A new alarm ordinance in Los Angeles that would include a
$115 fee for alarm customers for a first false alarm has
moved closer to passage after it was approved by the Los
Angeles City Council’s Public Safety Committee. The
proposal now awaits the approval of two other council
committees before it is submitted to the full council and
Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn for final approval.
It is unclear when the council will vote on the ordinance,
approved June 7 by the Public Safety Committee. A
spokesperson for the Los Angeles City Clerk’s office told
the Los Angeles Daily News that a vote should be
expected within the next two weeks. However, the same
assessment was given by
an assistant to the Public Safety Committee to
SSI back on April 12.
The process of putting a new alarm ordinance on the books
for Los Angeles that includes some form of verified
response has gone on now for more than two years, with the
city’s Police Commission
first bringing the issue
up in April 2002.
A total verified response policy – where all burglar alarms
would have to be verified by someone on-site before police
would respond – was approved by the commission in January
2003 but was vetoed by the City Council. A compromise
policy where police no longer respond to unverified alarms
at addressees with more than two false alarms in a year has
been in effect since Jan. 1, pending council approval of a
final alarm ordinance.
The draft ordinance approved by the Public Safety Committee
June 7 includes retaining verified response for those with
more than two false alarms. A $115 fee would be assessed
for a first false alarm and an additional $50 incrementally
added for each subsequent false alarm within a year. An
additional $100 would be charged for false alarms on
systems without a city permit.
The Greater Los Angeles Security Alarm Association (GLASAA)
has supplied the names and addresses of the customers of
its members. However, most alarm companies in Los Angeles
that are not members of GLASAA have not supplied customer
lists and Councilman Dennis Zine says that could become an
issue.
“We need to either get them to comply or play hardball,”
Zine told the Daily News.
In the same meeting, the committiee called for the removal
of a provision in the new ordianance that made elected
public officials exempt from the new fees and verified
response. For more,
click here.
