Expired alarm permit leads to no police response during Sacramento restaurant burglary

A Sacramento restaurant owner says he is frustrated after his business was broken into and burglarized early Thursday morning, and despite his alarm system being triggered, police did not show up. 

Craig Takehara is the chef and owner at Binchoyaki, a Japanese restaurant located in the city's historic Japantown area. Takehara says that he checked his surveillance cameras and saw someone in the restaurant.

But police never responded, Takehara says, because his alarm permit had expired. 

Sacramento city code requires alarm users to have an alarm user permit, a $30 fee that must be paid annually. If the alarm permit is no longer valid, officers will not respond to an active alarm, even if a crime is potentially in progress.

Police say that this policy is in place due to the high number of false alarms that are reported to the department by alarm systems, which takes away from the department's ability to swiftly respond to real emergencies.

Takehara says that he never received a renewal notice for the alarm permit and that this wasn't a false alarm.

"If we need a permit for police, the money grabbing in the city has gone way too far," Takehara said. 

Police deferred to the protocol from the city code when asked for comment, but did confirm that they are coordinating with the business to file a report.