Audio clip
Jerri Weary
Perhaps a secretary comes to work early and sets an alarm off, or a dog walks through a living room and triggers a motion detector.
In both cases Chattanooga police are called for what might be a burglary, but rarely is.
In 2007, such false alarms happened an average of 380 times a day in the city or about 139,000 times in a year, police records show.
Most calls are canceled before police are dispatched, which takes a few minutes. But when an officer gets involved it often takes about two hours before he can get back to work answering real emergencies, said Sgt. Jerri Weary, a police spokeswoman.
In Chattanooga, answering alarm calls in person consumed an average of 310 police man-hours a month in 2007, police records show. Police say the loss does not pose a financial cost, since the officers are on the payroll and would be at work anyway, but it does take away from other police work.
“That’s time our officers could be out in hot zones, doing proactive policing,” Sgt. Weary said. “They could be looking for illegal activities.”
Alarm calls are routed by operators at the Hamilton County 911 Center. State law requires the operators to make two phone calls before dispatching help if the alarm is for a break-in. If there’s no answer, an officer is dispatched.
Nationally, fewer than 5 percent of calls generated by burglar alarms are emergencies, according to U.S. Department of Justice statistics. Officers in some cities including Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Eugene, Ore., have stopped responding to alarm calls altogether unless a private security company or video surveillance can verify a break-in.
In Chattanooga, a city ordinance calls for fining owners of homes and businesses associated with routine false alarms. Warnings are given on the first two violations and, on the third, a citation is issued and a judge can issue a fine or order a course on proper alarm use.
Sgt. Weary said the ordinance worked well until about three years ago when police stopped enforcing the law because the citations often were dismissed in court.
City Court Judge Russell Bean said he does not see many fire alarm-related citations from police. Most that come through his doors are from the fire department, he said.
“I give a warning on the first time, and then if they come back through I might order a class or a fine,” he said. “It’s a $50 fine, and I can give it for each occurrence, so it’s taken pretty seriously after that first time in my court.”
Judge Bean said he gives the warning because so many things can set the alarms off.
City Councilman Jack Benson said if the city’s ordinance is being sidestepped, maybe it is time to retool it or remove it from the books.
“I was under the impression that we were enforcing the alarm ordinance,” he said.
Mr. Benson, who is chairman of the council’s Legislative Committee, said he remembers the ordinance being enacted.
“I know we looked at that ordinance in 2003, but I haven’t had any complaints about citations or not enforcing it,” he said.
Reasons for alarms
Chattanooga police received about 65,000 calls from homes or businesses that should have been cited and fined for violating the city law in 2007 but were not, according to department records.
A Justice Department study of the problem found several factors that result in false alarms:
* User errors, such as using incorrect keypad codes, leaving a door or window open when activating an alarm, roaming pets or helium balloons, and errors arising from inadequate employee training, such as entering and exiting alarmed premises incorrectly.
* Faulty or inappropriately selected equipment.
* Poor installation, including failing to install motion detectors in sensible areas or at appropriate heights.
Chattanooga’s law aimed at limiting false alarm calls is fairly standard, according to industry officials.
“Enforcement of any law like that is going to be the key to determining how successful it is,” said John Knox, a Knoxville alarm company owner who sits on several alarm-industry boards. “What we’ve found, in studies here in Tennessee, is that 90 percent of the alarms come from 5 percent of the users. Most homes will go all year without a single alarm call.”
In Chattanooga, there are enough officers to respond, Sgt. Weary said. She said officers want to respond, but it is the repeat calls from the same locations that present problems.
“Some business owners live in Rhea County or on the mountains, and they won’t come down to check everything out when we do respond,” Sgt. Weary said. “They know we aren’t going to cite them.”
In July, police department records show, it took 16 hours for one property owner to get to the scene of one false alarm call.
PREVENTING FALSE ALARMS
* Ensure that all telephone and cell phone numbers are up to date with the alarm company to ensure proper verification in case the alarm goes off.
* Dust around your motion detector. Spiders can set the alarm off and dust can make it ineffective.
* Be familiar with the alarm company’s procedures should the alarm go off while you are there.
* Train the necessary people in the use of your home or business alarm system and schedule annual review sessions.
* Tightly close and lock all doors and windows.
* If you get a new pet, let your alarm company know. A new pet can trigger a motion detector. So can balloons, curtains and banners.
SOURCE: ADT, Inc
Adam Crisp covers education issues for the Times Free Press. He joined the paper's staff in 2007 and initially covered crime, public safety, courts and general assignment topics. Prior to Chattanooga, Crisp was a crime reporter at the Savannah Morning News and has been a reporter and editor at community newspapers in southeast Georgia. In college, he led his student paper to a first-place general excellence award from the Georgia College Press Association. He earned ...
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