Posted: 6/25/2004 1:08:40 PM EDT
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I’m at the shop by myself today answering phone calls when I get a call on my cell from Shawn (my boss). He tells me that ADT called him and said the robbery alarm had been tripped….before Shawn and the guys left they had been trying to do some stuff with the alarm system and had inadvertently set it off. So Shawn advises me to take the gun off my belt and go wait outside till the cops come. As soon as I get off the phone and took off my glock, I go to the front and open the door to find two Gilbert police officers with muzzles in my face (one AR15, one glock) almost bumping into them as I walked out. I think I said something along the lines of “HOLY SHIT!”….then explained to them what was going on as they briefly cleared the building. After they had seen there was no robbery was in progress, I gave them the tour and showed them some of our products, they said they’d be sending one of their purchasing agents over some time to look at our products more. I told them it was nice to know they could get here so fast if there was a problem…probably only about 5 minutes from the time the alarm went off. I don’t think I could expect as fast a response to my home though versus a shop full of guns… |
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I got to one in about 15 seconds one time and was the 2nd unit to arrive!!! It was a Varda alarm (and we both were just around the corner). Unfortunately, the other officer punched it a little too hard and peeled out leaving the parking lot we were sitting in. There was a window busted out on the front of the building and stereo equipment on the ground in front, but nobody inside. After watching the tape from the security camera, we realized we missed him by a couple of seconds. We could see him drop the stuff in his hands as he looked over his shoulder toward the direction we were coming from. He took off and a couple seconds later, the first unit pulled right up to where he was standing. He had to have just made it around the corner of the building. He didn't set off the Varda going in, but he hit it going out (oh well - I bet he pissed his pants, though). CR |
A robbery code, during the daytime hours, usually results in a prioirty 1 call. Here, they send out the alert tones for those, responding units get a clear channel, etc. It's a lot different than a simple burglary alarm call. |
| The biggest delay in response times to alarm calls is the lag time between alarm goes off, ADT calls business to confrime, then calls local police. that lag time has been as long as 20 mins in my experiance. Once the cops get the call, they are there in 2-8 minutes in my area. |
In my jurisdiction it is 99.7 false...I kid you not. It's dangerous though because you get very complacent which can get you killed. Most of the other .3% the perp is gone before the alarm company even calls the police. From the time the alarm is set off to the time it gets dispatched is usually 3-5 minutes. |
| I work for a Sheriff's Dept, and the norm for our response time from receiving the call is 10-15 minutes. Unless we are running code 3, then it's...still probably 10-15 minutes because we are further away. The rule of thumb always seems to be that the more important the nature of the call, the further away you are. Which explains why it takes 20 minutes to get to a domestic disturbance with weapons and only 1 minute to get to a citizen's complaint of a cow out on the roadway. |
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Had a dispatcher send me to an ATM once for what she called a "robbery alarm" called in by a third party alarm company. It was in the middle of a 24 hour grocery store. I enter the store with an instant visual of the victim ATM and shoppers all around doing thier normal business. After making contact with the ATM and finding out all was well. I headed back to the office to call the alarm company to inquire about this "robbery alarm" feature. Find out it's actually a "shock sensor" built in to report vandalism. terminology is important folks. btw, if you are ever held up at an ATM curse and kick the shit out of it, maybe a JBT will be dispatched to fingerprint, take pictures and tell you that you may never see your money again. Hunter out... Oh yeah cudos to Gilbert PD for a job well done!!! The thought of someone stealing Cavs fine product does not sit well with me. |
Robbery alarm is always a higher priority than a burglar alarm. Robbery alarm, crimes vs people, manually activiated, etc. Burglary alarm, property crime. |