High Number of Bogus Calls Alarms LAPD

Most folks never know how much trouble one little false alarm can cause.

Because every time that pesky, but necessary, house alarm goes off, a police patrol car is dispatched to make sure thieves aren’t toting away the new VCR. And even if it’s just a family member returning home or the wind setting it off, that alarm originally installed to protect the home has caused quite a nuisance to police.

False house alarms cause more widespread problems than most people realize.

In 1996, the Los Angeles Police Department responded to more than 150,000 business and residential alarms--98% of them false, said Officer Larry Williams, who works in the department’s alarm unit. In fact, one out of every six police responses was to investigate what turned out to be a false alarm. And the San Fernando Valley, with its large numbers of homeowners who can afford alarms, led the way, with 57,562 calls.

Last December alone, Williams said, the Devonshire Division responded to 1,434 alarms, more than any other division. All four police divisions with the highest number of alarm responses are in the Valley, he said.

So in an effort to combat the escalating number of calls, last November the City Council cut in half--to two per year--the number of false alarms allowed before the system’s owner is fined $80 per incident.

“While some people may not agree that the city should charge for a false police response, those who chronically abuse our response system need to help pay for it,” City Councilwoman Laura Chick said. “The overall goal is to keep more police on the street, responding to real and necessary calls.”

Williams agreed that responding to false calls consumes too much valuable police time.

“The officers aren’t too happy with the false alarms,” Williams said. “They went to the academy to learn how to fight crime. And when they are out there responding to false alarms, they feel like their time is being wasted.”

When an alarm goes off, the company monitoring the home calls the residence to see if anyone who owns the house is there. If no familiar voice answers, then a patrol car is sent out. Too often it is not a dangerous prowler, but just a pet setting off a sensitive alarm.

And even if they wanted to, officers couldn’t shrug off an alarm call. The City Council passed a law in 1993 that requires the LAPD to respond to all alarm activations. Williams said the change resulted in 30,000 more patrol car responses.

Though the city collected more than $4 million from false alarm fines in 1996, Williams maintains that the fines were imposed not to make money, but to force people to be more careful. “We only bill people to make them pay attention to their alarms and also to recover our costs for coming out to their houses,” he said.

Since Chick’s district had the most false alarms in the city last year, she thought it was particularly important to speak directly with her constituents. So, along with Williams, she recently participated in a new series of preventive seminars called “Alarm School.”

Borrowing the concept of alarm school from the Phoenix Police Department, Williams started the free classes a few weeks ago. He said that so far he has received positive reactions from alarm owners who have attended the seminar. During the two-hour class, he offers tips on better alarm operation and rewards participants by removing one false alarm from their records.