10/24/1991APPEAL TO FALSE ALARM CITATION BY
TIO PEPE, INC./JESUS EXPOSITO
October 24, 1991
10:05 a.m.
Present: Elizabeth Deptula, Assistant City Manager
Mr. Jesus Exposito, Vice-President, Tio Pepe, Inc.
M. A. Galbraith, Jr., City Attorney
Charles Dunn, Police Officer
Dottie Reehling, Staff Assistant II
Ms. Deptula called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. and stated the purpose of
this administrative hearing: to hear the appeal for Citation Number 02266,
issued to Mr. Jesus Exposito at Tio Pepe's Restaurant, 2930 Gulf to Bay Boulevard
in Clearwater for a false alarm that occurred on Sunday, September 29, 1991 at
0819. Witnesses were sworn in by Ms. Reehling.
Mr. Exposito stated that he has never contested any alarm citations but that he
needs clarification in regard to this particular alarm. The alarm was reported
to him by Home Protection Inc. (HPI) whose report he distributed. This indicated
that a single signal was received and was triggered by a trip of Zone #1 or
Kitchen Door/Front Door and the Infra-Red Beam between the iron gate and the
front door. He described the main entrance of the restaurant which comprises an
iron gate followed by a small porch to the front door. Directly behind the gate
are two Infra-Red beams which are visible and are triggered by any object passing
through the gate. It was suggested by Officer Dunn that they remove some of the
moving detectors inside the building as a possible solution to their problem.
Officer Dunn related that Tio Pepe's received their Permit #2221 on 09/12/90.
They received their first Courtesy Warning 10/18/90 and since that time have had
8 or 9 other false alarms. The officer reported that it was an intrusion alarm,
no one was contacted on arrival. Mr. Exposito was called and responded - the
alarm company did not respond. It was clear, there were no signs of criminal
activity. They checked the whole perimeter of the building, they went inside and
checked every door and window and found nothing to be disturbed. Consequently,
on the officer's discretion decided that it was a false alarm.
Following discussion regarded the different aspects of the alarm system and
particularly the Infra-Red Beams. It was suggested that if the beams were moved
past the three foot limit of an arm, it could eliminate some possible accidental
triggering of the beam by children, animals, leaves, etc.
It was pointed out to Mr. Exposito that responding to the alarms himself without
notifying the police was very unwise and would not actually be a solution to the
false alarm problem. Mr. Galbraith pointed out that one of the dangers involved
in in a case like this is that the owner and/or police become complacent when an
alarm is sounded from a location that has a reputation for being a false alarm.
Mr. Exposito agreed that moving the Infra-Red boxes was a good suggestion and
perhaps would solve at least part of his problem.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:42 a.m.