Sandy Springs alters false-alarm law, requiring audio, video evidence

Once more, the city of Sandy Springs has tinkered with its false-alarm ordi- nance.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the City Council approved changes to the ordinance, which will require alarm companies to provide “true, confirmed verification” of an emergency through audio, video or in-person commu- nication on alarms prior to the company calling 911.

In simpler terms, if the alarm company is contacting the Sandy Springs Police Department, it needs to have evidence of a real emergency.

This amendment to the ordinance will go into effect on June 19, 2019, giving com- panies a year to comply and to implement the process.

The proposed change to the ordinance was presented to the City Council by Sandy Springs Police Chief Ken DeSimone. He referenced recent statistics showing that his police force is still responding to many false-alarm calls. For the week ending June 2, police received 143 calls to 911 from alarm companies and all of those were false, according to statistics.

“The problem is alarm companies are reporting equipment malfunctions as emergencies. They are not properly vetting to see if there is a true emergency occurring, which has placed an ongoing strain on pub- lic safety resources,” DeS- imone said.

“Technology today makes it possible to have audio or visual verification, even for the homeowner to do on his own. By implement- ing true verification, we will reduce the number of these false calls, enabling a faster response for those calls which are true emer- gencies.” The “true verification” system has been implemented in cities including Detroit, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Jose, and Salt Lake City. A team from Sandy Springs visited Salt Lake City last month and discussed the system with public safety per- sonnel. Salt Lake City began the true-verification system in 2000, when police there responded to 9,439 alarm calls. In 2017, police in Salt Lake City responded to just 325 alarm calls.

As part of the ordinance amendment, the city is also requiring alarm companies to copy them on notifications to users regarding assignments of permit numbers and notifications of when service is suspended because the company failed to comply with the ordinance. Those changes will be implemented immediately.