Warden examining ordinance on false alarms

WARDEN - Warden officials are examining the city's ordinance on false alarms following an increase in the amount this year.

Police Chief Rick Martin raised the issue at a recent city council meeting, saying police officers are responding to more false alarms from security systems in the city.

The city presently has an ordinance allowing police to cite people for false alarms, if they reoccur, Martin said.

"We have about half as many more alarms at this point in time this year, then we did last year," he said. "I would attribute that to the fact that technology is making home alarms more affordable, so a lot more people are getting home alarms."

The increase in the amount of alarms is fine, but police are seeing an increase in false alarms. Martin asked if the council wanted him to examine the present code to see if it needed to be updated.

"The alarm ordinance has been there since 1989, and technology and things have changed since then," he said. "On another note, I know cities now are starting to acquire fees or a permit to install a home alarm. I'm not sure why they do that, if the city really wants money. One thing I can think of is we ask for fees for a dog license ... It would let us know in town how many alarms we have."

Creating a permit process may allow the city to set standards for alarm systems as well, Martin said.

"It's never any good to respond to continual false alarms because it lulls the officer into a false sense of security when he thinks he's just responding to another false alarm," he said.

Councilmember Darla Haworth thought the home security alarms are great, and has one at her house, she said. She agreed with having a permit, but didn't believe the city should charge a fee for them.

"You get a permit so you can keep track of who has what," she said.

Mayor Tony Massa was concerned about whether people selling alarm systems in the city had a business license, he said. He pointed out having a permit system would assure the city the alarm companies have city business licenses.

Councilmember Mike Leavitt questioned how the police determined if it was a false alarm.

"If somebody tries to turn the door and the alarm goes off because it's set to do that, and then he takes off running, you guys come show up. There is no forced entry (and) no apparent attempted forced entry, so do you classify that as a false alarm?" he asked.

Martin explained in Leavitt's situation it wouldn't be a false alarm because the officers don't know why it went off. A more traditional false alarm happens when people can't figure out how to operate the security system.

"I guess what irks me is the irresponsibility," he said. "If there is an officer on call then the city's into it a couple hundred bucks for somebody that forgot their access code, because it's a two-hour minimum on a call out."

Haworth suggested the city officials could look at other city ordinances.

"I think the message there chief is there are some things to look at," Massa said. "If you want to look at who else has something, nice shiny round wheels that work better than what we got."