Home Depot robber delays alarm company, flees with $10,000

?Here is the link. Sorry, but program would not let me do link as hyperlink. Maybe someone can fix it with their program.

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Reply to
David 01
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?Here is the link. Sorry, but program would not let me do link as hyperlink. Maybe someone can fix it with their program.

I guess it did do hyperlink. I'm new to this software.

Reply to
David 01

I was finishing a small business in a shopping center once on a contracting deal. The installing company assured me it was on "test" (they called the CS instead of giving me the code word).

I sent a complete round of burg. signals from every zone, then turned off the alarm with the duress code.

A minute later the shopkeeper say's "uhhh, it's your company, they need to talk to you". It wasn't the company, it was the CS wanting the code word! It was not on test. I told the operator this was a new install and was supposed to be on test, I did not know the code word.

So he says he's calling the cops. I said go ahead, but they won't come because there is no permit yet. Then he said, but I also got a *duress* alarm. OH FUCK! I asked him to hold the line while I dialed the company I was installing for on my cell to get the code. The CS dude talked to me for 10 minutes before I got the code word and he never dispatched that whole time. What an idiot.

The code word was "Flintstones", one of the VERY few, of thousands, I can still remember.

Reply to
G. Morgan

I was finishing a small business in a shopping center once on a contracting deal. The installing company assured me it was on "test" (they called the CS instead of giving me the code word).

I sent a complete round of burg. signals from every zone, then turned off the alarm with the duress code.

A minute later the shopkeeper say's "uhhh, it's your company, they need to talk to you". It wasn't the company, it was the CS wanting the code word! It was not on test. I told the operator this was a new install and was supposed to be on test, I did not know the code word.

So he says he's calling the cops. I said go ahead, but they won't come because there is no permit yet. Then he said, but I also got a *duress* alarm. OH FUCK! I asked him to hold the line while I dialed the company I was installing for on my cell to get the code. The CS dude talked to me for 10 minutes before I got the code word and he never dispatched that whole time. What an idiot.

The code word was "Flintstones", one of the VERY few, of thousands, I can still remember.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I've been out of the business for years, but my favorite (now, not at the time) CS experience was many years ago I had added a foot rail holdup alarm which was silent of course and I had told one of the operators at a small CS I contracted with that I was going to send 2 signals and to ignore those and then put me back online.

I sent the 2 signals and spent some time cleaning up some wiring under the counter and then I raised up and a guy in street clothes pointed a 357 magnum at my nose. About that time I could hear sirens approaching and I didn't know what was going on. I thought the guy with the gun was a robber, but it turned out he was a plainclothes detective and that the CS had dispatched on the holdup signals. I didn't get shot but my adrenalin was flowing well. After everything was cleared up and the manager gave all the policeman some coffee and donuts, I called the CS and asked the operator why they dispatched after I told them I was going to send 2 test signals. She said, "oh, I'm sorry, I went to the restroom and forgot to tell anybody else."

Reply to
David 01

The bad thing about this is ..... that generally speaking, it besmirches the whole alarm trade due to the fact that this failure is all encompassing and reduces the confidence in all alarm systems, central stations and the alarm trade .... in total.

The good thing about it is .... the alarm company that it happened to.

Reply to
Jim

Bad screw-up by the central station, that operator should and likely will be fired

This part was odd tho... "The alarm sounded for several more minutes, so ADT called police"

The central station would have know idea how long or if the alarm is sounding, I assume they received more signals and dispatched

Reply to
mleuck

Too true, nobody ever mentioned the times where everything worked properly, nobody also ever mentions the number of burglars caught by an alarm system

Reply to
mleuck

I would have drove to the central station, and spill coffee all over her desk! Right in front of her and the management escorting me.

Reply to
G. Morgan

Don't the panels send a signal when disarmed while in alarm?

The Vista clones should but I don't know about the Focus family.

Reply to
JoeRaisin

RHC: Good point !! The good events are rarely heard about, but the failures...always !! I don't know how many burglars are actually caught because of the alarm, but some if not many are at least scared off by it. I had a customer who's basement window was kicked in, and the quick response from the monitoring station basically saved the day. She was so happy that she called the station and flowered them with accolades...:)) The station manager told me that this happens very infrequently, but when it does, it "makes their day"....

As far as having an incorrect dispatch while testing, I think this is a "rite of passage" and happens to us all at some point in our careers installing alarms....hopefully, only once though !!

Reply to
tourman

How professional of you

Reply to
mleuck

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