Had another Grapevine PD contact yesterday....

[The Annoyed Man]

So we have a young lady living with us right now whom we've given a place to stay until she can get her feet back under her. My wife and I attend a weekly BNI-type of business networking meeting at 8 a.m. every Wednesday morning, and we typically get out the door to the meeting at about 7:40. Our house guest typically leaves for work at about 7:45 a.m., and on those mornings, she arm the burglar alarm. On other mornings, we're usually still sitting having our coffee when she leaves for work, and she knows we're home so she doesn't arm the alarm system.

Anyway, yesterday morning, she left before we did; and assuming that we had already left, she armed the alarm while we were still in the house. The results are predictable. When we left, we triggered the alarm; but because the siren doesn't really start for 30 seconds (to give you time to get to the keypad and turn it off if you're on your way IN to the house), we never heard the alarm from inside our car as we drove away.

We arrived at The Original Pancake House in Grapevine where our group meets, and as I get out of the car my cellphone rings. It's the alarm company calling me to tell me that there was an alarm, and did we want them to send the polices. I said to go ahead and send them, and then I turned around and went back home to meet them there.

I got home before the police got there. Everything looked OK, but I resisted the temptation to go inside until the officer got there. Pretty soon he drives up, gets out, and ambles over to me. I introduced myself and we shook hands. He introduced himself by first and last name. I voluntarily took out my ID holder, flipped it open, and hand it over to him. He took a look, didn't say a thing, and handed it back to me. Then I unlocked the front door and we went in together. The only thing out of place was our dog Trapper. He was so thoroughly traumatized by the system's siren that he was burrowed into the back of our master closet and wouldn't come out until we had been in the house for 10 or 15 minutes. He finally came out very cautiously, but it took him a while to settle down and relax.

The GPD officer who answered the call handled things calmly, professionally, and with good humor. He even took an interest in my dog's happiness and tried to reassure him that everything was OK. He didn't seem to be the least bit concerned about my CHL, and he never asked me if I was armed. All in all, it was a good encounter.

[AEA]

You're becoming fairly well known by the GPD!

[The Annoyed Man]

You're becoming fairly well known by the GPD!

I know, huh?

[Deltaboy]

LOL poor dog! Gald it turned out all right.

[speedsix]

...they're gonna start callin' you Chicken Little with all these false alarms!!!

[Skiprr]

I'm a bit surprised the officer would allow you to accompany him into the house at first entry.

Then again, maybe you're now known well enough by Grapevine PD that they have a flag on you that says, "Suitable for deputized team-tactics operations."

[speedsix]

...he was scared...he heard somethin' breathin' heavy in the closet!!!

[GeorgeW]

Does Grapevine charge home with false alarms after a while? I know I've seen it mentioned before that police departments could charge for repeated false alarms. As good as my dog is at guarding our home, I think he would be distracted and perhaps scared of the alarm sound too.

[terryg]

I only had once false alarm. I had taken the deadbolt lock off of the garage entry door to take it to Home Depot for a replacement. There was enough movement in the regular lock and it tripped the alarm.

As soon as the alarm company called, I knew what had happened - but they had already summoned the police. So I turned around and went home expecting to see the police there.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

They arrived about 10-15 minutes later.