Fontana (Calif.) Looks to Institute Alarm ‘Urgency Ordinance’
FONTANA, Calif.
The Fontana City Council has taken the first step in establishing an aggressive new burglar alarm regulation referred to as the “Urgency Ordinance.”
The proposed law, strongly advocated by the Fontana Police Department, shifts responsibility for responding to false alarms from the police department to alarm company operators.
Under the ordinance, an alarm company would be fined $200 for every user’s false alarm, and a $150 prohibited call administrative fine for requesting police response to a property or intrusion alarm that is not verified by a person onsite, according to the California Alarm Association (CAA). The alarm users would also receive a fine for a non-monitored false alarm.
During a City Council meeting on Tuesday (Aug. 26), Fontana Police Chief Rod Jones suggested the proposal take effect immediately. However, after hearing testimony in opposition to the ordinance from several alarm company representatives, council members agreed to follow standard adoption procedures and further deliberate the law’s merits. The ordinance will again be considered at the City Council’s meeting in September.
The CAA and the Inland Empire Alarm Association (IEAA) have continued to battle 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 requires a response to activated alarms.
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