Skip to main content

False Alarms in Philadelphia

We are in Philadelphia this weekend and there will be much more about what brought us here in a few days. Even while traveling, I can't forget my day job though.  It is fun for me to compare how different jurisdictions handle the false alarm issue. 
It appears that there has been some form of legislation for burglar alarm systems as far back as 1993 in Philadelphia, but it had not been as effective as desired.  In 2008, the city council passed a resolution authorizing a study of the false alarm problem. The resolution states that in 2006 there were 90,373 false alarms and in 2007, there were 92,281.  That is quite a few--averaging out to almost 253 per day or about one every 6 minutes.  This study appears to have led to code updates. A synopsis of the updates and the required registration form are located here.

A quick search found these facts on burglar alarm systems in Philadelphia:  

  • Annual registration is $50
  • Two "free" alarms per year
  • False Alarm charge is $75/alarm
  • Unregistered systems receive a $150-$300 additional charge per alarm
  • Enforced by the Department of Finance, Code Unit.
Does this make your ordinance seem better or worse?

This data is presented for informational purposes only. Residents must check with the government in their jurisdiction to determine what the current legislation is and what requirements must be met. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the web. I look forward to reading what you have to say!

Popular posts from this blog

CiteBlue

I have been enjoying participating in the MSU College of Law Social Media Contest . I have learned (and am still learning) a lot. Because of my activity, I have been able to connect with organizations and people that I would never have come across without social media. For this introvert, it has been like opening a whole new world. (I know, most people would never guess that I am an introvert; they probably just think that I am a snob. In social settings, I am a complete misfit, but put me in front of a classroom or conference room and I shine. It is strange, I know, but that is me. Perhaps we will dissect that in a different post). It has been interesting to see what posts attract followers. It has also been eye opening to figure out that followers also appear with an agenda--for example, some follow hoping to be followed in return to build their own group. This week, a company called CiteBlue "followed" me on Twitter. I wasn't familiar with the company, so I clicked o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Queen of the Dairy

Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year?  I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old.  Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived.  Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah?  When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity.  Maybe it felt so long  because  I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen.  My parents were teachers  and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone.  We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless. Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house.  I probably tried something different each time-...
2 comments
Read more

Default doesn't mean Permanent

My unit has been around for a number of years, so rarely do we create a new alarm company account as a result of receiving an unsolicited registration form.  These days, new alarm company accounts usually result from a citizen registering their alarm system and reporting an alarm company that is not in our database.  Of course, we aren’t going to let that alarm company do business in our county without being registered, so we create an account for the company and place it in pending status until they return all of the required forms.    Occasionally, I have been bothered by the fact that the status for a new alarm company account defaulted to "Registered" status and had to be manually changed to "Pending".  It made more sense to me that the default status should be "Pending". Tonight, I had a few minutes to investigate for a solution. While using  CryWolf®,   I have found solutions to be available if I take the time to look for them.  If you...
Post a Comment
Read more