A news report by Dallas CBS 11 News reporter J.D. Miles gives a mixed look at verified response in the city of Dallas. The city went to a partial verified response policy earlier this year to cut back on what city leaders saw as a high number of police hours being dedicated to false alarms.
The city's move to verified response has only affected businesses. Homeowners still get full police response in a move that was seen by many as highly political. Now, over six months later, the Dallas Police Department is saying the policy is working.
The DPD sources numbers that say the alarm calls dropped from 49,355 in March to 30,576 in November, a 38 percent decrease.
Chris Russell, president of the North Texas Alarm Association, said in the CBS 11 news report, however, that the city was seeing a 3 percent in crease in business burglaries, which he believes is offsetting the decrease in false alarm calls.
"I believe verified response is a big failure," Russell told CBS 11. "Dallas has no business touting a success when it has not actually accomplished its goal -- which is to reduce crime."
