Should I (or can I) fight this fine?

In My Humble Opinion
1

We’ve lived in the city for about 6 years now. Our house came with an ADT alarm system installed by the previous owners, but we didn’t activate it until about a year or two later. Luckily, we’ve not had any situations where we’ve had a break in.

A few weeks ago, my wife left the house without de-arming the alarm (without her cell phone, natch). I got a call from ADT telling me there was an alarm and that 911 had been dispatched. Of course I call my wife to see where she is, can’t get hold of her. Long-short, I got to the house, nothing was out of place, and my wife returned. She immediately realized that she hadn’t disarmed the alarm, so we knew that’s what caused the alarm.

By the time I arrived, there was no sign of the police department - no note on the door or anything, so I assumed they either figured out it was a false alarm or had come by quickly to inspect the house already.

Fast forward to last week, and we received a letter stating the following:

[QUOTE=Austin Police Department]

The APD has responded to your location for a false alarm generated by your alarm system on 3/10/2013. The city requires residents and businesses to obtain an alarm permit pursuant to [long ordinance reference].

The above referenced alarm site is not in compliance with the city ordinance. You are subject to a $200 fee for each false alarm. Please submit the attached application along with the annual permit fee ($30 resident or $50 business).
[/QUOTE]

No problem paying the permit fee, but I feel the $200 fine is unreasonable. I’m fairly certain this ordinance wasn’t in effect when we moved in and got our alarm service activated, and I’m not sure how I was supposed to know that we needed an alarm permit. I certainly didn’t receive any notice from the alarm company. I’d like to contest the fine (but of course pay the permit fee). Have any Dopers had success taking on City Hall on an issue like this? Any advice?

PS - I did some Googling and on City-Data.com someone asked about the need for alarm permits in Austin. Someone responded and stated that they had been fined, but the fined was waived if the permit was purchased. That’s what I expected, so there’s precedent, at least back in 2010.

2

It sounds like that’s what they’re telling you to do: permit the system to avoid fines. It says you’re subject to the $200 fine, not that you are presently being fined. They only tell you to send the permit fee now.

3

Try getting the permit and maybe the fine will be dismissed. You need the permit anyway if you want to keep the alarm. I’m not aware that ex post facto applies to regulations of this kind.

4

Yes, it sounds like they are notifying you only that you are out of compliance for not having a permit. If you were actually being fined the $200 I think the language would be more explicit. They are not instructing you how to pay the fine, they are instructing you how to apply for a permit.

5

Thanks for the responses, y’all. I agree with this logic, but the bottom of the letter has this:


Action Taken   Action Date     Due Date     Bal. Fwd     Paid     Current Chg
False Alarm     4/10/2013     5/10/2013      $30.00      $0.00       $200.00

Total Outstanding: $230.00

So it sounds to me like I owe $230 - $30 for the permit and $200 for the fine. Or am I reading this wrong? It seems to me that they should just say “this is your first offense, so we will waive the fine if you pay the permit fee.”

6

That does look different than the part you quoted earlier. It would be worthwhile to tell them your whole story and ask for a waiver of the fine, if you apply for the permit.

7

Huh.

I read it to mean a) there is a permit required, please pay 30$ AND b) every false alarm costs $200 if they respond, please pay $200.

Therefore, you owe $30 for the permit fee, and you owe $200 for the false alarm charge. And you will continue to be charged $200 for each false alarm they respond to, in future!

I do hope you’ll let us know when you get some answers!

8

If I ever start a subscription-based alarm company*, one of my selling points is going to be that my company will research and notify customers of any permitting requirements that the local government places on them, just as part of the service. I’ll eat ADT’s lunch, bwahahaha. :smiley:

*I’m never going to start such a company, just for the record.

ETA: also, OP, you should totally get in touch with the person who reported having his fine waived, and ask him how to maximize the chances you’ll also be able to.

ETATA: Also, ask someone at City Hall about how to get it waived.

9

Why not call the city district attorney’s office and explain your situation and ask if they will waive the fine when you pay the permit fee.

10

You owe the $200 fine.

Prohibition against an ex post facto law applies to criminal law. ( See Calder V. Bull) This is not a criminal matter. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

False alarm rates for burglar alarm systems are around 94% or higher. That linked US Dept of Justice report cites a study* that found police have a greater chance of catching a burglar in the act if the premises was not alarmed.

