INC NEWS - Too many false alarms can cost real cash (Herald-Sun)

[Caleb Southern]

Too many false alarms can cost real cash

By Lovemore Masakadza : The Herald-Sun
lmasakadza at heraldsun.com
Dec 1, 2005 : 9:25 pm ET

DURHAM -- Come January, false alarms will cost more.

Faced with a high number of false alarms, the city of Durham will start
fining people $100 if they have more than two false alarms in a year.

City Finance Director Kenneth C. Pennoyer, speaking Thursday at a Durham
Businesses Against Crime meeting, said Durham police responded to 17,427
false alarms in 2003.

The false calls cost officers 6 percent of their time, he said, and it costs
the city $150 for every false alarm to which a police officer is dispatched.

He hopes the new ordinance would change that.

"The No. 1 goal is to reduce the number of false alarms," Pennoyer said.

Under the new ordinance, which the City Council passed June 20, people would
get a written notice for the first and second false alarms within the same
calendar year.

The third and fourth will cost them $100, a sum that rises to $150 for the
fifth and sixth false calls. The fine grows to $200 for the seventh and
eighth calls, $250 for the ninth and $300 for the 10th and above.

Pennoyer said the old ordinance, which charged people $48 for one false
alarm a month, gave people too many chances.

He said the new system wouldn't compromise property security, but would
reduce the time officers use in responding to the false alarms.

"It will free our officers to provide more effective patrol service,"
Pennoyer said.

The city will rely on reports filed by officers who investigate the scene to
determine if the alarm was false. People have 30 days to appeal the penalty.

Mike Shiflett, president of American Labor, said he supports anything the
city can do to save money and hopes the new ordinance is going to help
officers focus on other crimes.

"I am glad they have an appeals system," Shiflett added.

Some hope police will do a thorough job determining false alarms, saying
there is a danger officers might dismiss genuine alarms.

Tyrone Everett, regional director for The Center for Employment Training in
the Golden Belt Building on East Main Street, said he knows false alarms are
a problem but that the city must be fair.

"They better put checks and balances in place to see if it was in fact a
false alarm," Everett said.

The state and federally subsidized nonprofit agency was broken into October.
Computers and four printers valued at between $10,000 and $15,000 were
stolen. Everett said they have not been recovered.