False Alarm Reduction
The False
Alarm Reduction Section (FARS) of the
Montgomery County Department of Police completed
its sixth year of enforcement under the amended
Chapter 3A, Alarms, of the Montgomery County Code. The FARS reports that
there was a significant reduction in the
incidence of false alarms in calendar year 2001 over calendar year 2000,
despite an increase of 7,235 new alarm users.
The FARS also exceeded
several of its goals for the year, as well as significantly reduced
false alarm dispatch rates for both residential and commercial alarm users.
From 1994
through 1998, false alarms continued to
decrease. However, in 1999 and 2000,
there was a plateau and false alarms to which police officers responded
rose very slightly – about .38%. In calendar year 2001, false alarms to
which police officers were required to
respond once again began to fall and were reduced by 7.5%
over the previous year. The FARS now boasts
a full 41.9% reduction in false alarms since enforcement of
the False Alarm Reduction Program began in earnest in March
1995. Additionally, police officers
responded to almost 18,000 less alarm calls in 2001 over 1994. These statistics, coupled
with a 117% increase in the number of registered
alarm users over the same time period, clearly shows how successful the false
alarm reduction program has been for Montgomery
County and why it has become a
national model.
Graph 1
above reveals that, for the first time in five years, actual requests for
dispatch have fallen. The total number
of alarm users in Montgomery County
continues to grow. Absent enforcement of
the alarm statute, coupled with the increase
in alarm users, one would expect that the actual dispatches to alarm
activations would increase substantially, or at least at the same rate of
growth. However, actual responses to
alarm activations were reduced
by 7.5% between 2000 and 2001. In 2001
there were a total of 45,702 requests for dispatch to alarm activations, yet
police responded to only 24,855 alarm signals
(or close to one-half of the total calls received). There were a total of 19,026 alarm
activations to which the police were not required
to respond in 2001.
Graph
1 also shows that the County continues to maintain a reduction
relative to the total number of requests for dispatch vs. the total number of
alarm users. For example, in 1994, Montgomery
County police officers responded on
97.5% of all requests for dispatch (43,936 requests for dispatch with 42,821
actual responses). However, in 2001,
police officers responded to only 54.4% of all requests for dispatch (45,702
requests for dispatch with only 24,855 actual responses). This represents a 43.1% reduction
between requests and dispatches, even with 35,080 more alarm users and correlates to a significant savings in police
officer time.
Graph 2 and
Chart 1 depict the difference between the requests for dispatch and the actual
responses since 1994. Requests for
dispatch were actually reduced
to below 1997 levels, while the actual responses to requests is at an all-time
low of 24,855.
Chart 1 – Requests for Dispatch vs. Actual Responses
Year
|
Requests for
Dispatch
|
Actual
Responses
|
Percentage of Total Calls Responded To
|
|
2001
|
45,702
|
24,855
|
54.4%
|
|
2000
|
48,603
|
26,877
|
55.3%
|
|
1999
|
48,434
|
25,951
|
53.9%
|
|
1998
|
46,839
|
25,877
|
55.3%
|
|
1997
|
45,791
|
29,219
|
63.8%
|
|
1996
|
40,534
|
32,390
|
79.9%
|
|
1995
|
40,967
|
35,624
|
87.0%
|
|
1994
|
43,936
|
42,821
|
97.5%
|
One
critical enforcement measure in the alarm statute is the requirement that an
alarm company cancel a police response when it is determined
that an alarm activation is false. The
high number of non-responses was due, in part, to that required
cancellation by alarm companies. The
higher the number of cancellations, the better the job the alarm companies are doing
of reducing the number of false alarms to
which police officers respond. In 2001
alarm companies cancelled 7,939 requests for
dispatch, an increase of more than 500 cancellations from 2000. These cancellations provide officers with
more time to engage in other more critical law enforcement related
activities and community policing initiatives.
The false
alarm dispatch rate is perhaps the truest measure of false alarm reduction,
as it calculates the number of false alarm dispatches relevant 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 user base. The National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association, an alarm industry
trade group, states that Montgomery County has the lowest reported residential false alarm dispatch rate of
any jurisdiction in the country at .28.
This means that overall, residential alarm users experience, on average,
only 1 false alarm about every four years, which is a remarkable
statistic. The commercial false alarm
dispatch rate is .98, which is down significantly from 2000 levels. This marks the first time ever that the
commercial dispatch rate fell below 1.0.
Combined residential and commercial false alarm
dispatch rates fell to an all-time low of .38, and is one of lowest combined reported dispatch rates in the entire country.
Chart 2 – False Alarm Dispatch Rates
|
Type
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
Residential
|
N/A
|
.66
|
.54
|
.45
|
.36
|
.35
|
.32
|
.28
|
Commercial
|
N/A
|
2.29
|
1.82
|
1.32
|
1.06
|
1.04
|
1.09
|
.98
|
Both
|
1.43
|
.98
|
.78
|
.61
|
.48
|
.44
|
.44
|
.38
|
The
following pie charts (Graphs 3, 4 and 5) graphically depict the significant reductions
in residential, non-residential and combined
dispatch rates.
