Wonder how much the city of Allen got paid by ADT, Hawk, or Central for this; in addition to the money they make off the city permits. Every reference to alarms reads like my old sales brochures when I worked for ADT in Dallas and a few smaller places in Houston. I have never seen a alarm monitored directly by the city. They all go to a station (usually ADT, who buys 70% the good credit contracts regardless of what the sign says), then verified by a phone call, which in turn calls the local PD (not a fast process). Unless the monitoring station can verify there is a crime in progress, the local PD will put response as the lowest priority (slowest). The vast majority are false, and no one is going to get in a rush to check.
He mentioned city permits, they are left to the home owner to pick up. With ADT, we would leave a copy of the form with them, now they just tell them to go online. I doubt many people get them, until that first false alarm bill shows up. Seeing the permit posted was extremely rare.
Allen TX fees:
Alarm permit: $50 (this covers the first 3 false alarms)
3-5 false alarms: $50 each
5-8 false alarms: $75 each
8+ false alarms: $100 each
Paper from U of Temple via Freakonomics:
not related exactly:
