‘3 Calls’ Proposal Aims to Discourage False Alarms

First, habitual criminals faced the “three strikes and you’re out” bill. Now, the owners of business and home security systems who repeatedly call police to respond to false alarms face “three calls, you pay.”

It is an idea offered Tuesday by Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick and Police Commissioner Art Mattox to crack down on the hundreds of thousands of false alarm calls that annually keep police from responding to real crimes.

“The city clearly needs more police in our communities and on our streets catching criminals and preventing crime and not running around responding to false alarm calls,” said Chick, who represents the west San Fernando Valley.

About 95% of the security alarms responded to by the Los Angeles Police Department last year turned out to be false, triggered either by human error, faulty equipment or bad weather, according to police and city officials.

Police responded to 153,000 false alarm calls last year, at a cost of about $6 million to $8 million in wasted work hours, Mattox said.

Under the proposal introduced Tuesday to the City Council, owners of alarm systems must pay an $80 fine for each false alarm after the third call within a 12-month period. Currently, the $80 fine starts after the fourth false alarm.

The proposal instructs the city attorney to draft a legal ordinance within 30 days and return it to the council for final approval.

The ordinance would also crack down on alarm systems that are not registered with the Police Department by establishing an $80 fine for each false alarm by non-registered systems. The annual registration fee is $30.

But the fines and fees may not pose a strong deterrent because a state law that took effect last year requires police to respond to all alarms, regardless of whether they are registered or whether they have a history of false alarm calls. The law was enacted under heavy pressure from the security industry, city officials said.

Frustration with the state law was evident when the topic was raised Tuesday before the Police Commission.

“The whole system stinks,” said Police Commissioner Herbert F. Boeckmann, II. “I just feel that there has to be a better way.”

Members of the commission agreed to form a subcommittee to study the problem and perhaps lobby state officials to change the laws to allow the city more flexibility in dealing with false alarm calls.

One suggestion was to ask the state to give the city the power to collect the fees directly from the security alarm companies.