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Rocky Mount, NC, to Impose Fines for False Alarms

Rocky Mount, NC, police will be enforcing a new security alarm ordinance beginning in January that aims to cut down on the number of false alarm calls throughout the city. 

The ordinance — approved earlier this year by the City Council and put into effect in October — will require homes, churches, schools and businesses in Rocky Mount equipped with security systems to register with the city. 

The goal of the ordinance is to reduce false alarms from security systems throughout Rocky Mount. 

“We wanted to do what we could to minimize (false alarms),” Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley said. “If we can drop the calls by 25 percent, we can free-up officers.” 

Because false alarms can tie up at least two police officers, Manley said police and city officials drew up an ordinance to work with an outside monitoring company to filter false alarm calls from actual calls for service. 

Although the ordinance became effective in October, city and police officials are giving alarm system owners a 90-day grace period to register their systems with the city. On Jan. 1, the department will begin enforcing the ordinance, which carries fines for multiple false alarm calls. 

Manley said the department will be working with Cry Wolf, a security system monitoring company that will filter the false calls. 

For the first three false alarm calls from a business, residence, church or school, no fine will be imposed. 

On the fourth or fifth false call, a $50 fine will be imposed; the sixth or seventh, $100; the eighth or ninth, $250; and 10 or more, $250. 

Exceptions are written into the ordinance covering power and phone line failures, which could trigger the alarm system. For these occurrences, police will not impose a fine. 

Manley said there is no registration fee for registering an alarm system, and the fines are not meant to generate revenue by the city, but rather, ensure police are responding to emergency calls for service. 

“As the city grows, if you don’t put something in place to regulate (alarm systems), you can see where it goes from here,” Manley said. “It allows more time for officers to focus on issues in the community.” 

In the first year of enforcing the ordinance, Manley said, he believes false alarm calls will drop 25 percent. 

“If an alarm goes off at your house, we want to be responding to a problem,” he said. 

Rocky Mount police advise security system owners to make sure they remember codes and know how to operate the system properly. Manley said police will come to a residence to help instruct a homeowner on the proper operation of the security system.