posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 8:36 AM
by
klehan
False alarm fines to spike in Pleasant Hill, CA
Beginning next year, Pleasant Hill, California, police are going to make people pay much more for their mistakes.
The current fine of $109 after three or more false alarms in a month will increase to $100 for each false alarm after the first. After the fourth false alarm in one year, police won't show up, according to an ordinance approved Dec. 3, 2007, City Council.
The new rules, which apply to residential and commercial alarms, take effect July 1.
Although many cities have ordinances with penalties for false alarms, the laws are often outdated or not enforced, according to California Alarm Association President Jon Sargent. http://www.caaonline.org/
In the past year, Sargent said he has helped leaders in Pleasant Hill, Vallejo, San Rafael and Hayward rewrite their alarm ordinances to include higher fines, a false alarm "school," the authority to hire an alarm administrator and other measures to reduce the false alarm rate.
"These ordinances that have been around for years, like Pleasant Hill, when you can have four or five free false alarms, that's really no incentive to get anything fixed," said Sargent, who also works for alarm company ADT. "A lot of these older ordinances, they don't fine until you've had several (false alarms), and when they do they only charge $25."
In Walnut Creek, California, fines range from $25 for the third false alarm to $100 for six or more in a 12-month period. Martinez, California, charges $100 for the third false alarm in 30 days. Richmond, California, charges $50 for the third false alarm in six months and $100 for four or more.
About a year ago, Richmond police considered - but ultimately did not adopt - a policy that would have required verification of a break-in before police would respond, said Lt. Mark Gagan. Instead, police counseled business owners about the tendency of helium balloons and other things to set off alarm system motion detectors.
The alarm industry has adopted safeguards to cut false alarms. These include calling a customer twice to verify the need for police and developing equipment that creates a brief window of time to disable an accidentally tripped alarm.