Rocky Mount, N.C., police will be enforcing a new security alarm ordinance beginning in January that aims to cut down the number of false alarm calls throughout the city. The ordinance was approved earlier this year by city council members.
Research conducted by the police department shows the police received 40,000 alarm calls, averaging 8,000 alarm calls per year, between 2001 and 2005. Nearly 99 percent of alarms each year were false, according to police.
Rocky Mount Police Chief John Manley told the Rocky Mount Telegram that police and city officials drew up an ordinance to work with an outside monitoring company to filter false alarm dispatches from actual calls for service.
While the ordinance became effective in October, city and police officials are giving alarm system owners a 90-day grace period to register their systems with the city.
The first three false alarms will carry no fine; however, on the fourth and fifth false call, a $50 fine will be imposed; the sixth and seventh, $100; the eighth and ninth, $250; and 10 or more, $250.
There is currently no fee for registering an alarm system.
