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6a11KJ08 %E 248 -1 Sheriff Gary Wheeler noted that he has been receiving input from Crime Watch, Neighborhood Watch, the alarm industry, as well as private citizens and businesses for over a year in an attempt to tailor the ordinance to fit our County. 97% to 99% of all alarms are false, usually caused by user error. 10% of these calls are caused by equipment failure, 5% by weather, and 5% miscellaneous. In 1990, the Sheriff's department answered 5,232 alarm calls; in 1996 8,240; and in 1998 10,000. That is a 91% increase. Deputies are spending 15 minutes of every hour responding to these calls. There has been tremendous growth in the alarm industry, mostly due to improved systems and reduction in pricing. Sheriff Wheeler continued that his department has been working with the Model States Program which includes the states of Florida, Missouri, Illinois, Washington and California. This program was designed to see what the causes of false alarms are and to make suggestions for reduction in responding to false alarms. Results from the Model States Program show a 40% to 60% reduction in false alarms in the first year. Sheriff Wheeler added that administration of the ordinance would require a clerical worker to handle the records. He then introduced Ronald Walters, Florida Committee for Model States Program, Coordinator for the Florida Executive Board, and Bob Sammons, of the Alarm Association. Ronald Walters, 9500 Northwest 19°i Street, Pembroke Pines, FL, Coordinator for the Florida Executive Board of the Model States Program, noted that the program is taken to law enforcement agencies initially at no cost to the agencies. We know that 99% of alarms are false and we know that 48% of these false alarms are caused by less than 10% of users. He believed that penalties for false alarms need to be severe but will only affect a small percentage of the population. Chairman Macht asked how many alarm companies operate in the County, and Mr. Walters responded that no records are kept. These companies can come into town and do one job and then leave. There are also companies who work here but do not have customers in the County. Bob Sammons, 529 Dahlia Lane, Vero Beach, stated that the alarm industry never expected to grow this big or have this many problems. The Executive Board of the Model States Program is doing a fabulous job and he was very impressed with the proposed ordinance. He believed that a permit renewal fee should be included in the ordinance, as well as a registration fee, and felt that the small percentage of the population causing most FEBRUARY 2, 1999