Recieved an interesting Letter from the Dekalb County Police TN
 

We are remodeling a house in Dekalb County (Liberty TN) We bought the house and were robbed 7 times. The police have never caught anyone and did not even collect evidence when there was some.
We installed a burglar alarm and after two more breakins it stopped. Last week a high wind pushed open a door that I had left unlocked. And the alarm went off. The alarm company called and I informed them to call the police and then responded to the house. We now have received a letter from the sheriff's department giving us a verbal warning for wasting their time.
I realize that it is a problem if a person abuses the police but now when the alarm goes off I have to make a choice did something happen or is a robbery happening because the sheriff does not want to be bothered.

As a former officer that responded to these alarms, if the owner knows it is a false alarm, why tie up an officers time?
We have been so busy that I pulled officers off alarms to deal with other high priority calls. A famous man once said. "the needs of the many outweigh the wants of the few".

It is the responsibility of the alarm holder to secure windows and doors. If weather causes them to malfunction, that is on the owner. We were responsible for 60000 people, not just one alarm holder,

If you are not there how would you know if it was real. Yea , I get that there was a storm but as odd as it seems there were robberies and break ins during Katrina.

It sounds like in this case the owner didn't know it was a false alarm. I agree it's on you if you leave a door unlocked, though. That was careless.

Sounds like a letter to the editor of the local paper is in order .Complementing them for the fine work they did on investigating the 7 break ins. Then apologizing for dragging them away from their speed traps or was it the doughnut shop . O and don't forget to thank them for to hour the secretary took away from flirting with the other cops to wight that letter . :thumb:

Or pull one of mine go by see your lawyer to arrange bail then go tell that public servant were he can stick his letter :buds:

We are very close to moving in. The door is not a door we normally use and yes I made a mistake and did not check it when we left. I thought my wife locked it and she thought I did. We were very tired. We are normally less than 13 minutes away for now and instead of bothering the police I will respond myself. The police can clean up the mess after I gently talk to who ever is there. I realize that they can not be bothered.
I did not know the door was not secured and in the three years I have had the alarm this is the first false alarm. So they have issued a Verbal warning not to bother them unless I verify there is a problem so that is the way it is.

I wonder you know those recent stories of people being found dead in homes years after they died....... guess if the alarm goes off and the bad guy stops you from confirming......the cops will not check....

Years pass till your found when the tax sale is final.

Had a friend that had a beautiful second home in a very rural area. . Had an alarm that went off one too many times due to high wind , etc. Ended up pulling it out after the sheriff said he'd be billed for any more false alarms. End of the story was the house was burglarized, set on fire and due to the large amount of ammo going off, the fire dept was afraid to get close to save it.

The alarm company calls me first and then I give permission to call the police. Now I will just go myself unless I am too far away.

Anyway I have always responded anyway. There have only been two calls envolving the police before and there were defiant intrusion.
The first they removed a screen jimmied a window. They left quickly but walked on just varnished floor. The police didn't need any pictures. They then tried a side door and left fast, I do have a 120 Db alarm.

With that kind of crime rate, on top of that attitude from the local police, I would think about flipping that house instead of moving in!

I have a friend who used to flip houses , he had a 2 man crew , he would buy the house and as soon as the closing was over they would hit the store with the list of everything they needed for the job , and move into the house that afternoon, the real estate sign would come out their sign would go up for sale by owner , one guy always spent the night the house was never alone from closing to closing usually one or more of the bed rooms needed very little work and they would set up in there and it was the first or last room finished. also a way to write off all your living expenses , food , heat , cell phone. because you were also on site security.

this was just outside Chicago and it was the only way to keep tools and materials from walking away or the house from being vandalized If all went well they had it sold before he made the first payment on it. they knew exactly the reasons why a bank would not give a mortgage on it to most home owners and that what they fixed every house was a perfect home inspection when done

then the bubble burst and they couldn't turn money in a month flipping houses with no living expenses and he picked a new line of work

As usual, the many must pay for the behavior of a few. There are people to whom the police going to their place for false alarm after false alarm means nothing. They can't see any reason fix the problems causing these repeated bad calls. Until they get a notice from the police saying they have to pay for them.
So then the people who do care get dragged into the same scenario despite their best efforts and must pay too. It's not fair but fair is not a principle easily written into regulatiom .

