posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9:19 AM
by
klehan
Out of Line Fine in Seattle
It seemed pretty clear that someone tired to break into James Forsher's Ballard neighborhood home in January. The door jam is nicked up with marks where someone tried to pry it open. The burglar's boot marks blackened Forsher's back door, and the Brinks security system was making an unfamiliar and frightening sound.
"The alarm was chirping. That means there was an attempted break-in," said Forsher.
But four months later, Brinks charged the Forshers $90 for a false alarm.
"If the police don't catch the people in the act, you could be charged with a false alarm and billed $90. Because that, in effect, is what's happening," said Forsher.
How did this happen?
The city has a false alarm law to make sure residents with faulty systems pay for tying up police officers. Brinks says Seattle Police sent them a bill for a false alarm fee and they were just passing the costs along. But, if Forsher obtained a police report, the company would waive the fee.
"So, we called the Seattle Police Department had them come and file a police report," said Forsher, who then sent the report to Brinks.
"They said you can't get it waived you still have to pay it," said Forsher.
But that's not right. The city's false alarm ordinance is clear. It reads that once a police report is provided to the alarm company, "the fee will be waived administratively."
"The alarm company should waive any fees that were assessed once they have a case number from the homeowner," said Mark Jamieson, Seattle Police spokesperson.
Knowing that, Brinks still wanted the Forshers to pay the fee. That's when KING 5 News got involved. We sent the police report and the city's false alarm ordinance back to Brinks. Two days later, they credited the Forsher's account 90 dollars.
Forsher has one thing to say to Brinks.
"Get their act together. If they are going to be charging people, they need to have a system to properly be charging them."