St. Cloud, FL recently released statistics showing that is had reduced alarm dispatches by 67 percent using the Model Ordinance. That’s not news to us, because SIAC and other committed organizations, companies and associations in the electronic security industry have seen similar reductions the past 10 years in many communities across the U.S.
But, it might be news to you, which is why we’re writing about it today. Too often we hear about failures. Things go wrong and it’s the headline in the newspaper. Something breaks down, and it’s on the 6 p.m. news. Something goes right or gets corrected and it is mentioned in passing.
In the case of St. Cloud, this positive statistic, which benefits the police department, the local community and our industry, demonstrates that well-implemented alarm management practices provide the intended results – fewer dispatches. Police are freed to address other calls that may have greater public safety consequences. Customers are happy that they don’t have unnecessary alarm activations. In turn, security companies are in better shape because they can sell improved alarm management practices (and the reduction in alarm dispatches) to new customers as a benefit – fewer fines to the customer.
St. Cloud Police Chief Pete Gauntlett was given SIAC’s Award of Distinction for his work on this project, along with the Alarm Association of Florida (AAF). We recognized their outstanding work in reducing unwanted alarm activations.
SIAC worked with the police department and AAF using the model ordinance to get the reduction in numbers. SIAC’s Glen Mowrey was instrumental in bringing the parties together. It’s good to see that working closely and cooperatively another jurisdiction has shown what it can do to lower its number of unnecessary alarm dispatches. We are confident that Glen and the rest of the SIAC team will have more successes this year bringing parties to the table. This is what we do!