posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 1:44 PM
by
klehan
Amherst, MA, to Fine for False Burglar Alarms after April 1, 2009
Beginning April 1, 2009, the Amherst, MA, Police Department may fine homeowners or business owners whose burglar or intrusion alarms summon police unnecessarily.
Town Meeting adopted the false alarm bylaw in May; the attorney general office approved it this fall. The bylaw does not apply to fire alarms or to medical alert alarms that malfunction, only to burglar alarms directly linked to police or to police through an alarm company.
Police delayed implementing fines because they wanted to give residents and business owners time to work with their alarm companies to repair systems not working appropriately.
According to the bylaw police will issue warnings for the first three responses in a 12-month period then impose a $50 fine on the fourth.
Subsequent false alarms within that time period would result in fines of $75, $100, $150 and $200.
The proposal was initiated last year by Stanley F. Gawle, treasurer of Amherst Taxpayers for Responsible Change. The idea is to reduce the number of police calls to the false alarms and to generate revenue.
Police began issuing warnings Jan. 1 but those will not be counted toward fines. That begins April 1.
Easthampton and Northampton are among other communities that have adopted such bylaws.
"It's a major safety issue," Police Chief Charles L. Scherpasaid. "We've become complacent."
When an alarm sounds officers must respond quickly to what could be an emergency, and they are taken away from other work, he said.