Law Fails To Cut False Alarms Council May Reduce Fines, Emphasize Education And Require Registration
Crying wolf may cause less pain this year than last.
A law aimed at lowering the number of false burglary alarms in the city isn’t working, say Spokane Police Department officials.
Reducing the fines - and teaching people how to avoid them entirely - may be more effective, said Capt. Steve Braun of the Police Department.
Tonight, the City Council will consider changes in the false-alarm law passed two years ago but not enforced until last year.
Police officers rush to the scene of a screeching burglary alarm an average of 20 times a day - 600 times a month - only to discover it’s a false alarm. Fewer than four a month actually are “good” alarms, Braun said.
Police hoped stiff fines for repeat violations would cut down on the costly time-waster, but the numbers of false alarms aren’t dropping, Braun said. And some people are shutting off their alarms because they fear a hefty penalty.
The ordinance established a series of escalating fines for each offense after the first bogus alarm. Fines range from $25 for a second offense to $250 for a fifth.
The law also allows officers to ignore alarms from chronic abusers: those who have tallied six or more false alarms in a two-year period.
Proposed amendments would levy a fine the third time an alarm goes off accidentally in a one-year period. Alarm owners could avoid paying the first fine by attending a class put on by police and alarm companies that teaches people how to prevent accidental alarms.
Under the proposed changes, the penalty would be a flat $50 regardless of the number of previous violations in a one-year period. The police chief could issue a non-response order after the seventh bogus alarm in one year.
The changes also would require owners to register their alarms with the Police Department. That way, police would know whom to contact when an alarm sounds, Braun said, adding that the amount of the registration fee hasn’t been set.
Spokane police compared the city’s original penalty structure with other Washington cities’ laws and found Spokane’s is tougher but not as effective, he said. The proposed changes would make the law similar to other ordinances around the state.
While Spokane’s ordinance was intended to offset the cost of responding to false alarms, it wasn’t intended to be a revenue-generator, said Councilman Jeff Colliton. “It was supposed to decrease the amount of time spent on false alarms.”
A briefing for council members will start at 3:30 p.m. today in the lower-level conference room of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The council meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
, DataTimes