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FARA Achievement Award:
Honorable Mention
Montgomery County Police Dept., False Alarm Reduction Section, Maryland
Nominated by: Sue Clark, Diane Pennington, Marilynne Shifflett, and Norma Beaubien, Staff, MCPD FARS
Rationale: Montgomery County, Maryland has had an alarm law in effect since 1981. In 1993, responsibility for enforcement of that ordinance was transferred to the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD), which created the False Alarm Reduction Section (FARS). Since 1995, when enforcement of the amended alarm law began, the FARS has been successful in reducing the number of false alarms to which police officers respond in Montgomery County by 64.4%, even while the number of newly registered alarm users rose by 118%, saving the county approximately $1,730,700 and gaining 12,820 hours of police officer time in 2006 alone.
Montgomery County has a well-written, highly enforced alarm ordinance, and an extremely dedicated staff of four, who have not only enforced the ordinance, but developed new initiatives to help enhance further false alarm reduction. The main provisions of the ordinance are:
- Alarm companies are responsible for registering all of their customers with the FARS.
- All alarm users; i.e., residential, commercial, schools, government facilities, etc., must be registered at a cost of $30.
- Alarm companies must not request police dispatch for any unregistered alarm user or for any alarm user in a violation status after notification of such violation by the FARS.
- Alarm users must pay escalating false alarm response fees for two or more false alarms in a calendar year. The fees begin at $25 for the second false alarm and escalate to $1000 for residential alarm users at the 15th and each subsequent false alarm and to $4000 for commercial alarm users at the 20th and each subsequent false alarm.
- Alarm users must have a licensed alarm company inspect their system upon the third false alarm in a calendar year.
- Alarm users must upgrade their alarm system to meet current county installation standards, as defined by Executive Regulation, upon the 6th false alarm in a calendar year.
- Police must not respond to a request for dispatch if the alarm user fails to register, fails to pay false alarm response fees or fails to upgrade the system when required. Additionally, police will not respond if the alarm company fails to obtain the required license, cannot provide a valid user registration or company license number, or provides a registration number where the name and/or address does not match the pre-filled FARS user information.
- Alarm users must renew their alarm registration every two years at a cost of $10. If an alarm user fails to renew in a timely manner, no "free" false alarms are granted and an additional $100 fee is imposed in addition to any other false alarm response fees assessed. (This provision was enacted in 2003 and explains why the number of alarm users actually went down in that year.)
- Alarm companies are required to obtain a Montgomery County Alarm Business License, which is renewable annually, at a cost of $200.
- Alarm companies are required to cancel an alarm dispatch when it is determined that the signal is false.
- Alarm companies are required to attempt to verify the validity of the alarm signal prior to requesting police dispatch, except for duress and holdup alarms, by placing a telephone call to the site.
Montgomery County boasts one of the lowest false dispatch rates of any jurisdiction in the country, with residential alarm users at .16, commercial at .76, and combined at .24. False dispatch rates may be the truest measure of false alarm reduction, as it calculates the number of false alarm dispatches relative to the total number of alarm users. The false alarm dispatch rate is the only rate, which takes into account the growth of the alarm use base. The Montgomery County FARS has been successful in reducing the false dispatch rate every year (with the exception of 2000, which remained constant overall) and has done so for a full ten years. The following chart depicts dispatch rates from the base year of 1994 through 2006.
Montgomery County, Maryland – False Alarm Dispatch Rates
|
Year
|
Residential
|
Commercial
|
Combined
|
Alarm Users
|
|
1994
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
1.43
|
29,756
|
|
1995
|
.66
|
2.29
|
.98
|
36,436
|
|
1996
|
.54
|
1.82
|
.78
|
42,150
|
|
1997
|
.45
|
1.32
|
.61
|
48,008
|
|
1998
|
.36
|
1.06
|
.48
|
54,175
|
|
1999
|
.35
|
1.04
|
.44
|
58,143
|
|
2000
|
.32
|
1.09
|
.44
|
61,334
|
|
2001
|
.28
|
.98
|
.38
|
64,836
|
|
2002
|
.25
|
.94
|
.35
|
66,525
|
|
2003
|
.23
|
.88
|
.32
|
66,474
|
|
2004
|
.21
|
.89
|
.30
|
63,748
|
|
2005
|
.18
|
.86
|
.26
|
63,970
|
|
2006
|
.16
|
.76
|
.24
|
64,835
|
*Alarm Users column represents combined residential and commercial users. Biennial renewal provision was enacted and took effect in 2003.
