City of Atlanta instituting a penalty system for false burglar alarms.

[atlantagreg30127]

Well, I live in Cobb. I have neighbors who have kids who "forgot" how to use the system properly and were constantly setting off false alarms. After they started getting fined for it, suddenly, their kid's memories have got A LOT better. Just saying.

And lucky enough to live about 5 blocks from a police station and on average our response time is 2-3 minutes on an average day. Some alarm companies will allow you to skip a step... instead of them calling your home when the alarm goes off, they immediately call the police instead. This will greatly increase the response time to your home, but also increase your chances of paying a fine since you have less time to call them and go "oops, that was me", too. Your choice.

[red92s]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Well, I live in Cobb. I have neighbors who have kids who "forgot" how to use the system properly and were constantly setting off false alarms. After they started getting fined for it, suddenly, their kid's memories have got A LOT better. Just saying.

And lucky enough to live about 5 blocks from a police station and on average our response time is 2-3 minutes on an average day. Some alarm companies will allow you to skip a step... instead of them calling your home when the alarm goes off, they immediately call the police instead. This will greatly increase the response time to your home, but also increase your chances of paying a fine since you have less time to call them and go "oops, that was me", too. Your choice.

Under Atlanta's new policy, they will only dispatch once the monitoring company has attempted to contact 2 people from the account.

[ericsonga]

I don't know about COA, but I do know that Gwinnett has had a very similar policy for years.

[Atlskyline]

Does anyone know what happens if you don't pay the fines? The letter says they'll turn over to collection. Can you negotiate a settlement?
I have a client who owes them over $3000 mostly late fees of over 50%! He had 7 false alarms, first free, 2nd $50, 3rd $100, 4th $200, 7th, $500! The property manager and the contractors had given the wrong number or something so they dispatched every time.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Atlskyline

Does anyone know what happens if you don't pay the fines? The letter says they'll turn over to collection. Can you negotiate a settlement?
I have a client who owes them over $3000 mostly late fees of over 50%! He had 7 false alarms, first free, 2nd $50, 3rd $100, 4th $200, 7th, $500! The property manager and the contractors had given the wrong number or something so they dispatched every time.

I'd recommend getting their city councilperson involved.

[Nast]

Reminder - the deadline to register your security system is February 1st.

[neil0311]

Cobb has had a registration requirement and fines for false alarms since 2009.

False Alarm Home

I have an alarm and I've never had a false alarm that required the cops. If our alarm goes off by accident, the alarm company will call and ask for the safe word. As long as we provide it in a non-suspicious way, they do not call the police.

[LovelySummer]

Atlanta in unincorporated Fulton County already does. Has for years.b

Originally Posted by stan4

Lots of cities do this already.
Ours does it. AND you have to pay a registration fee to the city every year.

Still took 45 minutes for the cops to show up to ours.

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by Nast

Reminder - the deadline to register your security system is February 1st.

Thanks for the heads up. Looks like January is going to be one of the busiest months ever for me.

To be honest, I don't totally get why I have to do this. The first place called is the alarm company in most cases and not the police, true? Maybe I'm mistaken. Why should I have to add an extra layer of alert? I simply do not see how that will reduce false alarms.