North Miami City Ordinance for Preventing False Alarms

Veteran law enforcement officer Adam Burden worked with the City of Miami police department from 1987 to 2010, completing his tenure as assistant chief of police. Currently, Adam Burden serves as a police consultant to the City of North Miami, advising the city manager and police chief on critical matters involving the North Miami police department.

The North Miami police department is committed to executing timely responses to crime alerts. However, these efforts are often hindered by false alarms. Nationwide, about 99 percent of all burglar alarms that police respond to are false. The main reasons for false alarms are user error, equipment failure, and installation errors. User error is by far the most common, causing over 80 percent of false alarms.

These false alarms are a nuisance to communities and divert critical resources away from real emergencies. The City of North Miami established an ordinance to reduce them. The ordinance imposes fines on residents for false alarms. For the first and second false alarm, residents pay no fine. But afterward, they can be required to pay from $25 to $500, depending on the number of times their systems raise false alarms.

 

Four Challenging Golf Courses near Miramar, Florida

Adam Burden serves as a special assistant to the city manager of North Miami, Florida, advising on all matters related to the police. He’s well suited to the job, having served for 23 years on the city of Miami’s police force, starting as a beat cop and working his way up to assistant chief. A resident of Miramar, Adam Burden volunteers with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and enjoys all sports, especially golf.

The golf courses closest to Miramar are in neighboring Pembroke Pines. They all offer tennis courts and a wide variety of additional amenities, including online reservations.

The Grand Palms Golf and Country Club is a resort with three 9-hole courses: the Grand, Royal, and Sabal. Players can customize each 18-hole round, playing two on one day, and the next day swapping out one course for another. The Grand/Royal course is 6813 yds, the Royal/Sabal course is 6724 yards, and the Sabal/Grand course is 6547 yards.

The semi-private Flamingo Lakes Golf and Country Club offers a daily fee 5854 yard, 18-hole par 71 course. Hillier than the other courses in the area, it features water hazards on almost every hole and enough bunkers to challenge even the most seasoned golfer.

Owned by the city of Pembroke Pines and operated by a private firm, Pembroke Lakes Golf and Racquet Club is a public 18-hole, par 72 course of 6815 yards. It was thoroughly renovated in 2007. Among the more visible improvements are additional lakes on three of the holes, paspalum supreme grass throughout, and five sets of tees, along with GPS-equipped golf carts.

Located within a residential community, the Hollybrook Golf and Tennis Club is a private club offering public access to its two courses for six months per year. The par 72 Championship course consists of 18 holes over 6590 yards with recently renovated greens and fairways, and the club also maintains an 18-hole, par-3 executive course. 

High Suicide Rates in Law Enforcement Officials

Seasoned law enforcement professional Adam Burden started his career with the City of Miami Police Department as an officer, eventually moving into roles as police sergeant and police lieutenant. Today, Adam Burden works with the city of North Miami Beach as a police consultant. He actively stays abreast of issues in the police community, attending conferences hosted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).

One such conference that he attended in 2019 dealt with the growing problem of an increasing number of suicides in the law enforcement community. A career as a police officer can expose a person to extreme stress and traumatizing events, including murders, domestic violence, and other crimes. This experience with traumatic events can cause significant mental health issues, including the development of PTSD and clinical depression. Police officers experience these mental health issues at rates more than five times higher than that of the general population.

Many officers view talking about these issues as a sign of weakness, and fear the ramifications for their career and advancement opportunities. For that reason, many don’t seek help, and instead self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. Those experiencing substance abuse issues or troubles with depression and other mental health issues have higher rates of suicide. Within the general population, around 13 out of 100,000 people have died as a result of suicide. However, that number goes up to as many as 17 out of 100,000 for police officers. Perhaps even more startling is that the number of police officer who have died as a result of suicide is nearly three times that of police officers who have died in the line of duty.

The government has approved nearly $7.5 million dollars in additional funding designated to help provide training for departments, mental health screenings, and suicide prevention.