Crime & Safety
Fines for False Alarms
If police must respond to more than 10 false calls in a year, the chief can tell officers to simply stop responding to that address.
A recent Danville Police log showed the department received up to 10 notices a day of alarms going off in businesses or homes.
Some alarms were canceled before officers raced out to the address to see if there was a crime in progress. As it turned out, all the alarms in this one-week period turned out to be false.
To cut down on the 2,000 false alarms police receive each year, the Danville Town Council has approved an ordinance that requires those with burglar alarms to register with police and allows the department to issue fines when officers respond to false alarms.
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The town had an ordinance that issued fines for false alarms but wasn’t enforcing it.
The purpose of this new ordinance, approved 5-0 last week, is to encourage businesses and homes with alarms to maintain and use them properly. Responding to false alarms isn’t just a nuisance for officers, it’s a hazard for police and the public, diverting “police officers from other useful duties.”
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The first unnecessary response brings a warning. A second false alarm in a year brings a $50 charge; a third, $150; and a fourth, $300.
After 10 false alarm dispatches in a calendar year, the police chief can decide that police simply won’t respond to that address anymore.
The ordinance also requires businesses and homes to register with the department. The registration is free and requires contact information, including the person responsible for the alarm's operation and the business that monitors the alarm system.
