City officials in Stamford, Conn., plan to stop requiring residents and business owners from registering their security systems every three years in an effort to reduce costs, according to a newspaper report.
Stamford passed an ordinance in 2002 requiring alarm owners to register the devices in an attempt to stem the growing number of false dispatches burdening the police and fire departments. At the time the ordinance was adopted the city averaged about 8,000 false-alarm calls a year, The Advocate reported.
Numbers have declined since. Last year, false alarms fell to a low of 5,349, William Callion, the city’s director of public safety, health and welfare, told the newspaper.
Owners are fined $90 for each false alarm. If an alarm system is not registered, the owner can be fined an additional $90. Owners who register with the city are not charged for their first offense.
After recent budget cuts and staff reduction, city officials want to ease the registration requirement to reduce the amount of employee time spent on the program and to lower postage costs. If the board approves the change, registered alarm owners would only have to notify the city if they sold the property or needed to update their information.
