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False Alarms, False Promises
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning that Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday "unanimously approved fees for false burglar alarms, agreeing to charge residents $115 the first time police respond." LAist can't help but call foul on local Los Angeles police departments, who should be charged $100 themselves for every hour it takes them to show up in response to a real alarm.
Just this week, LAist talked with a local LA police department who informed us that when an alarm company dispatches the police department to a house to investigate a potential break-in, said police department may take some time to show up. "Some time," of course, was demonstrated to be three hours this week as local police showed up to investigate a potential break-in that was reported at 11:00 PM — at 2:15 AM.
An anonymous police captain was asked about the insulting delay time it took to respond and said, "Unless it's a silent alarm that goes off, it could take officers awhile to get there."
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LAist feels much more at ease knowing that, unless someone has dragged us into our house, knife at our throat — giving us the opportunity to "turn off the alarm but in actuality set off the silent one", that police will continue to take their sweet time responding, and charging us $115 for such dedication and responsibility.
Way to go!
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