Ordinance Would Attach Fine to ‘Excessive’ Police Calls

Bogus disturbance calls to residences take officers away from legitimate emergencies and cost Simi Valley more than $280,000 a year.

So the City Council on Monday will consider an ordinance that would enable police to charge people $55 each time an officer was called to their home on more than five occasions within a year.

“People need to be willing to settle their own stuff without calling the police every time someone gets a hangnail,” longtime Councilman Bill Davis said.

He asked police to investigate such an ordinance after neighbors of his complained about a home that appeared to generate a large number of unwarranted calls and asked why the city should foot the bill, as did Davis.

A small number of homes are responsible for a disproportionate number of calls to police, Sgt. Bob Gardner said. Last year, police responded more than 5,000 times to just 489 homes--an average of 10 visits per residence. Two officers spend an average of 22 minutes dealing with each call.

The cost for these services: $281,371.98.

“This is not an ordinance that’s intended to generate revenue or go out and find something for a policeman to do,” Gardner said. “We’re looking to provide our services to people in the community who have legitimate reasons for calling us.”

The $55 fee is about what it costs for police to respond to a 911 call.

But a bill will not be levied if the person making the call is a victim of recurring crimes, such as spousal battering, Gardner said.

Nor will the fee be charged for false burglar or fire alarms or loud parties. A separate ordinance calls for people to be charged $72.50 if their malfunctioning alarm prompts an emergency response more than five times a year, Gardner said. The percentage of false alarms has dropped considerably since the ordinance went into effect in 1989, he said.

Yet another ordinance enables police to charge people if police must break up a party at a home.

“With some people, until there’s a penalty attached to an act, they aren’t going to pay too much attention,” Gardner said. “If anybody needs a police service, they’re going to get the best service we can provide. But if they’re creating problems that should not be, then this ordinance gives us the tool to deal with them.”

Other cities have ordinances covering both false alarms and rowdy parties. But no other Ventura County city charges its residents for excess police calls--although the problem isn’t unique to Simi Valley.

“I think it’s interesting that they’re looking at creative ways of trying to mitigate the expenses for law enforcement,” said Lt. Brad Talbot, of the Ventura Police Department.

The council meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road.