In calendar year 2006, the MCPD FARS reduced false alarms to which police officers responded by an additional 4.8% over 2005. This number is particularly significant because that reduction was achieved in the eleventh year of enforcement of the amended ordinance. The FARS has demonstrated a comprehensive, sustained false alarm reduction effort for many years, which is still showing remarkable success. The chart below, entitled False Alarm Reduction, depicts the overall success of the program.
Montgomery County, Maryland – False Alarm Reduction
|
Year
|
Requests for Dispatch
|
Dispatched
|
No
Response
|
Verified
Calls
|
%
Reduction
|
%
Reduction From Base
|
|
1994
|
43,936
|
42,821
|
1,115*
|
|
|
|
|
1995
|
40,967
|
35,624
|
4,855
|
488
|
-16.8%
|
-15.7%
|
|
1996
|
40,534
|
32,390
|
7,339
|
805
|
-9.1%
|
-24.3%
|
|
1997
|
45,791
|
29,219
|
15,057
|
1,515
|
-9.8%
|
-32.0%
|
|
1998
|
46,839
|
25,877
|
19,371
|
1,591
|
-11.4%
|
-39.6%
|
|
1999
|
48,434
|
25,951
|
20,932
|
1,551
|
+003%
|
-39.4%
|
|
2000
|
48,603
|
26,877
|
20,172
|
1,554
|
+.035%
|
-37.2%
|
|
2001
|
45,702
|
24,855
|
19,026
|
1,821
|
-7.5%
|
-41.9%
|
|
2002
|
46,409
|
23,402
|
21,064
|
1,943
|
-5.8%
|
-45.3%
|
|
2003
|
44,673
|
21,452
|
21,431
|
1,790
|
-8.3%
|
-49.9%
|
|
2004
|
38,248
|
19,190
|
17,492
|
1,566
|
-10.5%
|
-55.2%
|
|
2005
|
36,998
|
16,443
|
18,986
|
1,569
|
-14.3%
|
-61.6%
|
|
2006
|
36,751
|
15,652
|
19,230
|
1,869
|
-4.8%
|
-64.4%
|
*Does not include dispatch vs. non-dispatch or verified calls for January, February or March, 1994, as statistics for those months are not available.
An impressive result of the alarm management program has been the huge savings in number of hours and work years of police officer time. The following chart, entitled Cumulative Savings, depicts revenue, hours and work years saved as a result of the program.
Montgomery County, Maryland – Cumulative Savings
|
Year
|
Revenue Saved
|
Hours Saved
|
Work Years Saved
|
|
1994
|
$ 55,750
|
743
|
.35
|
|
1995
|
$ 242,750
|
3,236
|
1.56
|
|
1996
|
$ 366,950
|
4,892
|
2.35
|
|
1997
|
$ 752,850
|
10,038
|
4.82
|
|
1998
|
$ 968,550
|
12,914
|
6.21
|
|
1999
|
$1,046,600
|
13,954
|
6.71
|
|
2000
|
$1,008,600
|
13,448
|
6.47
|
|
2001
|
$1,046,430
|
12,684
|
6.10
|
|
2002
|
$1,895,760
|
14,043
|
13.5
|
|
2003
|
$1,928,790
|
14,301
|
13.75
|
|
2004
|
$1,574,280
|
12,794
|
12.30
|
|
2005
|
$1,708,740
|
12,657
|
12.17
|
|
2006
|
$1,730,700
|
12,820
|
12.32
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
$14,326,750
|
138,514
|
98.61
|
FARS staff also implemented a “Major Offender” program, whereby they identify those alarm users with the highest number of false alarms in a given time period and meet on site with the user and their alarm company to determine the cause and suggest solutions. FARS staff have met with hundreds of alarm users over the past several years, with all but one alarm user showing positive results.
For the above-stated reasons, we believe that the Montgomery County False Alarm Reduction Program is worthy of the FARA Public Safety Achievement Award.
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