ECONOMICS 1

1

• ECONOMICS 1
• Overall crime rate has been dropping
• Policing budgets have been increasing far beyond
  cost of living and population growth
• Those with alarms have ¼ of break-in rate / loss
• DNV False Alarm rate is half that of Vancouver.
• Vancouver charges less to register alarms
• Home Insurance cost savings for having an alarm
  would be cut in my case by 30
• Alarm discount is only applicable to Property
  Coverages for my own case Discount was 15 of
  421 which saved me 63. The proposed 20
  Registration fee would result in savings
  reduction of 30

2

• MISC
• Police do not travel at high rate of speed to
  attend home alarms unless they are for break-ins
  in progress. If they speed they should do so
  safely!
• There has been very limited public consultation
  even my insurance agent was not aware of the
  proposed alarm permitting program!
• As shown in the Statistics section there is
  no significant risk or service degradation due to
  current non-billable false alarms.

3
STATISTICS Alarms in 2004 3350 (DNV
only) Alarms Attended in 2004 1929 (DNV
only) False (billable) Alarms in 2004 697 (DNV
only) False Alarms not billed in 2004 1250 (DNV
only) Average non-billed false alarms 1 every 6
hours In my opinion this has a negligible impact
on public safety and is more than compensated for
by reduced crime due to those having home
alarms Note DNV total home alarm rate is 0.23/yr
CNV is 25 higher at 0.29/yr
4
ECONOMICS 2 Current net cost to DNV -
87,185 Net Cost with Permits
396,191 Conclusion Program is a TAX GRAB
Violates Local Government Act requiring cost
recovery only.
5

• PRIVACY CONCERNS
• Private information would be divulged to
  District Staff
• District staff would likely be required to
  undergo security checks, including
  fingerprinting.

• Alternative Model
• Use the Prince Albert business based model
• less overhead / bureaucracy
• via usual business model - targets only the
  people with false alarms

6

• Conclusions
• Current risk and service degradation minimal
• Program would be unfair to majority not having
  false alarms and who contribute to lowering
  police costs
• Programs revenue far exceeds expenses ILLEGAL
  TAX GRAB
• Alternative fairer, less bureaucratic, models
  exist to reduce false alarms and fund minor
  shortfall.
• Recommend we maintain current program with
  enhanced education by DNV and alarm companies and
  possibly allow only 1 free false alarm every 2
  years.