GREENSBORO, N.C. – False alarms are still plaguing the Greensboro Police Department (GPD) despite the department issuing tougher penalties in an effort to reduce the false alarm calls.
The GPD responded to 13,422 alarm calls in 2014. Of those, only 54 – less than 1% – were actually valid, Fox 8 reports.
Last June, the Greensboro city council approved an ordinance to increase the false alarm fee to cut down on false alarm calls.
Instead of two warnings, business and homeowners will be warned once within a 12-month period before they’re given a $50 fee and increase to $500 each for 10 or more false alarm violations.
Since the increase of the implementation, the city issued more than $500,000 in citations, collecting more false alarm fees during that time than all of 2013 combined, according to Fox 8.
However, even with the fee increase, the GPD says the numbers of false alarms have not decreased as much as officers expected.
Violators are allowed to appeal citations.
