Success the first time around is unusual. We learn by failing or getting something wrong. It’s a great teacher. Yes, here at SIAC, we’d love to say we get it right immediately, and bad ordinances go away immediately when the cavalry shows up, and everyone is happy. But we all know the world doesn’t work that way.
What happens instead is things don’t necessarily go exactly the way you wanted or planned. Then you adjust and apply the lessons you learned. Case in point: Recently, Prescott Valley, AZ adopted verified response.
Perhaps we all won as a follow up in Prescott, AZ. When a visible local public policy issue arises, it creates debates and informs others. That often helps our industry in neighboring communities. In this case, Prescott, AZ is also considering changes to its alarm ordinance. Instead of verified response though, they are going down the path of pursuing model ordinance provisions supported and advocated by SIAC and others in our industry.
You may ask yourself why communities so close together have such a different perspective on this issue, and the answer would be we don’t really know. What we do know is that by being active and visible in Prescott Valley and introducing alternatives, that information got out in front of the public and elected officials and likely influenced their thinking.
We believe that is one of the strongest contributions SIAC makes to the electronic security industry – helping to provide information and influence decisions on alarm ordinances that benefits the industry AND the local community. It’s also why supporting SIAC is important if you have a company in our industry. We can’t provide those benefits without funding, and as a non-profit entity, we need contributions to do that. To make a donation, click here.
Getting it right the first time is a bonus. Getting it right the second time provides different tangible benefits. We don’t like seeing bad ordinances, but sometimes when that happens, positive responses occur down the road. Whether it’s the first, second or third time, SIAC will keep working hard for you to keep those onerous ordinances from reproducing.