AIREF survey pans verified response

IRVING, Texas-A survey of 515 registered voters in Salt Lake City, commissioned by the Alarm Industry Research and Educational Foundation, gave a thumbs down to verified response in that city, which instituted the policy in December 2005. The survey results, released on Sept. 18, showed that only 20 percent of registered voters surveyed knew about the alarm ordinance, according to an AIREF press release, and 65 percent of respondents disapprove of verified response. In the next election, 60 percent said they would be "inclined to vote for a political candidate who opposes the ordinance, 20 percent would vote for a candidate who favors the ordinance and 20 percent were not sure." Bisconti Research conducted the survey on behalf of AIREF, a nonprofit foundation created in 1977 by the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association to "serve as the research arm of the industry." The results of this survey were made public a couple months after Sonitrol, a security company that offers audio alarm verification, released a white paper which surveyed police departments in 20 cities across the United States that have had verified response policies. The survey found that those communities had declining burglary rates and reduced their dispatch rates by an average of 72 percent. Asked if the study was commissioned in response to the Sonitrol white paper, Georgia Calaway, AIREF spokeswoman, said no. "The AIREF board voted to underwrite the survey way before that study was released. They voted to do the survey at a meeting in April at ISC West."