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Indian River County
Sheriff's Office
4055 41st Avenue
Vero Beach, Florida 32960-1808
Tel. (561)569-6700

November 13, 1998

Mr. Stan Martin
ADI V.P. Industry Relations
12880 Valley Branch Road
Farmers Branch, TX 75234

RE: FALSE ALARM REDUCTION EFFORTS: MODEL STATES PROGRAM

Dear Mr. Martin:

I am writing to you today to express our utmost appreciation for your active efforts towards the reduction of false alarms and the resulting critical impact such calls have on the delivery of law enforcement services. Your participation in the Model States Program is to be commended. It is not often that leaders in private industry take such an active and responsible role in refining their impact to other industries.

As Sheriff of a growing county in Florida, I must continually strive to maximize our available resources while ensuring the safety of our community. As budgets continue to dry up, this balancing act becomes increasingly more difficult. We have been forced to look at many options, including eliminating certain services. Fortunately, through innovation and partnerships with our community, we have been able to avoid such drastic measures, for now. Again, I am especially pleased to see the efforts being made by the alarm industry to "police" your own industry and to do so with the active involvement of law enforcement as a true partner in providing a solution.

As we attempt to implement a false alarm ordinance, my office is fortunate to have the added resources and expertise offered through the Model States Program, and in particular Mr. Ron Walters. With Mr. Walters' assistance and unique perspective of both the alarm industry and law enforcement, we have been able to draft an ordinance that we believe will meet everyone's needs. Thus, we hope to ensure that the alarm industry can continue to provide a deterrent to criminals and service to their customers without the loss of police response. We are convinced that through alarm dealer/user education and appropriate accountability, the citizens of Indian River County will actually increase their level of law enforcement service through optimal use of police presence.

I hope that you can continue to provide the enthusiastic leadership such an effort requires; the industry, both the alarm as well as law enforcement is well served by individuals with your commitment and vision.

Sincerely,

Gary C. Wheeler, Sheriff

GCW:ss

The 173rd Internationally Accredited Law Enforcement Agency
Accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Incorporated

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