AGENDA #6d
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Burglar Alarm Policy
DATE: April 24, 2000
At the March 29, 2000 Council meeting, a Council member asked about the feasibility of the Town charging property owners for false burglar alarms.
The Police Department responds to approximately 3,000 burglar alarms annually. The number increases slightly every year, due mainly to the increasing use of security systems in private homes. Almost all of these alarms are “false alarms.” They are triggered by loss of power and power surges, electrical storms and other severe weather, or disruption of telephone circuits. Another cause of false alarms is user error. Someone entering the property accidentally sets off the alarm, the user forgets the required code to deactivate the alarm, or a poorly adjusted motion sensor is triggered. Usually when human error causes the alarm, the property owner calls his/her security company who notifies the Orange County dispatcher that there is no emergency.
When an alarm call is received by the Orange County 911 Center, officers are immediately dispatched. If the dispatcher is later notified that no police response is needed, that information is passed on to the responding officers.
Repeat false alarms can be a problem for Orange County dispatchers, Chapel Hill officers, and neighbors. Time is spent taking and dispatching the calls, and officers initiate emergency response procedures. Fewer than ten locations in Chapel Hill have numerous repeated false alarms (more than 30 a year). When this type of problem occurs, police staff works with the property owner to remedy the situation.
Some communities have adopted ordinances which enable the local government to charge the property owner after a pre-determined number of false alarms. Because there are costs associated with this system – software or staff to track the calls, generating letters or warnings, and billing – this type of charge is not a revenue generating strategy. Rather, it is a method to motivate property owners to reduce or eliminate false alarms. Police Department staff is researching the effectiveness of this strategy in other locales.
DISCUSSION
Conversations are occurring among police, fire, and emergency management agencies about how to best address this situation. We will report back to the Council when a repeat false alarm protocol is created.