Kokua Line June Watanabe

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SERVCO trying to halt false alarms

Question: The alarm at SERVCO Pacific's Motor Imports Toyota, at South and Queen streets, regularly goes off at all hours of the night. It went off again on Friday, Nov. 18, and the next day. I called Sentinel Alarm, as I was advised to do previously, and got no response. I called police and was told that they had received several complaints. This has been going on for a long time. On Saturday, Oct. 29, the alarm sounded from 1 a.m. until 8 a.m. According to the Honolulu Police Department, there is nothing HPD can do to shut off the alarm because SERVCO will not respond or repair it. I've called HPD numerous times. Why can't anything be done?

Answer: SERVCO Pacific officials apologize for the noise and say they have not ignored the problem and are continuing to try to resolve the number of false alarms.

Meanwhile, the Honolulu Police Department also says it has not turned a deaf ear, noting it has cited the company numerous times under a city ordinance, passed in 2002, that penalizes a homeowner or establishment with fines if there are more than three false alarms within a 12-month period.

"We apologize to our neighbors, because we have had some instances of false alarms at our Motor Imports site," said Rick Ching, senior vice president of retail operations for SERVCO. "We do realize it can be an inconvenience and an irritation to people in the area."

The company has taken steps in the past to minimize the number of false alarms, he said, while noting there have been times when the alarm has gone off for legitimate reasons.

Ching said it is a balancing act between providing the necessary security to protect customer vehicles and company property and minimizing false alarms.

"We have taken some steps in the past, but given the recent occurrence, we are reviewing the settings with the alarm company again," he said.

Ching said representatives of both HPD and Sentinel were at Motor Imports last week "to hopefully prevent reoccurrences of these false alarms."

Part of the problem reportedly is with feral cats, but Ching said he did not want to make excuses. "There are a number of reasons, but I'm sure the neighbors don't care what the reasons are and just want (the false alarms) to stop."

Asked about the hours the alarm has sounded in the past, Ching said officials were surprised to hear that because it should not be going off endlessly.

While someone from Motor Imports should get the call about a false alarm and respond, the alarm itself is "not intended to run continuously at all," he said.

Ching said officials checked the alarm logs and did not find instances in which the alarm sounded continuously for seven hours.

Again, he apologized to you and your neighbors: "We are cognizant of the fact that we have neighbors in the area and we think of our company as being a good corporate citizen, and being a good neighbor is part of that," he said.