Monitoring question

[Mike]

I read a note somewhere that there was a trend to have the home owner notified if there was an alarm condition (cell phone, etc) so it could be confirmed. The other benefit noted was that if the monitoring station made a call, it costs the owner money but if the owner places the call for help, it costs nothing.

This may vary, but what is customary? Is there a difference for false alarms?

 

[jlehnert]

It's very much dependent on the jurisdiction. It WAS customary for the alarm->central station->911, end of story. A lot of jurisdictions, especially in the more developed areas, would allow X false alarms before they would fine the CO and/or the homeowner. The trend has been for X to be an increasingly smaller number.

I've never heard of charges for legitimate calls, regardless of who originated it. In some locations the juridiction will only fine the CO for falses, not the homeowner.

IIRC there was some movement out on the west coast to only respond to homeowner calls, and fine on the first false alarm. It might have been San Fran. or LA. I reallyhaven't paid that much attention, so someone out west will have better information.