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Memphis Wants Tougher Alarm Ordinance

The City of Memphis plans to crack down on false alarm calls. 

Every year the Memphis Police Department responds to more than 50,000 false alarm calls. Police say that costs the department between $3 million and $5 million dollars a year. Police say that time and money can be better spent fighting crime. Police Director, Larry Godwin says, “If the citizens of Memphis had to respond to these they would be livid.” Deputy Chief Joe Scott told city council members, “we need to men and women to be out doing crime suppression not answering false alarms.”

City council members are considering changing how and when you are fined for false calls. Right now, a person or business can have six false alarms before they are fined. The cost of the fine is $25. Under the new plan, a person is fined after the second false alarm. The fines and fees will total around $90 per call. After six false alarms, you can be put on the “do not respond” list. 

A city council report found one of the worst offenders in the city is "Church’s Fried Chicken" on Getwell. During the first quarter of this year, police responded to more than 60 false alarms at that business. No one from Church’s would comment about the false alarms. City council members say it is not uncommon for businesses’ to have dozens of alarm calls each month. 

Memphis Police say out of the tens of thousands of false alarm calls dispatched, just 900 were real calls. A few taxpayers we spoke with don’t like the idea of raising the fees and changing the rules. Darren Davis is one of the people who object to the changes. Davis says its just a way for the city of make more money, and Davis says answering false alarms in part of an officers job.