Security Industry News >> EMERgency24 Inc.

Douglas County, CO Sheriff Presents ECV Initiative on Jan, 23, 2008

Of note, Douglas County Sheriff's Office is hoping to pass an ordinance that is intended to decrease the number of false alarm calls they receive by following Enhanced Call Verification (ECV) procedures; establishing a fining system for false alarms; and requiring alarm companies to register each of their clients with the sheriff's office by paying $60 annually.

The proposed ordinance language further states, “Failure of an Alarm Installation Company to notify the Alarm Administrator of a new security Alarm System installation within seven (7) business days following installation shall result in a collection of a $100.00 fee from the Alarm Installation Company.”

Each alarm site would then have three complimentary false alarm responses before being placed on a "no response" status. It would then be up to the alarm owner to fix the problem and re-register for another $60.

"Our hope is that (the alarm company) would just absorb those costs in their business, rather than pass them on to the customer," Deputy Ron Hanavan said. 

The sheriff's office hopes require the alarm companies to try to make contact with the alarm owners to verify whether the alarm is legitimate or false before reporting the alarm with the sheriff's office. Two calls to verify the alarm are required.

Hanavan said the sheriff's office is looking for a 30 percent decrease in false alarms after implementing the ECV proposed ordinance.

According to Hanavan, the proposed ordinance is a phased approach that may be modified in years to come. The ordinance will be presented to county commissioners Jan. 23. If passed, the ordinance will go into effect 30 days after.

“The proposed ordinance provides an equitable solution to a difficult problem: Managing our law enforcement assets to allow us to provide superior law enforcement services," Hanavan said.

The current policy is to respond to three false alarms and send a letter notifying the alarm user to rectify the problem. After three more false alarms, the sheriff's office sends another letter saying they will no longer respond to the alarms until they have proof the problem has been rectified. But Hanavan said this policy has not been effective in decreasing the number of false alarms.

The sheriff's office claims the proposed ordinance will provide several immediate benefits:

*Registration will provide the sheriff's office with a database of alarm users in Douglas County

*Having an alarm user database will expedite law enforcement response by eliminating time consuming data entry at the time of the first alarm

*The ECV element of the ordinance will reduce demands on law enforcement resources

*Revenue generated by the registration fee will fund additional law enforcement resources to meet the demand

"This is a phased approach, and we believe over the next few years we can implement the most effective ordinance, once we have established the data and can react appropriately to the problem users," Hanavan said. "We know that this is a great start; however, in the next few years we may have to re-evaluate it."

The sheriff's office is holding public meetings to inform the public about the proposed ordinance. The next meeting is scheduled from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Recreation Center at Eastridge, 9568 S. University Blvd. in Highlands Ranch.