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The Spokane Valley Police Department has ringing in its ears.
After responding to 20 alarms from tripped security systems on Monday, on eight of the calls officers couldn’t contact business owners or home owners responsible for the systems. As a result, Police Chief Rick Van Leuven said, there was plenty of frustration as officers were taken away from other duties.
“That 40 percent of the calls,” said Council Member Bill Gothmann. “That’s 40 percent of the time you’re just standing around.”
“It’s a perfect example why we need this,” Van Leuven said.
Council members unanimously voted Tuesday to sign a contract with CryWolf, a division of Public Safety Corp of Waldorf, Md., to begin implementing a program similar to one that has been in operation in the city of Spokane.
In that city, since 2006, false alarms have been reduced 67 percent from 6,800 to 2,250 last year.
While fire alarms are a separate matter, and will be addressed in a different ordinance, Van Leuven has been particularly keen in CryWolf’s efforts to make sure contact databases are up to date. That way, alarm companies can reach contacts and alert officers when human error or malfunctions are the causes and not actual break-ins.
Under the law, owners of alarm systems would be required to provide the phone numbers of individuals that can be contacted when alarms are tripped. In the event of an actual break in, those individuals would be required to secure the building. If it’s a false alarm, the person can tell the alarm company, which contacts the business or building owner first, that there is no need for police.
Registration will cost $25 each year for residences, and $35 for businesses. The fees would produce about $30,000 a year.
Schools, however, would be exempt – even though they generate many of the false alarms. School districts would also not have to pay for fines for a second false-alarm call (there is no fine on the first), but a designee would have to complete training in an awareness class on false alarm consequences. Fines are $85 for home systems, $165 for other buildings.
Court fees generally were about $66 under the old system, however most of the time the cases never made it that far – or the fines even collected – due to the amount of paperwork involved. For example, last year, countywide, there was only $5,247 billed when the amount should have been over $50,000, according to sheriff’s officials.
With CryWolf acting as an intermediary, there will no longer be the judicial element.
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By
Mike Huffman
