DEPARTMENT: Police
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Anthony L. Trevi?o, Jr.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Response to Waiver of Alarm Permit Fees CCR
SUMMARY:
On January 14, 2015, Councilman Alan Warrick requested City Council consider a "waiver of alarm permit fees for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and stalking."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The SAPD Alarms Unit is currently responsible for administering the alarm registration program. The Unit has over 48,000 permitted alarms on record. Each alarm system owner is required to pay an annual fee of $40 ($35 for Seniors) for the cost of administering the program. Additionally, there is a tiered false alarm fee schedule that starts at $0 for the first three false alarm responses and increases with the number occurrences thereafter.
The Alarm Unit is mandated by the Municipal Code Chapter 25, Article IV to regulate all active alarms within the City of San Antonio and reduce the number of false alarm calls. The Unit has a crew of 12 personnel who process all payments for new alarm permits, renewal permits, and false alarm fees, along with monthly billing, fielding customer inquiries and complaints and handling all walk up customer business.
ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
Domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and stalking are complex problems that raise a number of important questions related to an alarm waiver program, including:
* According to the 2013 Crime in Texas report, published by the Texas Department of Public Safety, 54.6% of the victims of family violence are either a spouse or child of the offender(s) and 45.3% of the victims of sexual assault either live in the home or are related to the offender(s). In cases such as this, reducing or waiving alarm fees would be ineffective.
* How long would the waiver be in place? (E.g. If the person was a victim of child abuse when they were 5 years of age, and now they are 35 years of age, and/or...
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