being charged for false alarm?
 

so long story short (kind of), gf was on her way home from work when she got a call from the alarm company saying her house alarm is going off. the company said the motion sensor was triggered from her bedroom (two story house in a nice part of Surrey).

they basically told her that they could call the police for her to attend the house, BUT if it was a false alarm then the police would charge her. so, she decided not to have the police called thinking it could have been something that just fell to the floor and triggering the alarm and was scared of being charged by the police for a false alarm.

this doesn't sound right at all to me. why would the police charge a person for a false home alarm? my girlfriend isn't a big girl and doesn't know any self defense, so she was pretty scared to go home.

if that were me, i would want the police to attend. you don't know 100% if it's a false alarm. what if it wasn't a false alarm and she was attacked.

is this common practice to charge a person for having a LEO attend a home alarm call and turning out to be nothing but a falling object? what could the charge be? causing a disturbance? mischief under or to a dwelling house?

something tells me they meant a dollar figure and not a criminal charge... LOL

Awesome.

Misunderstandings.

Your girlfriend needs a better home security company!! Not just a monitoring company... kinda useless.

according to my friend, who works at a security company (basically the same position as the guy that made the phone call to your gf) anyways you get 1 free false alarm a year after that you will be charged a fee.

I lol'd

Seeing that 99.9% of alarms are false, often due to user screwups or something like pets or wind triggering motion detectors, Police are tired of wasting resources on false alarms. Most municiplaities will fine you for fales alarms if the Police attend. Some have a threshold of a certain number of free false alarms, then an escalating fine that compounds each new time.

gf said the alarm company told her that the police would charge her. so I guess they meant a dollar figure.

so you would actually get a ticket from the attending LEO?

what's the point of having an alarm then? :haha:

I think I would just get a big dog and call it a day.

It's the same thing as the fire department. You call in a false alarm, they charge you something like $50 for the attendance. You don't get a ticket, I don't even know why you or she would think that.

The municipality would likely get the bylaw folks to give her a ticket or it could be added to the property taxes for the year and collected that way. The attending Police would not issue a VT.

well how did your gf know the alarm was going off? oh ya, the company called her. because that's what they are supposed to do. the police aren't a personal security service to check on whatever you want. your house, your responsibility. there's a huge difference between a single motion sensor triggered or a front door and multiple motion sensors.

neighbours and friends can get there about well before the police ever arrives. or you can hire a guard service. 99.9% of all alarms are false. especially anything during the day. OR you man up and suck up a fine IF it's false.

most municipalities don't even attend alarms during the day. it's designed to cut down on the bullshit. i know almost no municipalities attend commercial alarms during the day short of panic/hold up alarms. why? because people are stupid and it's more cost effective to bet that it's a mistake as opposed to a real alarm, every time.

you're obviously the type to jump the gun. and too stupid to call the security company back for an explanation. so i imagine you'd be the first to shit on how much resources the police waste if you realized how much man hours was wasted on this.

btw: you really are an idiot if you think leaving a big dog at home by itself all day is a security system. as a dog person and a person in security your statements are complete fail.

Usually, most residential break & enters happen between 9am-5pm during daylight hours when residents aren't home. At least that's the recorded stats from my municipality.

^^ true. my house was broken into during the day as well... and i got an alarm installed after it was broken into. i understand that its not the popo's job so babysit my house, but when someone calls and reports and break-in, it is their responsibility to go an investigate. i know they would rather sunbathe at a speed trap, but it doesnt take much effort to get in the car, drive down to the house, and see if there are any doors kicked in/windows broken...

depends on which muni you live in and what's the bylaw.

I was taken to the emergency by ambulance
and they too charge $50
mind you that is hugely subsidize already . If I don't have medical , the cost will be somewhere in the $600

Your girlfriend's family should be talking to customer service to clarify policy and procedures about the incident.

Over the years, the patchwork of different detachments and municipalities in Metro Vancouver were tired of attending alarms call which were most of the time false. They were cutting into other response times for other priorities so different cities had different bylaws in place to create a reduction of calls for false alarms.

Example:http://vancouver.ca/police/media/lin...%20SERVICE.pdf

If a PC does attend a call and finds everything secure, an infraction is created and is billed by the city to either the house or the alarm company which is shown in their next invoice. They wouldn't charge the homeowner mischief or causing a disturbance but overtime more alarms usually means more $$$ out of your pockets (if they keep attending for false alarms).

well, let's see... my gf is not in LE and "many" people pay fines through tickets. So if I am wrong, then I admit I am wrong.

Thanks ZT. Learned some stuff.

I don't have an alarm, so I do not have experience with them nor do I know the procedures. I never claimed to be an expert in this subject. That's why I am asking here. You're the one that seems to be jumping the gun here and assuming things. Did I even mention anything negative about LEO's or resources? I was asking if this was common practice.

My statements are complete fail you say? Since you "seem" to know all about security and you're are a dog person, then you should know that studies have shown, that houses with dogs are less likely to be broken into than those that have no security system.

oh well, maybe you just woke up on the wrong side of the bed today :haha:

Thanks for this info. I will have my gf check with her alarm company about their policies in regards to this.