Opinion ID: 2367244
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: salt lake city's verified response ordinance

Text: ¶ 4 While this civil case is based on the events surrounding Mr. Howe's call to police on June 27, 2003, Mr. Howe alleges his prosecution was rooted in a long-standing acrimonious relationship between Peak Alarm and the Salt Lake City Police Department. The hostility, Mr. Howe alleges, began years earlier as the police department grew concerned over resources expended in responding to false alarms reported by private alarm companies. In response to police complaints that calls from private security firms were a waste of police resources, Salt Lake City officials enacted the verified response ordinance in December 2000. The ordinance precludes a police response to an intrusion alarm reported by a private security company without on-site verification from an alarm company employee. Salt Lake City Ordinance 5.08.095. ¶ 5 In addition to instituting the verified response policy within Salt Lake City, Shanna Werner, the department's alarm administrator, was occasionally quoted in trade publications as well as local and national media reports about the city's efforts to manage alarm company calls. Ms. Werner also spoke to city officials in other Utah communities about the program. As part of her public comments on the issue, Ms. Werner criticized the alarm industry as earning profits without providing any services, wasting public resources, and for preying on the fears of potential customers. Mr. Howe became part of this public debate as well. Most notably, in 2003 he became chair of a committee formed by the Utah Alarm Association to lobby against the adoption of the verified response policy by other cities in Utah.