Once again I have to give my head a shake and wonder out loud … where did all the fun police come from and what ever happened to the idea that a man was king of his castle? (that’s right … I didn’t say woman. Please don’t sue me. It’s just a figure of speech. Besides, whoever heard of a woman being a king? Also, they only allow me to post 300 words here so I don’t exactly have the wiggle room to pander to the fervent politically correct members of the readership. Cheers.)
Has no one else noticed any of the other ridiculous things going on around here? At no time in the past would sane people voluntarily pay their local municipal government for the pleasure of owning an alarm that they were legally allowed to purchase and did not need to register (read “pay insane tax for”) at the time of purchase or installation. It’s a simple combination of electronic devices designed to deter criminals and has proven effective throughout the modern world. These systems are, however, man-made and don’t always work as we have envisioned. I guess that puts them on par with the rest of our crime-fighting network. The city powers should worry about stopping criminals — not penalizing those folks who are just trying to do what the cops and courts seem incapable of … or at least city hall should examine their logic from a different angle.
First, let’s forget all together about the idea of a fee for registering an alarm system — it’s a tax grab in a most unbashful form and serves no other purpose. I can sort of understand the City having the codes on file … although this isn’t Moscow and I should also be allowed to have secrets from the municipality, and let’s not forget the ensuing crime wave when the master list of alarm numbers eventually gets into the wrong hands. Secondly, if the accepted logic is that every false alarm response warrants a $100 charge to cover policing costs then it makes sense that every alarm response that results in an arrest or the stoppage of a crime should entitle the alarm owner to a $100 cash payment for their contribution to public safety. Seems fair don’t you think?
Somehow, the folks at city hall must have overlooked that idea.
Dean Fulton is a freelance columnist for the Tribune and a local musician.