside. If you actually find evidence of a crime, let us know. Outfreakingstanding!

[Five-0]

That's awesome! Wish we did that. We're not the alarm company's bitch, checking their garbage for them. You go check your faulty wiring or your customer's stupid dog running around inside. If you actually find evidence of a crime, let us know. Outfreakingstanding!

Agree. During really bad thunderstorms, like the ones that pop up out of nowhere in the hot Southern summers, the thunder is so bad it rattles windows. This rattling causes the glass break sensors to go crazy. We get alarm after alarm until the Lt usually gets on the radio and tells dispatch to hold them because of the storms.

[Cidp24]

2942 alarms since this date last year. Less than 10 were actual burglaries. I agree with the policy.

[jmur5074]

I agree with it.

We have a different but similar policy.


After 4 false alarms in a 12 month period, we stop responding until the business/resident sends us a letter explaining what caused each false alarm, and what they did to remedy the situation.

Often times people take the certified letter we send them and forget about it, thus we never go back. Or they actually do fix the problem.

[Jks9199]

That's awesome! Wish we did that. We're not the alarm company's bitch, checking their garbage for them. You go check your faulty wiring or your customer's stupid dog running around inside. If you actually find evidence of a crime, let us know. Outfreakingstanding!

This.

Of course, I also learned the hard way that the alarm companies sit on bank holdup alarms for a couple minutes. One happened to come out one day and I was right around the corner... Alarm company is reporting that the guy is exiting the bank, and going around back. So, there I am, gun out, and going "where the hell is the guy?"

[Jks9199]

Agree. During really bad thunderstorms, like the ones that pop up out of nowhere in the hot Southern summers, the thunder is so bad it rattles windows. This rattling causes the glass break sensors to go crazy. We get alarm after alarm until the Lt usually gets on the radio and tells dispatch to hold them because of the storms.

Not to mention all the power bumps setting off alarms... And the systems with bad batteries that go into alarm as soon as the power goes out.

[Bjohnson63]

Unfortunately, respond to all of them.

[Xiphos]

We have some jackass here who put the alarm on his fence at his business. We go 2 or 3 times a day. Someone needs to grow a spine and tell the guy we aren't responding anymore.

[pgg]

In my old area places were allowed two false alarms a year. After that the agency would start charging for false alarm responses.

[SPD]

After a certain number of false alarms in a certain time frame, we cite the business for excessive false alarms. $540 each time. Great motivator to get their alarm fixed.

[Pudge]

We go to them all, even in obvious weather related issues.

[Xiphos]

I stand corrected. As of now we are no longer responding to the fence alarms, only intrusion alarms at that business. Insane.

[MacLean]

I think it depends on how busy you are.

If you work in a small town, you have time to go check an alarm.

[Ducky]

I think it depends on how busy you are.

If you work in a small town, you have time to go check an alarm.

Depends on how small. I know of several departments that have less than 5 officers total to cover all shifts, but also have a good bit of service calls due to people misbehaving. A lot of times the officers barely have time to pee, let alone respond to BS alarm calls.

[MacLean]

Depends on how small. I know of several departments that have less than 5 officers total to cover all shifts, but also have a good bit of service calls due to people misbehaving. A lot of times the officers barely have time to pee, let alone respond to BS alarm calls.

24/7 ?

Sorry, that's situational.

Nobody doesn't understand holding an alarm call while you do business, but you are going to have plenty of down time just about everywhere that isn't big.

Yes, 99 times out of 100 it's a waste of time. I actually caught a burglar leaving a house. The odds of that are slim to none, but it wouldn't have happened at all if I didn't go.

You can fund the other 99 by fining the crap out of the second or third offense.