Re: Home Depot robber delays alarm company, flees with $10,000

[tourman <robercampbell@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 31, 1:12=A0am, mleuck <m.le...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Dec 30, 5:59=A0pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Dec 30, 1:06=A0pm, "David 01" <ifiwants...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > > I've been out of the business for years, but my favorite (now, not at=
 the
> > > time) CS experience was many years ago I had added a foot rail holdup=
 alarm
> > > which was silent of course and I had told one of the operators at a s=
mall CS
> > > I contracted with that I was going to send 2 signals and to ignore th=
ose and
> > > then put me back online.
>
> > > I sent the 2 signals and spent some time cleaning up some wiring unde=
r the
> > > counter and then I raised up and a guy in street clothes pointed a 35=
7
> > > magnum at my nose. About that time I could hear sirens approaching an=
d I
> > > didn't know what was going on. I thought the guy with the gun was a r=
obber,
> > > but it turned out he was a plainclothes detective and that the CS had
> > > dispatched on the holdup signals. I didn't get shot but my adrenalin =
was
> > > flowing well. After everything was cleared up and the manager gave al=
l the
> > > policeman some coffee and donuts, I called the CS and asked the opera=
tor why
> > > they dispatched after I told them I was going to send 2 test signals.=
 She
> > > said, "oh, I'm sorry, I went to the restroom and forgot to tell anybo=
dy
> > > else."
>
> > The bad thing about this is ..... that generally speaking, it
> > besmirches the whole alarm trade due to the fact that this failure is
> > all encompassing and reduces the confidence in all alarm systems,
> > central stations and the alarm trade =A0.... in total.
>
> Too true, nobody ever mentioned the times where everything worked
> properly, nobody also ever mentions the number of burglars caught by
> an alarm system

RHC: Good point !! The good events are rarely heard about, but the
failures...always !! I don't know how many burglars are actually
caught because of the alarm, but some if not many are at least scared
off by it. I had a customer who's basement window was kicked in, and
the quick response from the monitoring station basically saved the
day. She was so happy that she called the station and flowered them
with accolades...:)) The station manager told me that this happens
very infrequently, but when it does, it "makes their day"....

As far as having an incorrect dispatch while testing, I think this is
a "rite of passage" and happens to us all at some point in our careers
installing alarms....hopefully, only once though !!