Graph
3 Graph
4
Graph
5
It is not unusual to find
commercial false alarm dispatch rates as high as 4.0 or residential false alarm
dispatch rates at or above 1.0. A
dispatch rate of 4.0 means that every
alarm user has four actual responses every
year. If Montgomery
County’s false alarm dispatch rate
were 4.0 instead of its current overall rate of .38, police officers would have
responded to almost 250,000 alarm activations
in 2001. That would require 79 police
officers to do absolutely nothing but respond to burglar alarms at a staggering
cost of approximately $12,000,000.
In
projecting the number of alarm activations to which police would have responded
in 2001, absent any enforcement of the alarm statute, statistics show that
police officers would have actually responded
to 91,997 alarm activations instead of 24,855.
This number assumes that the dispatch rate of 1.43 would remain constant
through 2001. A more accurate assumption
would be that, absent any enforcement of the amended
alarm law, the dispatch rate would continue to rise significantly each year,
and the number of actual responses in 2001 would be more than 150,000. This projection clearly shows just how
significant the .38 dispatch rate and the 24,855 (as opposed
to over 150,000) actual responses to alarm activations in 2001 really are. Estimated
costs to respond to 150,000 alarm calls would be $7,500,000; clearly a cost
that no local jurisdiction can absorb.
The FARS
continued its strict enforcement of all
requirements for requesting dispatch, including providing the correct alarm
user registration and alarm business license numbers. Police officers were not dispatched
when an alarm business failed to provide all
of the required information to Emergency
Communications Center
calltakers.
Nor were police dispatched if an alarm
user was in a violation status for failure to register, failure to pay a false
alarm response fee or failure to upgrade the system to meet county installation
standards. The legally mandated
non-response provisions in the alarm law resulted
in 2,469 requests for dispatch that were denied
as a result of the violation status of the alarm user or alarm business. It is significant that this number is down
from 3,282 in 2000, which represents a full 813 fewer requests for dispatch that
were in violation of the statute. This
is directly attributable to the FARS’s enforcement initiative, that began in 2000, which cited
alarm businesses that were illegally requesting dispatch. It is also notable that this number is down
from 3,651 in 1999, and clearly shows that alarm companies are doing a better
job of complying with the mandates of the alarm law.
In 2001,
9.3% more residential and commercial alarm users experienced
no false alarms at all. A total of 49,950 alarm users had zero
false alarm activations in 2001. As
the following pie graphs show, each year, more alarm users achieve the zero
false alarm threshold. This statistic,
which is supported by the low false dispatch
rate, is indicative of the success of the overall false alarm reduction
program. These reductions
become more significant when viewed with the
steady increase in the number of alarm users each year.
1995 Alarm Users = 36,436 1997
Alarm Users = 48,008
1999 Alarm Users =
58,143 2001 Alarm Users = 64,836
As a direct
result of the FARS’s strict enforcement of the alarm legislation, there were
19,026 alarm calls to which police officers were not required
to respond in 2001. This equates to savings in 2001 of approximately $1,046,430 and 12,684
hours of police officer time, or 6.10 police work years. (Monetary savings are based
on a conservative cost of $55.00 per response.
Work year savings are based on an
average of 20 minutes per alarm response by two officers.) This timesaving allows police officers more
time to engage in proactive crime prevention efforts, neighborhood patrol, and
community policing initiatives.
The
following graphs illustrate the revenues, hours, and work years saved
as a result of the false alarm reduction
program.
Graph 6 shows that the actual revenue saved
in 2001 as a result of police officers responding to 19,026 less false alarms
was $1,046,430. Since the FARS
began enforcement of the alarm statute, the total revenue saved
by Montgomery County
has been $5,488,480.
Graph 7 shows that the actual hours saved
in 2001 as a result of police officers responding to 19,026 less false alarms
was l2,684 hours. Since the FARS
began enforcement of the alarm statute, Montgomery
County has recovered
71,899 hours in police officer time.
Graph 8 shows that 6.10 actual work years were saved
in 2001 as a result of enforcement of the alarm statute. Since enforcement began, Montgomery
County has recovered
a total of 34.57 work years of police officer time.
The total
savings in dollars, hours, and work years since 1994 have been significant, and
are depicted in Chart 3 below. As stated
previously in this report, absent strict enforcement of the alarm statute, Montgomery
County would have paid more than $5,000,000 in 2001 alone
responding to false alarms. The
$5,488,480 savings to the county is, therefore, even more significant.
Chart 3 – 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL
|
$5,488,480
|
71,899
|
34.57
|
In calendar
year 2001, the FARS had 454 registered
government facilities, all of which were held to the same strict standards as
all other alarm users. Of the 454
government alarm users, 99, or 22%, had a least one false alarm. This is down from 104, or 23%, government
alarm users in 2000. Those 99 alarm
users collectively had 206 false alarms.
The good news for government alarm users is that once again, 355, or
77%, had zero false alarms in
2001. This percentage is slightly better
than the percentages shown for all other alarm users (74.1%). The following chart reflects government alarm
user activity for 1999 through 2001.
Chart 4 – Government Alarm Users
|
# of False Alarms
|
# of Alarm Users
1999
|
# of Alarm Users
2000
|
# of Alarm Users
2001
|
|
0
|
332
|
355
|
355
|
|
1
|
72
|
54
|
50
|
|
2
|
22
|
17
|
33
|
|
3
|
13
|
14
|
5
|
|
4
|
2
|
7
|
4
|
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
7
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
|
8
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
9
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
|
10-13
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
|
14-21
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
