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PB PREPARES TO CHARGE FOR FALSE BURGLAR ALARMS

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, August 21, 2004 11:01 PM CDT

Pine Bluff police soon will enforce a city ordinance that provides penalties for multiple false burglar alarms.

"When we have a number of false alarms it really ties up the officers that are available to handle other calls for service so we have to do something to try to cut down on these false alarms," said Sgt. Bob Rawlinson, a department spokesman.

He said that while no date has been set to start charging for false alarms "we want people to know it's coming."

According to police figures, officers responded to more than 4,000 false alarms in the first seven months of this year.

"When an officer responds to an alarm that is going off we never know when it's real and when it's not so it's always considered to be real until proven otherwise," Rawlinson said.

The ordinance calls for a $25 fine for four or more false alarms in one month or between seven and 15 during a calendar year.

Sixteen to 30 false alarms in a year can result in a fine of $50 for each incident and businesses and individuals whose alarms go off 31 or more times in a year are to be fined $100 for each false alarm.

"We understand during inclement weather thunder and lightning will sometimes set off the alarms and that is taken into consideration but we still have to do something," he said.

Rawlinson said the ordinance also requires businesses and individuals who have alarm systems register with the police.

"The alarm companies are now aware of this policy and everybody they've got in their systems we can register automatically," Rawlinson said. "Individual homeowners can contact the Police Department and we will tell them how to go about registering their system."

He said the registration can be done easily and at no cost at the department.

"Once you're registered and on file you're allowed up to three false alarms in a 30-day period before you're going to be charged for it but if you're not registered they will start fining you from the first false alarm on," Rawlinson said.

The registration form will not only identify the location of alarms but names and telephone numbers of people to contact in the event the alarm goes off.

"Many times we've responded to business alarms and some home alarms where there will be indications of an obvious burglary, like broken glass, but there will be no way to determine who the owner or the representative of the business is," he said.

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