1	Verified Alarm Response Options City Council Briefing December 5, 2005
2	Prior Action / Review On July 21, 2005, the Commission on Productivity and Innovation received a briefing and approved recommendation of a Verified Response policy for burglar alarms to City Council On August 16, 2005, the City Council Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee was briefed On September 14, 2005, City Council authorized a public hearing to be held on October 12, 2005 by Resolution No. 05-2645 On September 28, 2005, the City Council authorized an amendment to Chapter 15C, 15D, 16, 17, 18 and 28 of the Dallas City to revise and establish various fees for City Services by Resolutions No. 05-2824 On October 12, 2005, a public hearing was held and taken under advisement until October 26, 2005 October 26, 2005, a public hearing was held
3	The Problem The Dallas Police Department received approximately 62,000 burglar alarm calls in 2004 Approximately 32,300 from residential permit sites, averaging approximately 0.56 per permit Approximately 29,700 from commercial permit sites, averaging approximately 2.0 per permit Of these calls, 97.2% (approximately 60,100) turned out to be false alarms Responding to these false alarms took approximately 47,000 police officer hours Using DPDs calculation of 4.4 hours of active work per 8 hour shift, that is 41 police officer FTEs at a cost of approximately $3.485 million in police time These statistics are not unusual, but are seen in police departments across the nation “The vast majority of alarm calls – between 94 and 98 percent – are false (higher in some jurisdictions)” (U.S. Department of Justice) In Dallas, 86% of the citizens and businesses do not have alarm permits; 14% have alarm permits
4	The Problem (Cont.) Responding to false alarms consumes a large amount of police officer time DPD and Special Collections are burdened with tracking false alarms, permits, billing, and the collections process DPD Alarm Unit consists of 2 Sergeants, 4 Senior Corporals, 1 Office Assistant, costing approximately $500,000 Special Collections has 3.6 FTEs for false alarm billing and collections, costing approximately $180,000
5	The Proposed Solution Verified response Police would not respond to a burglar alarm signal Police would be dispatched after an individual (the monitoring company, a witness, or private responder) has visually verified that a crime has or is occurring Alarm companies could use their own resources or private security guard responders to verify alarms Police would continue responding to human activated alarms (hold-up, panic, and duress alarms), as well as 911 calls
6	Objectives Reduce amount of time officers spend responding to false alarms Reduce response time to burglar alarm calls Reduce response time to higher priority police service needs Eliminate “subsidy” created by 86% of the citizens and businesses without alarms subsidizing alarm response for 14% that do Improve morale of police officers Reduce call volume for dispatchers
7	Option 1: Verified Response for Residential and Commercial Description Police would not respond to burglar alarm signals for residential or commercial properties until they are verified by the monitoring company, a witness, or private responder, who has visually verified that an actual crime has or is occurring The police would continue responding to human activated alarms, such as hold-ups, panic, and duress, as well as 911 calls for police Permits, fees, and fines Annual Residential Alarm Permit Fee $0 Annual Commercial Alarm Permit Fee for Hold Up, Panic, Duress Alarms $100 False Hold Up, Panic, Duress Alarm Fines within a 12-month period Residential (no freebies) $100 each Commercial (no freebies) 1st call $100 2nd call $200 3rd call $300 4 or more $400 each Revocation of alarm permit after eight false alarms
8	Option 1: Verified Response for Residential and Commercial (cont.) Efficiencies Gained Implementation of Verified Response for both residential and commercial has been estimated to result in the equivalent gain of approximately 41 police officers ($3,485,000) plus an additional 4 FTEs in the Alarm Unit ($340,000) by no longer requiring these officers to respond to false alarms Financial Impact Projected Revenue from Permit Fees (Commercial only) $1,482,400 Projected Revenue from False Alarm Fines $806,800 Total Projected Annual Revenue $2,289,200 FY05-06 Budget $4,706,383 Option 1 would result in an annual estimated net revenue loss of $2,417,183 ($1,515,343 in FY05-06)
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12	Summary of Options