10/14/1991APPEAL TO FALSE ALARM CITATION BY
BILL JOHNSON, CITIZEN
October 14, 1991
10:30 A.M.
Present: Elizabeth Deptula, Assistant City Manager
Bill Johnson, Citizen
M. A. Galbraith, Jr., City Attorney
Charles Dunn, Police Officer
Dottie Reehling, Staff Assistant II
Ms. Deptula called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. and stated the purpose of
this administrative hearing: to hear the appeal for Citation Number 02133,
issued to Mr. Bill Johnson at 479 East Shore Drive #1, in Clearwater for a false
alarm that occurred on Wednesday, September 11, 1991 at 4:07 p.m.
Witnesses were sworn in by Ms. Reehling.
Mr. Johnson indicated he arrived home from work at 4:15 and immediately heard the
alarm sounding. He entered the code, and because his telephone was out of order,
he stated he was unable to telephone the alarm company, nor were they able to
call him. The police arrived and wrote the report. The next morning he had
Brinks Security come out to check their equipment. They stated both motion
detectors were faulty and they replaced them. They said "they must have been h i t
by lightning or whatever it was." He stated that his phone line was "messed up"
so he had GTE come out on 9/18/91 for which repairs he had a bill for $100.00.
He said he probably threw out the statement from Brinks because it did not cost
him anything. The phone repairman found a broken wire inside one of the jacks
which was causing a short. Mr. Johnson's contention is that because of the
faulty phone line, he and his alarm company were unable to communicate that this
was a false alarm and thus avoid having the police called. He also contends that
his alarm system had been damaged by lightning, thus causing it to go off. It
had gone off at 3:00 a.m. a couple of days previous to this alarm, so it must
have been malfunctioning then.
Officer Dunn referred to alarm permit #3854 which was issued on 6/15/91. Mr.
Johnson received courtesy warning 91-16702 for an alarm on Sunday, 6/09/91 at
10:46 a. m. The alarm he is appealing occurred on 9/11/91 at 4:07 p.m. Of c. Dunn
questioned Mr. Johnson's statement that he was unable to telephone the alarm
company on 9/11 before the police arrived. The officer's resport stated that Mr.
Johnson spoke with the alarm company and was told the alarm was set off at 1606.
Mr. Johnson agreed that he must be confusing this alarm with the one that the
police answered to on 9/18/91. The phone was shorting out and working some of
the time, so on 9/18, the alarm company couldn't call because the phone wasn't
working and the police were again called. He did not receive a citation for this
alarm. He agreed that he had after all spoken to the alarm company on 9/11. He
remembered later that when he went in to enter the code and the police officer
arrived, the phone was ringing.
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Officer Dunn stated that according to the Ordinance, faulty equipment is not an
40 acceptable excuse for a false alarm. In effect upon checking the Ordinanace, it
was determined the only excuse is severe weather conditions. The Police
Department would have to have a letter from the alarm company stating that the
motion detectors were, without a doubt, destroyed by lightning. A surge would
not be the same, as their equipment should be able to handle that. It was
determined that the weather was clear on 9/11. There have been no further
problems with the alarm since 9/18.
It was decided that, upon receipt, Mr. Johnson would send Ms. Deptula a copy of
the letter and statement from the Brinks Alarm Company which he would immediately
request. Mr. Galbraith suggested that as much technical information be included
as is possible for a layman to understand.
The hearing adjourned at 10:52 a.m.
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