Police Response Time - Home Alarms/Robberies (Sugar Land: cul-de-sac, live in)

[ethanw]

Thanks for taking the time to describe how his works. This is a brand new neighborhood with 50 houses so we may be able to take it with HOA and maybe get some private service....

Originally Posted by rb4browns

Not sure how it works in FB, but in Harris County the constable dept. serves a number of functions that the HPD may or may not handle in a given part of the city (process serving, traffic control, etc.) The Constable dept. also contracts out to HOA's providing contract patrol. So for example in my neighborhood, we have an almost constant law enforcement presence by at least one constable, paid for out of our HOA dues. They are sworn peace officers, so they are better than private armed security because they can do traffic stops, etc. Because the residents of my HOA are truly the "customer" of the Constable, they are very service oriented. It's a level of local policing that the HPD just can't provide. And since we are paying for the services through an HOA dues funded contract, there is never any charge for things like alarm calls, vacation watch, etc.

[predatorprey]

I've seen fort bend sheriffs units respond in minutes in force for emergency situations. Like someone said they prioritize calls.

I worked IT for many years and the #1 help request are password resets. I would imagine for police departments it would be responding to false alarms or potential ones.

[TheEconomist]

Originally Posted by rb4browns

That being said, there really is no way for a PD to guarantee response times. It's a factor of prioritized calls, efficiency of the department, available resources, etc.

LOL. Come on man, just admit that a 50 minute response time is bad. You don't have to be an apologist every time. But, you're right, we do have to take account of available resources, like the amount of donuts to be consumed before going on a call. HAHA.

[crone]

When our alarm went off the company called HCSO. They came out 5 hours later. My next door neighbor's alarm went off, she was out of town. She called me immediately, could not have been more than 1 minutes after the alarm co. notified her. The Constable''s car was already in front of her house. Harris County has a different sheriff now so it may be different. Everybody I know prefers the Constable for patrolling subdivisions.

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by crone

When our alarm went off the company called HCSO. They came out 5 hours later. My next door neighbor's alarm went off, she was out of town. She called me immediately, could not have been more than 1 minutes after the alarm co. notified her. The Constable''s car was already in front of her house. Harris County has a different sheriff now so it may be different. Everybody I know prefers the Constable for patrolling subdivisions.

If you have constables in your subdivision, do they automatically come over when you call 911, or is there a direct line to them?

[rb4browns]

Originally Posted by TheEconomist

LOL. Come on man, just admit that a 50 minute response time is bad. You don't have to be an apologist every time. But, you're right, we do have to take account of available resources, like the amount of donuts to be consumed before going on a call. HAHA.

Here we go again. Turn off the computer, go take your meds and ask the nurse to take you for a walk outside. It's a beautiful, sunny day and you could use the fresh air.

[crone]

We are not directly wired to police and fire like in Dallas. Our alarm company has to call the law. Some call the sheriff, some call the constable. I guess the customer decides which they want called.
I called 911 when DH had a stroke and fell 12 feet off of a ladder and broke a bunch of bones. The sheriffs came along with the EMT's.

[DrLizardo]

Most of the alarm companies use commercials that have imagery that makes it look like your burglar alarm going off is the most important thing in the world to everyone concerned. It only goes off when some bad guy is breaking in to threaten your family, the alarm always scares him away, and the cops are there in seconds.

The reality is that around 97-99% of police responses to burglar alarm calls are found to be false alarms. A report that came out a few years ago showed that many Texas police departments reported that the highest percentage of their calls for service were responding to false alarms.

Many police departments across the country require registration fees for alarm systems, and/or fine owners of systems that repeatedly send false alerts - all in an effort to reduce false alarms and defray some of the costs in wasted time. (Houston PD loses more than $9 Million / year in responding to false alarms).

If a human being calls and says, "I see somebody breaking in right now", you will get a rapid response. But nobody is getting excited about another lying alarm system.

[crone]

Thanks DrLizardo. Makes perfect sense. Long time ago, there was a $100 charge for a response to a false alarm.

[ethanw]

And to make matters worse in terms of credibility, before heading out of the country for almost a month in vacation I subscribed for the SLPD House Watch program (see link). After carefully reviewing my CCTV footage I never seen one SLPD Officer, but once patrolling my house. Way to go SLPD...you sure got my trust now...

Sugar Land Police Department - House Watch Information and Online Registration (http://www.sugarlandtx.gov/police/services/programs/house_watch.asp - broken link)