The Fontana City Council has unanimously voted to shift responsibility for responding to false alarms from the police department to alarm company operators without audio, video or eyewitness verification.
Approved on Sept. 9, the city’s amended burglar alarm regulation referred to as the “Urgency Ordinance” mandates an alarm company will be fined $200 for every user’s false alarm. Alarm companies are also charged a $150 prohibited call administrative fine for requesting police response to a property or intrusion alarm that is not verified by a person onsite. The alarm users would also receive a fine for a non-monitored false alarm.
The ordinance was strongly advocated by the Fontana Police Department, which maintained it was necessary to reduce the occurrence of false alarms by regulating alarm companies and alarm system users.
The CAA and the Inland Empire Alarm Association (IEAA) have battled the city and the police department because of its onerous alarm policy. Earlier this year, the IEAA proved victorious in a suit it had filed in San Bernardino Superior Court seeking a writ prohibiting the police department from instituting a verified response policy it unilaterally adopted in 2007. The court’s May 8 decision directed Fontana police to comply with the city’s 1968 alarm ordinance, which required a response to activated alarms.
The new ordinance will be effective on Oct. 9.
