PRESCOTT, Ariz. — Following unanimous approval by the Prescott City Council in May, police officers will begin enforcing a new alarm law today that charges alarm users for the third false dispatch in a 12-month period.
City officials say the ordinance was necessary to reign in the costs associated with police response to false alarms. According to the police department, officers responded to nearly 3,000 false alarms in 2009. Each year the city spends more than $70,000 on false dispatches, the police department states on its Web site.
The ordinance allows alarm users two false alarm warnings within a given year. On the third false alarm, the owner will be assessed $100, and fees will increase by $100 for each false alarm afterward.
