Should I be alarmed?
Today the City Council and the Police Chief received a query from one of our citizen customers, the owner of a local small business regarding the recently announced changes to how we will respond to security alarms. It raises questions we are going to be hearing often in the next few weeks, particularly as the alarm industry tries to, well, alarm the public.
The business owner writes:
"I . . . was a bit dismayed to read in the paper, along with all my local burglars, that the police department is no longer responding to Burglar alarms. I . . . pay for a Security, and Fire Alarm system. It has been less than a week, and" (a neighboring business) "was just broken into and had some computers taken. Her alarm went off, and had they responded to the alarm, they may have stopped the crime from happening. I feel that this step has been taken as a kind of payback for the sales tax increase not being put into effect. So the police department is actually now effectively not going to protect businesses? Are they only going to respond to 911 calls? If so, how do those calls differ from a security alarm. There are many false 911 calls. To be fair, you would have to stop responding to those also, since they have false alarms and you are understaffed. I know you get my intent. It is a bit disheartening to have always felt confident in my police department of the past, and now I feel they are going to let my business security suffer to make a point."
A reasonable concern. First, the recent burglary cited has nothing to do with the new policy, which is not yet in effect. The newspaper article made clear that the policy doesn't go into effect until January 15th. Second, if the alarm went off during the night, it would still be responded to under the new policy (the change would be that the Police won't respond from 7 AM to 7 PM without verification.)
But is the Police Department really punishing the community? Are they endangering taxpaying residents and businesses out of spite?
Hardly. Our Police Department is one of the leaders in California in accountability -- in setting clear goals and measuring performance. Those goals and measures are no mystery -- check them out for yourself:
Those efforts are working. Property crime was down 7.5% last year. But response times for critical emergencies still lag and there has been a disturbing rise in gang crime. 62% of the voters supported a sales tax that would have added additional resources, including 14 more officers, to tackle these challenges. It fell short of the needed 2/3rds. But the problem is still there. We are taking a number of steps, including shifting budget priorities in the coming year. One of the modest steps that will be implemented by the Police Department is changing its alarm response policy to discourage false alarms. Over time, they believe the false alarm problem can be drastically reduced and that will free up resources for higher impact enforcement, resulting in everyone being safer.
Of course, you won't be hearing that from the alarm companies who want to protect their business model. And as the father of three, I can understand why both residents and businesses would be concerned. But don't be alarmed -- the Police Department is continuing its focus on making Ventura a safer community.
The business owner writes:
"I . . . was a bit dismayed to read in the paper, along with all my local burglars, that the police department is no longer responding to Burglar alarms. I . . . pay for a Security, and Fire Alarm system. It has been less than a week, and" (a neighboring business) "was just broken into and had some computers taken. Her alarm went off, and had they responded to the alarm, they may have stopped the crime from happening. I feel that this step has been taken as a kind of payback for the sales tax increase not being put into effect. So the police department is actually now effectively not going to protect businesses? Are they only going to respond to 911 calls? If so, how do those calls differ from a security alarm. There are many false 911 calls. To be fair, you would have to stop responding to those also, since they have false alarms and you are understaffed. I know you get my intent. It is a bit disheartening to have always felt confident in my police department of the past, and now I feel they are going to let my business security suffer to make a point."
A reasonable concern. First, the recent burglary cited has nothing to do with the new policy, which is not yet in effect. The newspaper article made clear that the policy doesn't go into effect until January 15th. Second, if the alarm went off during the night, it would still be responded to under the new policy (the change would be that the Police won't respond from 7 AM to 7 PM without verification.)
But is the Police Department really punishing the community? Are they endangering taxpaying residents and businesses out of spite?
Hardly. Our Police Department is one of the leaders in California in accountability -- in setting clear goals and measuring performance. Those goals and measures are no mystery -- check them out for yourself:
Those efforts are working. Property crime was down 7.5% last year. But response times for critical emergencies still lag and there has been a disturbing rise in gang crime. 62% of the voters supported a sales tax that would have added additional resources, including 14 more officers, to tackle these challenges. It fell short of the needed 2/3rds. But the problem is still there. We are taking a number of steps, including shifting budget priorities in the coming year. One of the modest steps that will be implemented by the Police Department is changing its alarm response policy to discourage false alarms. Over time, they believe the false alarm problem can be drastically reduced and that will free up resources for higher impact enforcement, resulting in everyone being safer.
Of course, you won't be hearing that from the alarm companies who want to protect their business model. And as the father of three, I can understand why both residents and businesses would be concerned. But don't be alarmed -- the Police Department is continuing its focus on making Ventura a safer community.
posted by Rick Cole at
4:23 PM
1 Comments:
Good news to all burgulars !! While I'm at work between the hours of 7 AM to 7 PM (along with most of my neighbors), you are free to break into my house, since noone will be answering my alarm when it goes off. I don't understand the reasoning. Why not just charge people for false alarms instead of punishing everyone?
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