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As first reported on “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH, the Seattle Police Department interim-chief Sue Rahr informed security professionals that police will no longer respond to most burglary alarm company calls due to low staffing. So far this year, the department lost 66 officers to separation. The move makes business and residential customers particularly vulnerable to the city’s crime crisis. It’s why industry experts warn that this is a hastily implemented policy that did not include input from the alarm monitoring companies.

In a September 13 letter obtained by “The Jason Rantz Show,” Rahr explained the department’s “high priority is responding to violent in-progress incidents that threaten the safety of our communities.” But she explained that officers were being sidetracked by burglary alarms that turned out to be the result of an accidental sensor trip, or old and failing equipment.

“Of the 13,000 alarm calls in 2023, less than 4% were confirmed to have a crime associated with them that resulted in an arrest or reporting being written,” Rahr wrote.

SPD isn’t closing the door to all police responses. Rahr said in order to get a police response, the alarming monitoring company must provide “supporting evidence, such as audio, video, panic alarms or eyewitness evidence that a person is illegally entering or attempting to enter a residence of commercial property.” This is a dangerous policy.

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Was the burglary policy well thought out? Expert says no.

Security, Integration, and Life Safety Association of the Northwest (SILSA NW) president Steve Autio called the policy “sneaky” and dangerous.

“I thought it was a little sneaky that there was no transparency, and it came with two weeks’ notice,” Autio exclusively told “The Jason Rantz Show.” It’s not safe for anybody in the city. I can understand that they want to lessen false alarm but they currently already have to have all these alarms licensed, so they have to pay a licensing fee. If there is a false alarm, they charge the alarm companies. And the people that (generate) the false alarms are a very minor portion of all the customers that they have. I’m just shocked that they didn’t talk to us.”

Autio said SILSA NW, the association representing alarm companies in the Pacific Northwest, has a good relationship with the police and fire departments across the state. He said given SILSA NW has worked with first responders in the past to find better solutions, he was thrown by the policy coming out of nowhere. He said he thinks they were given little notice because “they didn’t want anybody to have time to respond.”

“To find out two weeks in advance just is not enough time for anybody to put in video verification, like add cameras to their whole system,” Autio said. “A lot of people can’t afford it … 75,000 approximately, and that’s a low number, might be closer to 100,000 alarm system in the city can’t be upgraded in two weeks, especially when most of them don’t even know that it’s coming.”

Why is the new burglary policy in Seattle so dangerous?

Upgrading burglary alarm systems to comply with the Seattle Police policy can be expensive. Autio estimates that, depending on the system and size of business or home, it could cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. As worrisome, the policy does not offer any exceptions for businesses that pose exceptional community risks, such as gun shops, pharmacies or banks.

“Say you’re a gun shop owner and your alarms tripped,” Autio warned. “Nobody’s coming, and as soon as all the criminals learn that nobody’s coming, they can break into gun shops, steal everything. The gun shop owner might come down there, but then that’s dangerous because they run into the criminal. Or pharmacies. You can break in and steal all the drugs. Banks, (too).”

Most troublesome is the impact this policy has on residential customers.

Imagine someone breaking into a home with only a 15-year-old child present. She’s been taught to hide and stay quiet, hoping the alarm will trigger an immediate police response. Families can no longer count on police to arrive.

“Let’s say it’s at night, and you protected all the windows in your house, and your daughter’s bedroom window downstairs has tripped,” Autio explained. “Nobody’s coming to help you. It’s just ridiculous that we didn’t get time to work this out and find a better solution.”

The elderly are also going to be disproportionately impacted by this policy, especially if they don’t have extra funds to upgrade systems on a fixed income.

When criminals learned they wouldn’t be chased due to Democrats banning policing pursuits, criminals took advantage. We already have a problem with break-ins in Seattle. It’s why businesses and even some neighborhoods have turned to private security for protection. It’ll only get more dangerous as a result of the policy.

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Seattle Police are dealing with two very serious issues: a loss of nearly 700 cops since the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement that defunded and demonized police听and听accidentally tripped alarms. Seattle is听also听dealing with burglary suspects who already take advantage of lax policies and understaffed precincts.

“This decision was due to and is more evidence of the defunding movement disaster,” Seattle Police Officers Guild president Officer Mike Solan explained to “The Jason Rantz Show” on KTTH. “Climbing out of the defunding movement will take decades.”

Something does need to be done in order to address Seattle Police’s legitimate concerns. But it’s precisely why SILSA NW should have been consulted.听Alarm companies still have to pay for their licenses, which could run over $500 a year. But what are they getting in return for the fee? Not police protection.

Rahr won’t be here for the impact of her policy

This current predicament for alarm companies and their customers could have been avoided or addressed had Rahr took time to actually talk to those who are most impacted. It’s not just alarm companies feeling the strain; Seattle taxpayers, the customers, are suffering as well.

As the interim chief, Rahr is ultimately responsible for the fallout from her Seattle burglary alarm policy. She seems unconcerned about the long-term consequences on the community, likely because she won鈥檛 be around to deal with the mess. When residents forget the origins of this policy and no one shows up to respond to a burglary alarm, it鈥檒l be the police who take the blame. This is why the city council and the mayor鈥檚 office need to step up and demonstrate some real leadership.

“We’re hoping that everybody contacts the mayor, city council, police chief,” Autio said. “We have people testifying (Tuesday) at city council meetings. I’ll probably be in that myself. All they have to do is just postpone this stop, and work with us and work with other associations in the area, and we can come up with a better solution.”