The city council in Sparks, Nev., has rejected a proposal from the city’s police chief for a verified response alarm policy, telling him and the city’s manager to look for alternatives to reduce false alarms. The council made its decision after dozens of home and business owners spoke during the council’s Dec. 19 meeting criticizing the plan by Chief John Dotson.
The police chief previously said that, as of February, he wanted to end police response to residential and commercial burglar alarms in the suburb of Reno, Nev., unless they were verified at the source. Dotson encouraged that verification to be by video or audio means.
The council requested Dotson and City Manager Shaun Carey to work with residents, business and the alarm industry to work on possible alternatives to verified response, while also working to improve public education on the causes of false alarms, according to the minutes from the council’s Dec. 19 meeting.
Officially, Dotson doesn’t actually need the approval of the council to put his plan into place, but it’s likely he will still follow the council’s directive, according to local television station KRNV.
In other false alarm news …
DURHAM, N.C.:The city’s council has adjusted a new alarm ordinance passed just two weeks ago after public pressure, removing a provision for mandatory permit registration for all alarm owners while keeping fees for false alarms.
According to the Herald-Sun, the council decided on Dec. 20 the remove the mandatory permit and the $25 fee for such a permit that was included in a new ordinance passed in early December. Alarm customers that commit a false alarm will still be required to register their alarm with the city, albeit now for free.
Remaining in the new ordinance are false alarm fines ranging from $100 for a third false alarm within a year to $300 for a 10th incident. The new fees take effect on Jan. 1.
COLES COUNTY, Ill.:The county board approved on Dec. 13 by a unanimous 12-0 vote a system of fines for excessive false alarms for residential and commercial customers in unincorporated parts of the county and areas not under the jurisdiction of a city or village.
According to the Times-Courier, residents in the Central Illinois county will receive a written warning for each of the first five false alarms in a calendar year, followed by a $25 fine for the sixth through ninth false alarm and $50 for each false alarm thereafter.
