by Caroyn Seitz
smseitz@mindspring.com
I saw a comment on one of the local blogs from a resident complaining that his residence was burglarized and that the deputies never responded until 15 minutes after he called the Sheriff's Station to report that his house had been broken into. The burglars were still in the residence when he arrived home, about 30 minutes after the alarm company notified him that his alarm had been breached.
Please do not assume that the alarm companies called the sheriff's station.
Unfortunately, they do not always call the sheriff.
A couple of years ago, you may remember that a resident received a call from his alarm company that his kitchen door had been breached, setting off the alarm.
He drove home immediately and parked across the street from his house.
He saw a Black Cadillac Escalade in his driveway and then saw a male walk out of his kitchen door with his big screen TV. The TV went into the Escalade and the burglar walked back into the house and walked out with more of the resident's "stuff."
The resident didn't call the Sheriff. Instead, he followed the Escalade for a short distance and then lost sight of it in traffic.
His alarm company also hadn't notified the sheriff's deputies.
When you get a call from your alarm company, no matter where in the world you might be, call the sheriff to report the alarm having been tripped.
Let them go sort it out instead of being mad at them for not responding.
You'll stand a better chance of getting a timely response from the deputies if you also call. Don't assume your alarm company did.
These failure happen more often than you might imagine.
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Carolyn Seitz is Altadena's Citizen of the Year for 2010 and a public safety volunteer.
