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Bella Vista (AZ) Drafting Law to Combat False Alarms

An ordinance to penalize owners of repeat false fire and burglar alarms is being drafted by Bella Vista (AZ) City Attorney Jason Kelley.

Kelley expects the City Council to read the ordinance for the first time at a meeting at the end of the month, he said. He's researching other cities' ordinances.

The council must mull over issues such as the penalty amount and how many false alarms are too many, he said.

Alderman Arline Hutchinson asked Kelley to draft the ordinance after discussions with the police and fire chiefs. False alarms take officers off the street, she said.

While the ordinance isn't among the city's top priorities, it's one that should be in place, she said.

Police Chief James Wozniak said the ordinance is needed. Either one or two officers respond to every alarm, and that time could be spent elsewhere, he said.

"We're short-handed and every alarm we get we have to answer because we don't know if it is a false alarm," Wozniak said.

He'd like the city to enact an ordinance identical to a county ordinance the department enforced before Bella Vista incorporated in late 2006.

"It gave you a couple screw-ups so you didn't get nailed first time, every time," Wozniak said.

The county ordinance sets up a $100 fine for a fourth or more false alarm within six months. False alarms are defined as those caused by faulty equipment or negligence on the manufacturer, installer or user's part.

The ordinance exempts hospitals, schools, nursing homes, government agencies and buildings owned by property owners associations.
Fire Chief Steve Sims said his department gets false alarms but not as many as some may think.

Of the 493 alarms the department responded to last year, 78 were false, Sims said. Those range from carbon monoxide alarms to sprinkler activation. So far this year, the department has responded to 76 false alarms out of 413 alarms, Sims said.