False alarms happen to be the biggest issue taken up by police departments across the nation. So much so that lately, a number of cities have issued false alarm ordinances. All of these cities charge a fine from homeowners as well as business owners responsible for repeated false alarm incidents. Another city, Wilson, NC, has been considering a false alarm ordinance that would make such offenders pay a heavier fine if their alarm system goes off falsely three or more times. A majority of council members feel that a heavier fine for false alarm incidents will prompt people to be much more careful about operating their and preventing false alarms.
Thomas Hopkins, the Wilson police chief, said that more than 99% of security alarms sounded at schools, businesses, churches, and community centers are false. Hopkins informs the Wilson City Council that less than 1% of the 5,371 security alarms recorded in 2012 were genuine.
While homeowners don’t seem to have the lion’s share in false alarm incidences, they too will be fined a good deal of money if their generates a false alarm more than two times.
City manager Grant Goings says that false alarms are a heavy burden on police departments in terms of costs as well as resources and manpower. Police departments continually try to keep a strong presence on the streets so that crime in the city can be kept under check. If the police continue responding to false alarms, it takes away a number of police officers who would otherwise have been on the street, protecting people from real crimes.
The biggest benefit to a policy like this is it puts more officers on the street,” Goings said. “We’re all safer if the officers are on the street and not spending (several) hours responding to a false alarm.”
The proposed ordinance that remains to be approved suggests that 3 to 5 false alarms will be charged $50 each time; 6 to 7 calls will be fined $100 each; and beyond that, the offenders would have to hand out $250 each time. The numbers are bigger for fire alarms. Three or more false fire alarms will be fined $500 each and six or more would be fined $775 each time. In addition, the ordinance also proposes charging a registration fee of 15% for new alarm systems and a $5 renewal fee.
Councilman Donald Evans, however, feels that a $500 fine is too much and must be reduced by half. Most other councilmen also agree with the proposal. The final verdict is yet to come, but the fact remains that homeowners must educate themselves about proper operation of and alarm systems to prevent false alarms.
Tim Eveler
Author & Public Relations – Tim has been working in sales for the home security system industry over twelve years. He’s held positions at large home security companies and in charge of working with the team to create our security system reviews.