Most of the alarms police responded to in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids were false alarms. In 2004, Cedar Rapids police say they responded to 4,000 alarms. Out of all the alarms, 2,800 of those were false alarms. In Iowa City, there were 1,221 alarms police responded to in 2003, and only 66 percent were legitimate calls.
In 1986, Cedar Rapids passed an ordinance that fines people for false alarms. Iowa City fines people and businesses for repeated false alarms. Though the police departments get a high number of false alarm calls, Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says the ordinance works and the number of false calls has decreased over the years.
