False Alarm Fines Helping Boulder (Colo.) Police Prune Bogus Dispatches

The city adopted a false alarm fine program for businesses March 1. Previously, alarm owners faced no penalty for nuisance alarms.

BOULDER, Colo. – A recently adopted program here to fine businesses for repeat nuisance alarms appears to be helping the Boulder Police Department’s efforts to beat back false alarm dispatches.

Prior to March 1, owners of security alarms faced no penalty for false alarm dispatches. Only a month into the new program, which fines false alarm violators up to $450, the Boulder Police Department says its officers have seen a “dramatic” reduction, according to Fox affiliate KDVR-TV.


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Using the Colorado Open Records Act, the FOX31 Problem Solvers identified 40 businesses that over a two-year period created at least 10 false police calls by an automatic security alarm.

The worst violator, according to the report, was the online customer service center for the athletic shoe and clothing company Finish Line. According to police records, employees at the company falsely set off the building’s alarm system more than 45 times times in two years.

“We continuously work to educate our employees on safety and our surroundings including the activation and deactivation of our building alarm security system,” Finish Line spokeswoman Dianna Boyce told FOX31. “We also work diligently with the alarm company to ensure we have the latest technology and up-to-date procedural information. We are a proud member of the Boulder community and value our public safety officials and their time as well as how they serve us.”

The police department says of the 4,915 alarm calls over the past two years, only 10 were real – a 99.79% false rate. Boulder Police policy is to send two officers to an alarm call, which is usually dispatched as a priority. The thousands of unnecessary alarms resulted in taxpayers footing an estimated $300,000, according to the police department.


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Boulder police Sgt. Melissa Carey told FOX31 that wasted tax money and police resources are concerning, but for officers, there is a more serious matter that repeated false alarms cause: Rolling up on a potential active burglary scene but thinking it’s another false call.

“That’s kind of the problem,” she said. “You can’t ever get complacent in this job, so you have to treat every one like it’s legitimate, so we do.

“But I’m sure there are some officers who think, ‘Oh, it’s just X-Y-Z place again.’ But really you can’t just pretend it’s going to be fake, because it could be that time it’s a real alarm, which is why we send two officers to these kinds of things, you just don’t know for sure.”

 

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