Raising an Alarm

It's alarming to be on the other side of the country and be informed that the home security system is detecting an intruder via the motion sensor.

This was the news not once, not twice, but five times during three successive days of my trip. Of course, there was nothing I could do about the situation and the police were dispatched to secure the scene, but I was concerned that my emergency contact was not called by the alarm company. She would have gone to my home immediately, key in hand, to surveille the situation, and then call me to see what I wanted done.

As a matter of fact, when I called the alarm company to complain that my contact had not been contacted, the rep claimed that there was no emergency contact listed with my information.

"That's strange," I replied. "The last time I was out of town my alarm went off too, and you contacted her that time to resolve the situation." I immediately requested that her name and 2 phone numbers be added to my information and verified that the information is correct. I left instructions to contact me at both phone numbers, then her 2 numbers if there is a next time.

I now have to account for a total of five false alarms, each one of which will cost me a $75 fine payable to the local police department.

I called the alarm company before I flew home yesterday, and the reps showed up this morning to determine what caused the situation. Sure, it cost me a $25 trip fee, but I was vindicated when the technician discovered that the motion sensor was installed incorrectly, which caused the false alarms! I'm sure I'll still have to pay the police department for deploying deputies to my home each time the damned alarm went off, but perhaps they will cut me some slack when I present them with the written documentation that it was an equipment failure?

The only aspect of this situation that concerns me is that the alarm went off at the same time 3 days in a row, 7:30 pm. It did not go off the first 2 days I was gone, but then went off 3 days in a row, and 3 separate times the third day of that sequence. I don't believe in coincidence because it's all too often cause and effect, but I'm stumped to figure out the cause for this series of events.