Alarm Associations Pledge Cooperation After Dallas Repeals Controversial Policy

  • Sep 19, 2007

The Dallas City Council last week repealed its verified response burglar alarm policy, meaning police officers will again respond to all commercial alarm calls.

“Dallas business leaders expressed their concern about the policy and their elected leaders responded. The repeal of the verified response policy by the Dallas City Council is the beginning of another chapter in the alarm industries long term effort to reduce false alarms and enhance public safety,“ said Chris Russell, president of the North Texas Alarm Association (NTAA). “Some may view this as a reason to relax, but we need to continue to work from all directions to significantly reduce the number of false alarms to the extent that verified response will not even be considered again.

“In the coming weeks we plan to work closely with the city to build on the false alarm reduction tactics that were added to Texas state law through the efforts of the Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, in cooperation with police and city officials.”

These tactics include requiring CP-01 compliant panels for new installations, expanded user training and requiring two-call verification before a dispatch request is made. Last year the NTAA in cooperation with other industry associations and the False Alarm Reduction Association created a video to help train alarm users.

“We stand willing to explore all reasonable options for false alarm reduction and accept our responsibility to continue to work with police and city officials to eliminate false alarms,” said Chip Bird of the Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association. “We will continue to support the efforts of the NTAA and will continue to pursue all reasonable solutions to this problem at the state level.”

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