posted on Friday, August 29, 2008 4:34 PM
by
klehan
Russellville (KY) Passed Alarm Ordinance
Russellville,
KY, businesses which have numerous false alarms, causing either the police or fire departments to respond, will be facing a stricter city policy.
By a unanimous vote, the city council passed an ordinance that allows businesses to have five false alarms within a six month period before a notice of violation (NOV) will be issued.
If the false alarm problem persists, the ordinance calls for violators to be fined $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense and $100 for the third and subsequent offenses.
“We have to do something to stop this problem,” said Russellville mayor Gene Zick, who has been talking with both the city's fire and police departments who say they make several unnecessary calls for false alarms.
Police Chief Barry Dill said he calculated there are 30 to 40 false alarm calls per month.
Dill said he even had an officer hurt during one of the false calls, which required approximately $43,396 of medical care.
“A lot of the time businesses owners don't even show up when their alarms go off,” said Dill, “And we cannot always gain access to the property to turn it off. Owners will say if its not someone breaking in they aren't coming.”