  • LeBeau, J., and K. Vincent (1998). “Mapping It Out: Repeat-Address Burglar Alarms
    and Burglaries.” In D. Weisburd and T. McEwen (eds.), Crime Mapping and Crime
    Prevention. Crime Prevention Studies    , Vol. 8. New York: Criminal Justice Press.
11

Interesting, Iggy. But as a fairly well-informed citizen, I am fairly certain this was not on the books when I installed the alarm. The city has extensive PR campaigns about elections, plastic bag bans, and DUIs - but I cannot remember any kind of notice about this policy.

I don’t doubt for a second that the false alarms are a significant drain on police time, either.

I still maintain it’s harsh to levy a fine for a first time offense. Furthermore, if you want to get nitpicky about it, there was no indication - no note, etc. - that supports the fact that the police actually did anything more than drive by my house. If you’re in the business of levying fines I would think you would at least have a sticker on the door stating you came by.

I’m going to send a note to the email address at the bottom of the letter, making the following points:

  • Thanking the PD for responding
  • Noting that this is my first exposure to this policy, indicating that I will pay the permit fee
  • Asking about the appeal process for the fine, citing that I have not heard notice from the city or the alarm company about this

I think at this point that’s sufficient. While ignorance of the law is no excuse, surely there has to be some effort made by the city to inform citizens of changes in the law that result in $200 fines?

12

I read it as you owe $230.00 bucks now, and for every future false alarm (permit or no), you’re still going to be billed $200 bucks.

Sucks but you are completely at their mercy. They may waive part of it though, usually a judge will reduce a first time offense for any violation like this.

You do have an option to go to a court hearing about this, right? Like a traffic ticket?

13

How do the police know it was a false alarm? Couldn’t a burglar have tried to get in your house, failed, and then run off before the police got there? If they just drove by how do they know there wasn’t someone inside the house?

I also think the note is saying that you have to get a permit for your alarm and that every false alarm responded to will be $200.00. I don’t think the fine is for not having a permit.

I wonder if with a permit the police will call you to see if you need them to respond, thus giving you a chance to avoid the fine.

14

You keep saying you are “fairly certain” that the law didn’t exist when you installed the alarm, what evidence do you have to support this assertion? And does it matter that the city hasn’t engaged in a PR campaign about “getting your alarm systems permitted” that would leave you off the hook for following the ordinance?

I haven’t heard of police departments leaving a “Sorry we missed you!” sticker on the door after investigating a possible break-in. Driving by your house was probably part of it, but unless you know exactly what they did it seems premature to accuse them of essentially doing nothing to earn the fine. They don’t have to earn the fine, you earn the fine by failing to be compliant with local permitting requirements.

And I’ll ask again, what evidence do you have that the city changed the law out from under you when you weren’t even the person to install the alarm system to begin with? And what does it matter if the law was changed and you weren’t personally informed about it, does that change your requirement to abide by it?

15

Well, before you do anything else, or get too stuck on your position, do everyone a favour and look up when this regulation was, in fact, instituted.

No one will be impressed with your attitude if it turns out it was done 5-10yrs ago. Find out for yourself, no assumptions.

16

Also you may have stumbled upon the reason the person who installed it then failed to use it.

17

Pay up. You’ve wasted enough of the city’s resources already; don’t waste more in a futile effort.

18

Just an FYI.

We had ours hooked up as new home owners.
After about two years, realized it was sort of a waste of money and canceled the subscription. However, we still do activate the alarm.

Why?
First of all, that alarm is damned loud, and at some point the neighbors would probably peer out the window and call the cops if it went on too long.
Plus, it will let me know if someone is trying to break in while we are sleeping at night.
And lastly, even if not at home - anyone breaking in couldn’t handle that noise long - and they don’t know that we canceled the actual service that sends someone (police) here.

Just saying - you might want to see if you can keep the loud, obnoxious alarm - but cancel that automatic service that notifies police.

19

That seems reasonable.

This is also a good idea.

20

It appears that CHAPTER 4-2. ALARM SYSTEMS. of the Austin, TX City Codes was passed in 1992.

On the Austin PD webpage it does list $200 as the fee for response to an alarm at a non-permitted site. Permitted alarm systems get a few free responses each year before fines kick in.