Sheriff Targeting False Alarms Residents, Businesses Warned They’ll Be Cited For Three Or More

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department is warning residents in hopes they won’t whine when they’re cited for crying wolf.

The county is stepping up enforcement of a county ordinance that penalizes burglar alarm owners who have three or more false alarms in six months.

The efforts are an attempt to cut back the amount of time and resources spent responding to false alarms, said Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

From June 1, 1996, to June 1, 1997, the department responded to 787 burglar alarm calls. Of those, 784 (99.7 percent) were false alarms.

“There’s two alarms a day. On average that calls for at least two officers, and if it’s a building of any size, it takes 30 minutes to an hour to deal with it. That’s a big waste of taxpayer dollars,” Wolfinger said.

Repeated false alarms also make it more difficult for deputies to take every call seriously.

“You fight that kind of complacency every time you do one of these,” Wolfinger said.

The primary causes of false alarms are user error and equipment malfunctions. Many calls are triggered by employees reporting to work in the morning and forgetting to turn off an alarm.

This year, the department has issued 15 of the misdemeanor citations, which carry up to a $300 fine. Citation records show the Go-Cart Family Fun Center was among one of the biggest violators. One of the business owners, Joseph Kamps, said the citations prompted them to switch to a system that first reports the activated alarm to a security company. Then, if it’s not a false alarm, the police can be notified.

“The police have always been fair to work with but we did go to the new system because of the problem with getting cited,” Kamps said. “That satisfied us but more importantly that satisfied the police.”

In 1994, Athol Elementary School was cited.

The best way to avoid a citation is to report a false alarm before officers respond. The department also is encouraging residents to hire a private security firm or other third party alarm-monitoring agency to respond first.

“Many parts of the country have gone to this privatization of service so law enforcement agencies can be more pro-active instead of taking up their time reacting to false alarms,” Wolfinger said.

, DataTimes