Woman fights fees, fine for alarm system

In the blackout after Tropical Storm Irene, Antoinette Glacken was unable to deactivate her home alarm system.

She couldn't decipher the numbers on the keypad in the darkness. So for the first time since the alarm was installed in 1994, it transmitted a signal that summoned police to her Uniondale home.

"When the officer came, I thanked him, said, 'I'm very sorry,' " she told Watchdog. "He shook my hand."

But, she added, it turned out to be an expensive handshake: She soon received a notice that she owed Nassau $200 -- a $100 fine because the alarm didn't have a county permit, plus a $100 fee to obtain such a permit.

The notice went on to say that if she didn't comply, police wouldn't answer an alarm signal from her home without independent information that a response is appropriate.

That, Mrs. Glacken says, is blackmail. And she's fighting back.

She sent letters to a litany of public officials -- among them County Executive Edward Mangano, acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpken, Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and County Legis. Kevan Abrahams (D-Hempstead) -- along with one to her security alarm company, ADT. And after the county added a $100 late fee, she turned to Watchdog. This is her case:

The fine should be canceled because she never received notice that the county, since 2007, has required a permit for alarm systems. (In 2009, ADT began notifying customers when local jurisdictions impose such permits, according to spokesman Ken Volpp.) Under the Nassau law, homeowners with permits aren't fined for the first four alarms.

And senior citizens should be exempt from the permit fee. Seniors are already being "financially choked," she said. "It's not fair. I feel they [the county] should have some consideration."

Of course, there are other considerations: Nassau police can't afford to spend time answering false alarms. To get the law passed, the county made the case that, in 2005, police responded to 115,000 alarms -- 99.4 percent of them false.

"So many times alarms are faulty," said Nassau police spokesman Lt. Kevin Smith. "We have spent a lot of unnecessary time going to these false calls." The law itself says costs associated with false alarms "should be borne by the people who have alarm systems."

Mrs. Glacken isn't backing down. And she's gotten the attention of the county and the alarm security company.

Smith said if Mrs. Glacken pays the $100 permit fee and the initial $100 fine, the county will waive the $100 late fee.

And ADT spokesman Ken Volpp said the company, to make up for the fine, will credit her account $100.

So that leaves $100 for the two-year permit. The fee would be on top of her $90.66 quarterly payments to ADT. "How many people do I have to pay to protect my home?" she asked in exasperation.

Late last month, Mangano directed the county's Hardship Review Board to consider her proposal to exempt senior citizens, calling it "a good suggestion."

Stay tuned.

The school bus stop at the junction of Lafayette Drive, Fordham Lane and South End Avenue in Woodmere is dangerous. There are blind spots for approaching motorists and, more important, there is a very large old tree overhanging the intersection. Please move the bus stop before the tree or its limbs fall.

-- Joel S. Evans, Woodmere

The school district agreed with Mr. Evans and has relocated the bus stop, according to district spokeswoman Barbara Giese. In fact, the district took action after hearing directly from Mr. Evans and before Watchdog had a chance to make an inquiry.

As for the tree itself: The Town of Hempstead sent an inspector to the neighborhood and reports that the tree, though at an angle, is "extremely large and healthy." According to town spokesman Michael Deery, the homeowner told the inspector the tree "has grown naturally, albeit at an angle" and "does not sway and by all appearances seems stable."

But "to ensure the safety of traffic," the town will trim large limbs that hang over the roadway, Deery said.

-- JUDY CARTWRIGHT