MOORPARK : Fines to Be Increased for False-Alarm Calls
In an attempt to cut down on the number of false alarms that sheriff’s deputies respond to in Moorpark, the city has decided to levy higher fines for bogus calls.
More than 10% of the nearly 8,000 calls for service the department’s 20-member Moorpark Enforcement Division received last year were for burglar and fire alarms, according to the division’s annual report.
Typically the Moorpark division has three patrol cars in the city at any given time, and department policy requires that two of those cars respond to burglar or fire alarms.
“Every response takes up two-thirds of our deputies in the field,” said Lt. Martin Rouse. “About 99% of the (burglar and fire) alarms are false, but as a precaution we send out two patrols, and it typically takes at least half an hour to straighten things out.”
Many of the alarms are triggered accidentally because either they are of poor quality or the people setting them lack proper training, Rouse said.
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