Rocky Mount, N.C., city officials have adopted an alarm ordinance to limit the number of false dispatches and require residents to register their alarm systems with the police department.
The law will be enforced beginning in the new year.
Rocky Mount police spent more than 2,000 man-hours in 2007 investigating false alarm calls, according to a report in the Rocky Mount Telegram. Of the 8,000 alarm calls received by police, less than 1.2 percent were legitimate service dispatches.
The ordinance to effect in October but was adopted with a 90-day grace period. Residential, commercial and institutional security system owners were to use that time to register their systems with the city. Security system owners will be subject to a $100 fine if their system is not registered.
An outside alarm-monitoring company will be used to filter false alarms from actual calls for service. Fines will be imposed against owners of alarm systems after multiple false alarm calls within a 12-month period.
