5 Alarm Companies Remain On Sandy Springs No-Response List

SANDY SPRINGS, GA — The number of companies not in compliance with the city of Sandy Springs false alarm ordinance continues to dwindle, as these entities work to pay the fines that resulted in these businesses being placed on the city's non-response list for burglary alarms.

As of Thursday, April 12, the following companies remain in non-compliance with the city's ordinance:

• Patterson Security Services (representing 20 customers)
• RTA Security (representing five customers)
• Security Sales & Service (representing 27 customers)
• Banner Security Systems, Inc. (registration of customers in process)
• Safe Home Security (no customers registered)

Sandy Springs also notes the following companies never registered in the city and are not eligible for burglar alarm responses: Alarm Force; Consumer Security Services of Ga.; EDE Systems, Inc.; Interlink Control; Nationwide Integrators, Inc.; Safecom Security Solutions; and Strong Security.

The city reiterates that public safety personnel will continue to respond to fire, panic and hold-up calls from alarm companies. This latest information comes a little more than the week after the city placed 39 companies on its no-response list for not paying fine issued for violating the false alarm policy.

The city adds less than 20 percent of the residences in Sandy Springs utilize a monitored alarm system, yet about 18 percent of all calls coming into the ChatComm 911 Center are from alarm companies. More than 99 percent of those calls are false alarms, representing more than 10,000 calls each year. The high percentage of false alarms is consistent with national statistics dating back more than 20 years, the city added.

"These false alarm calls pose a public safety threat as 911 operators handling these false calls are delayed in assisting those callers with real emergencies, in addition to diverting public safety personnel from focusing on real public safety priorities," it said on its Facebook page.

Sandy Springs' ordinance requires alarm companies to register the company and its customers with the city and comply with the state's requirement for two-call verification prior to calling 911 for dispatch. The alarm company is fined for a false alarm when public safety is dispatched to an alarm address where no evidence of a crime has occurred. The intent of the ordinance is to reduce the number of false alarms in the city, improving the safety of all city residents.

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