FYI - crime in area

Sunny,

Did you find anything else out? Did they have an alarm system or find any specific motive? What a freaky incident.

 

Lisa,

Wanted to thank you for starting this thread. It is prooving to be a good forum for the community.

 

The police department does not charge me directly. They charge ADT apparently and ADT forwards the charge on to me only if they a dispatched and the issue turns out to be a false alarm. In our case we got home, found out that the blasting behind our house by VM rattled all of the windows causing the alarm to go off, called ADT and canceled the alarm event, 1 hour later the police show up and I tell them that I had canceled the event, get the bill from ADT for 20 dollars for a false alarm.

 

You might want to follow up on that. Sounds fishy, based on current County effort to "begin" charging for false alarms. Might be ADT charge, not a pass through charge.

 

Even with the alarm system phone line cut, our system makes such an unholy racket, the neighbors would call the cops

Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

I'm glad to hear this. Maybe the police were just having a bad day. I did call and complain to the police office. Not that it did any good. But it is good to know that they are showing up sooner now.

Openband might have a better deal than ADT with the police station when it comes to accidental alarms. I know that for every false alarm that I have it costs me $20. I know that I have this charge thru ADT and not from the police. I was told that the police charge ADT for every false alarm and that's why they charge me for a false alarm. From what I read in that post from the county it looks like the police might start charging individuals as well. I'm going to go back over my contract with ADT tonight and re-read that section. I know I saw that charge.

ADT also had called and dispatched the police about 2 minutes after the alarm went off. They try to call 5 numbers I have given them before they call the police to keep the false alarms down to a minimum

I doubt the police response time has anything to do with the carrier. I just hope the next time I have an alarm incident that it does not take as long as it did last time.

 

I know that the alarm is deafening to the ears inside the house but I didn't think the sound really carried outside that loudly with windows and doors shut.

 

The police response is due to the fact the Sherrif's office is in Leesburg. You are lucky of a deputy is in our area when they receive the call.

 

False Alarm Reduction Unit (FARU)

At least they didn't name it the False Alarm Reduction Team.....

heheheh

 

When Brinks installed our system, they included a horn mounted in the attic that is aimed out the front of the house through the eave vents. Needless to say, it tends to get the attention of the neighbors.



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Trust me, we've had a few false alarms due to issues with the cats in the basement during the day, or a very heavy wind blowing open the door to the garage that was not fully pulled to. Brinks called the Sheriff's Dept, they showed up and, of course, did not find a problem from the outside.

We have never been charged by Brinks or the County. I would say that ADT may be charged by Fairfax County (which I believe has such an ordinance) or other jurisdictions, and just does it for everyone.

However, it could just be that ADT wants to make a few extra bucks on the two or three calls they have to make to verify the alarm.



Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

That would definitely do the trick!

 

there is at least 1 loudoun county sheriff's deputy living in broadlands. a deputy with a marked unit lives in southern walk apts. although if he was home i.e. off duty he wouldn't get the call for an alarm going off, but while he is on duty he may pay more attention to calls coming from the area where he lives...