A Minnesota city is considering a new alarm ordinance where police would have to option of not responding at all to alarms at customers with multiple false alarms. The city council in St. Cloud, Minn., will hear and may vote on a proposal Jan. 3 that would increase false alarm fees and allow police to not respond to alarms at a premises with four false dispatches within 12 months.
Under the proposed ordinance for the city – 65 miles northwest of Minneapolis – alarm owners would be assessed a $75 penalty for a second false alarm within a year and $150 for a third. A fourth false dispatch would bring an additional $150 fine and a notice that police will not respond to the alarm system for six months is imposed.
The current alarm ordinance allows three “free” false alarms before a $41 fine for a fourth.
“We are having little success on a regular basis of reducing the number of false alarms,” Police Chief Dennis Ballantine told the St. Cloud Times. “The intent is to impress upon people, through their pocketbook, that they need to be cautious.”