OT but because of all the oil wells going up and burning off fracking chemicals our fire departments are constantly responding to false alarms. I admit I once called one in. It was 2am and I was feeding my son when I looked out the window and there was this big fire. It wasn't until weeks later I realzied that fire was an oil rig. Glad the fire department didn't threaten me!

The slippeey slope......

You run out of manpower, so you don't bother responding to small deals. Not worth it.

As time goes by, everything becomes a small deal, not worth responding to.

So, the small deals mushroom - no one bothers to chase after thrm, so the small crooks can run freely, take what they want.

As they get bolder, they get bigger, and organized, and become big deals.

But the Law doesn't have the resources, and no longer cares about or has departments familiar with dealing with such stuff.

So the small deals, and the somewhat bigger deals, continue to increase, and get bigger, and get organized, unbothered by the law.

And then we have organized crime, Chicago, or Mexico, where the criminals - you know those small petty things wasn't worth bothering with - running the place, and the law is just a joke, and people get bullied about.

Yup. Not worth bothering with. Its only small unimportant stuff.

Paul

I don't see why they don't even bother to collect blatant evidence on burglaries. All the dealings I have had with police or SO after my home or business or friends home had been broken into, they never bothered to even take prints and there were lots of prints.

After a burglary, I had to do the leg work and investigating to find the offender or offenders and then after the conviction(s) I was the one that had to call and find out where my money for restitution was every month or quarter.
I never have figured out why I am the one that usually has to do their job.
My alarm is set to where the sirens go off and it calls mine and my wife's cell numbers. No one else. I figure they won't respond anyway.

I didn't see where the op had false alarm after false alarm. Maybe someone who did read that could point it out to me.

But I do agree with selling asap. How long have you owned this burglar playground? It's got to be someone who knows the area. Set up some cameras with remote feed so you can monitor the situation from your computer.

BTW, not knowing the door was unlocked, I also would have called police just in case someone had got inside and was waiting with evil intentions.

I know what you mean about police not collecting evidence. Someone did a drive-by shooting here. Yes the police collected the casings but told me they wouldn't be doing any fingerprinting on them.

Has there ever been a time when the police did forensic work on small burglaries? The only time I ever heard of it was when it was a major theft in an institution like a bank. Mostly they act only when there are multiples of the same sort of thing.

There has come to be a problem with what tax money is spent to get. For one thing, public services like police and fire, at least around here, have salaries of 6 figures, free health care, early retirement and a substantial pension.
And as people become very expensive, there are fewer of them that local government can afford. And then they are required to do more and more and become less effective.

It would probably much better to have many more police on the street but they would have to get less salary and pensiin to be affordable. I can't see tgat happening easily.

Around here you get one freeby in a 6 mos time period then you are charged.

Around here when the municipalities want to hire more emergency personnel they just raise taxes. But they also keep any recovered items unless you have your social security number visibly engraved on your items. Once they get a good collection of stolen items they offer you the opportunity to buy them back when they have their "unclaimed goods" auction. That money goes into the police general fund.

Many departments have a procedure for fining recurring false alarms (and the amount goes up for each one)

This letter is probably the first step in what will soon be an expensive propitiation.

So you get robbed twice, eh? Nice. And people wonder why there is growing anti-police sentiment...

In response to that letter I might call and talk to someone in administration and have them take a look at things more closely. It seems to me there was only one 'false' alarm. They have no call to get all nasty, especially since I would consider their lack of response to previous robberies the reason they continue.

Welp, there's another town on my list of places to avoid ever living in!
=/

No, you get robbed 3 times. Don't forget you pay them to collect your items and sell them at auction.

Better than having your ssn stolen and having to deal with identity theft too. That has happened. Sorry but my 10 year old tv just isn't worth that.

I believe I know this property and once the OP moves there permanently, he should not have a problem. It's not the ghetto or very rural and I would not be surprised if the culprits are teenagers.

I'd add cameras to the security system.

