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New Haven, CT, Closer to Enhanced Call Verification of Alarms

In New Haven, CT, a new security alarm ordinance that would impose steeper fines for repeated false alarms — and have a mechanism to collect penalties — could be in place by the New Year.

The draft ordinance, approved last week by the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, goes before the full board Nov. 5. If approved as expected, the ordinance should be implemented in about 60 days, police said.

Here’s what it would mean: If you have a burglar alarm on your home or business, you will have to register with the city. It’s free. The computer system would then track false alarms and fine the consumer if they start adding up — $75 for the second false alarm, $150 for the third, and $250 for every one after that.

What it means for the alarm industry: Alarm monitoring services now would have to make two attempts to contact the subscriber before calling police, the first to the primary number and the second to an alternate, usually a cell phone. Since the vast majority of alarm trips are due to user error, industry officials say, that new second call requirement alone should reduce thousands of false alarms every year.

The department is ready to move forward as soon as it receives aldermanic approval, Officer Joe Avery said. The computer software is up and running already, The 60-day lead time would be to allow time for subscribers to register and department officials to construct its database from that information.

“It’s just a lot of entering data,” Avery said.

The revised ordinance met with no opposition this time around. In 2004, the department scrapped its proposed “verified response” proposal that would have required alarm companies to verify an alarm trip as real before police would respond. It met with staunch opposition from the industry.

The new version, with its steeper fine and “second-call verification” was greeted more favorably, although the city did get opposition in July over a requirement to make alarm installers register with the city as a prerequisite to do business here.

The state already licenses electricians, and state statute allows them to work anywhere in the state without further requirements from any municipality, the industry countered, as it argued against the registration requirement.

That language was carved out and now businesses will only be required to show proof of registration with the state.

The existing ordinance does have a fine structure, but no money has been collected for years because of computer problems and staffing issues.

On Monday, Robert McVeigh, president of the Connecticut Alarm and System Integrators Association, gave the new ordinance the industry’s blessing.

“It’s been a long process. It’s been five years. We’ve been working together for a long time with a lot of back and forth,” he said. “We’re happy and now we’re working with Joe Avery trying to get some details worked out to get the information he needs.”

The ordinance could provide both the city and alarm industry with a new revenue stream, the city through its fines and the industry through service and repair work to existing alarms.