A judge has thrown out a case filed against a central
station manager who was charged under Salt Lake City’s
verified response ordinance. Jeff Howe, Peak Alarm’s
central station manager, had faced up to six months in jail
and a $1,000 fine for what Salt Lake City officials said
was the filing of a false police report after police were
dispatched to a school and determine that the alarm was
false.
Ron Walters of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC)
spoke with Howe after the judge dismissed the case April 12
and told Security Sales & Integration that he
expressed “great relief” he had been cleared. “We all have
always said that this would go away and the truth would
come out, but we weren’t the one sitting there and getting
charged,” Walters says. “The prosecution tried to make
their case and the judge threw it out. That should speak
for itself.”
Judge Paul Iwasaki dismissed the case “with prejudice,”
meaning the plaintiff, Salt Lake City, is barred from
bringing the action against Howe again.
Under Salt Lake City’s verified response policy that went
into effect in December 2000, alarm companies are required
to confirm a criminal event before police are called.
Police say Howe called police and verified that there were
two unauthorized people in a school building, but an
officer arrived to find no evidence of a crime. As a
result, Howe was arrested for filing a false police
report.
Howe, whose father Jerry Howe founded Peak Alarm more than
30 years ago, has maintained that when he called the school
to confirm the alarm, it was confirmed by a person at the
school.
Walters warns that just because Howe’s case was quickly
dismissed doesn’t mean Salt Lake City won’t try to
prosecute another alarm company worker through its alarm
ordinance. “There’s nothing that says they can’t stop doing
this,” Walters says.