NO.
I had a small burglary many years ago. Took some pretty expensive speakers and such things as that. Power 150 WATT Subwoofer etc.
But as soon as the officer asked if I was covered by insurance, and I said sure I was......THAT WAS IT.~!
I NEVER ever heard from the police again. I am sure he put all the paperwork into a huge file IN THE BACK of the file cabinet and there it STAYED to this day. And that was around 18 years ago~
They don't care, as long as you are covered by insurance So What, you will get reimbursed, the cops don't care at all as long as you will be made good in the end, and insurance was their ticket to literally close the case. And because of electronics going down in price each year even with the small deductible I had at that time I was able to BUY NEW and was happy to do so.

It is pretty simple that since we have installed the burglar alarm we have had two break ins but they left empty handed. We are almost ready to move in. When we do I will have cameras at the mill and when they come I will catch them. I will prosecute and the word will be out to leave us alone. It is a wonderful place and if you deported less than 10 people you would have no crime.

A couple thoughts.
The OP had only one false alarm. But other people have had numerous false alarms. That is a situation to get the alarm company involved. They have experienced techs to address the problems. You pay a fortune for install and monitoring, their side of the bargain is to provide expertise. If one person at the alarm company won't help, go up the ladder. You'll eventually get to my poor, grey sister! Her and her techs solve these problems every day. If your alarm company won't satisfy you, fire them. There are plenty more.
If you bought your system online and installed it yourself, congratulate yourself for being smarter and saving money. Remind yourself about all the money you saved when you are replacing stuff, paying for false alarms, and worrying every day.



I had a lot of breakins at our remote weekend place. The Pennsylvania State police were wonderful. Very courteous and professional. They eventually caught two different groups of bad guys. People went to jail over several robberies, not just ours. They treated my problem like a 'real' crime, which it was. They did forensics, tire tracks, fingerprints.
My point, don't loose faith in all law enforcement. I criticize them more than my fair share, but I have to praise them, too.

It seems like over the past 40 years, we always get a new crop of bad guys. What finally stopped our break ins was the Amish moving next door. They use our phone and freezer, so they are in our house more than I am. They keep an eye on the place, and everyone in town knows they do. Good neighbors are one of our greatest blessings.

You have 2 choices:

1) annual contribution to the widows and orphans fun. (No difference in the amount vs. a fine, but at least someone gets a big year-end party)

2) donuts. Lots and lots of donuts.

It really saddens me but it has become apparent that there is a lot more police activity if there is drugs involved that the police department can confiscate property to make their departments money.
Dekalb County TN is a wonderful area and I don't know the police department yet. I am one that wants to support the police department and help where I can, but that letter shows me that as far as my family and personal property is concern we are on our own.

I thought of this thread yesterday. I got a call from someone in my church wanting to know what time I leave to feed my horses since I have to go right past the church. She got a call that the door was opened. And I thought about calling the police for just in case. But then I thought about this thread, and figured the church didn't need that. I stopped on my way to the farm, figuring that if anyone had broken in, they'd be long gone. Apparently, whoever was last out Sunday evening didn't shut the door all the way. It was extremely windy yesterday. The door hadn't been forced, and nothing was missing, so I just closed the door, made sure it latched properly and left.

I totally agree!

I get aggravated with our local PD. Seems that we live like it is Nazi Germany when it comes to pulling people over for seat belt violations and bad headlight bulbs, but they are no where to be found when it comes to real crime.

I am not kidding about the seat belt violations. You better not drive one city block without your seat belt on. You will have 14 cops and a SWAT team on you. They used to set up road blocks on a weekly basis checking for seat belts.

They also love to have speed checks during morning rush hour...for all of those people who are going to work to earn a living.

But it seems to me that they can never investigate any real crime.

That is my personal experience in Tenn.

Question. . .how do the police know it was a false alarm? Could the door not have been opened by a thief who was scared off by the alarm? I'd contact the SO and ask for the report showing that they have evidence to support their claim of a false alarm. Seeing as you have prior break ins w/o proof one way or the other logic would lean more toward it being a prevented break in, not a false alarm.

I will be buying a six camera wireless system tomorrow. This system will message me on my smartphone and I can look before I think about calling the police.
The only way I will call the police is if I am too far away. They in my opinion are not really interested in catching these few bad apples but I am.