Boise Police Meting Out Fines
A new ordinance affecting burglar alarm owners in Boise, Idaho, has been in effect since the beginning of the year. The directive allows each alarm system one free false alarm, with an escalating fine schedule for subsequent false alarms. The second false dispatch is $50; third, $75; fourth, $100; fifth and subsequent false dispatches, $200. The new ordinance also requires the implementation of enhanced call verification (ECV).
Minneapolis Exploring Fees, Larger Fines
Minneapolis is considering requiring homeowners and businesses with burglar alarms to pay annual registration fees of $15 and $40, respectively. The users also could face increased fines for false alarms. A City Council committee delayed action on an ordinance change, but it is expected to take it up again soon. More than 84 percent of the nearly 17,000 alarm calls that Minneapolis police responded to last year were false, according to city officials.
Stricter Penalties for Wisconsin City
The community of Appleton, Wis., has enacted a new false alarm ordinance, creating an escalating scale on fines for false alarms and requiring all alarm companies to become licensed by the state. Owners of alarm systems are not fined for their first two false dispatches. The third, fourth and fifth false alarms will each earn a $75 fee. The sixth, seventh and eighth alarms will incur $150 fees; ninth, 10th and 11th, $300; every false alarm thereafter, $600. The law also requires the implementation of enhanced call verification (EVC).
