Dallas City Council voted Wednesday to apply Verified Response to businesses. The controversial measure passed over a number of objections from businesses, alarm companies and some council members. Under the new plan, designed to reduce police responses to false alarms, police will not respond to business burglar alarms until a representative of the alarm company shows up to the business in person and calls Dallas police to verify that the alarm is genuine. It is hoped that police resources wasted on false alarms can thus be freed up for genuine crimes.

Speakers lined up to object to the measure. Many, including Leslie Kayto and small business owner Doug Wright, claimed that VR would send the wrong message to criminals. Pastor L.L. Marshall of Living Waters Family Church pointed out that "thieves in this day and time have no respect for any business, and that includes the churches." He noted that there have been attempted break-ins at his church, and that other churches have been broken into several times.

One speaker claimed that under VR, businesses might have to post security guards overnight. John Barr noted that a police officer receives 800 hours of training, whereas a security guard needs only 30. He also claimed that a business could be sued by a security guard who might be hurt responding to an alarm. Most speakers said that VR would be bad for business. One suggested that businesses are being treated as “second-class citizens”.

Virtually all speakers spoke in favor of increasing the fines on false alarms, and some suggested canceling the alarm systems of multiple offenders. Responding to a question from City Council, Chris Russell of the North Texas Alarm Association said he would be willing to lobby the state government to allow Dallas to increase fines for false alarms, but only if VR is abandoned and existing laws are tried first. By law, the state must currently approve any fine increases for false alarms.

Some council members expressed strong opposition to VR. Echoing some of the speakers, Ron Natinsky said that VR will hurt business in Dallas. He asked that the city press the state legislature to allow it to raise fines for false alarms. And he also asked that the city hire more police officers. Mayor Laura Miller, a VR supporter, acknowledged that the fine increase allowed by the state legislature in its last session is not high enough. Council member Maxine Thornton-Reese objected to police not responding to each and every alarm.

Council member Bill Blaydes said that the "ordinance as written today does not require an armed patrol" to respond to an alarm. VR, he said, will result in unarmed security guards responding to dangerous situations. Leo Chaney objected to VR but also objected to raising false alarm fines, since some of his residents who depend on alarms are on fixed incomes. Mitchell Rasansky noted that 17,000 police chiefs in US cities do not support VR. Businesses, he said, are "scared to death about this" and "don't want to remain in Dallas". He also said that businesses are "not second-class citizens".

In response to VR opponents, council member Gary Griffith pointed out that businesses could, if they wish, arrange and pay for armed guards to respond to alarms. Under questioning by council member and VR supporter Steve Salazar, Dallas police chief and VR supporter David Kunkle said that when businesses sign up for a new alarm service, an "armed guard response" will "get there quicker." He claimed that the private security guards will be affordable, since the cost will be spread over all businesses with security alarms. He does not think that businesses will need to post permanent security guards at night. He also said that the police department must make choices in responding to calls, because there are not enough officers to respond to all calls. And adding 20 officers to the police force would mean a mere 1.6% increase in the size of the force. In response to the objection that criminals will get the wrong message with VR, Kunkle said that criminals already know that as things stand now, the police can't respond adequately to alarms.

Council member Elba Garcia pointed out that there were over 62,000 alarms in 2004, and that over 60,000 were false. She noted that most businesses don't have alarms. She claimed that the current system is obsolete. And she hinted that local alarm businesses are acting out of self-interest to preserve their business arrangements. She called for a new approach, saying that the Dallas police department "is totally in support of verified response" and added that "false alarms are the single largest waste of police resources." Garcia concluded by saying that other cities report that VR greatly reduces false alarms, and that VR puts burden on people in the alarm industry, who should be the people verifying that alarms are genuine.

The measure passed 8-5, with Miller, Garcia, Medrano, Oakley, Salazar, Griffith, Koop and Hunt voting for, and Thornton-Reese, Chaney, Blaydes, Natinsky and Rasansky voting against. VR for businesses will start taking effect next year, as current alarm contracts begin expiring. The measure does not apply to residential alarms.

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment