A vacationing family’s home alarm system that can’t be turned off turned into a nuisance for neighbors in the Capitol Hill area of Washington D.C. The system began sounding on the morning of Aug. 18, after the local power company shut off and turned back on the power during routine maintenance and, as of Aug. 19, has continued to sound with police and neighbors powerless to turn off the noise.
The Washington Times reports that police have been unable to find a number for the security company whose stickers are posted on the house and say it is an example of the importance of a family providing a trusted neighbor of the contact information for their alarm company. The stickers are for a company called “Knight Security Services” and don’t provide a phone number. A search by SSI did not find any company with that name in or near the Washington D.C. area.
Washington Metropolitan Police Officer Kenny Bryson told the Times that police can’t shut down the alarm without the company’s contact information. “We will secure the residence and make sure nothing criminal is going on, but we cannot force entry and break in the residence to turn the alarm off,” Bryson says. The power company, Potomac Electric Power, says it cannot turn off the power to the house because it would be a violation of that family’s service.
In the meantime, neighbors have to put up with the droning alarm, with one commenting to the Times, “It’s annoying. Maybe I’ll get a gun and blast it off.”
