In Tacoma, Wash., the police department is no longer
obligated to answer home security alarm calls. Without
making any comment on the false alarm issue, the Tacoma
City Council recently unanimously repealed its
ordinance regulating home security systems, which was based
on complaints from the police department about the high
cost of answering false alarms, according to The News
Tribune.
As with many other cities, police there
reported that 98 percent of alarm calls in 2001 were false.
But, Police Chief Dave Brame said that, within two
months, he would propose a way the city could reduce the
number of false alarms as well as the cost of false alarms,
the newspaper said. Regardless of the repeal, Brame said,
police encourage residents to use alarms, and pledged his
officers would continue to answer them.
