False alarms on the rise in Yukon, despite ordinance
False alarms can be annoying for police officers and firefighters. Every time an alarm sounds at a home or business, they are dispatched to that area to scope out the scene.
Many times it’s a false alarm, and police and firefighters are pulled from other duties so they can respond the false alarm.
Last year, the Yukon City Council adopted an ordinance in an effort to reduce the number of false alarms.
The ordinance went into effect Jan. 1. 2009. Under Yukon’s ordinance, residents and business owners are allowed two false alarms per calendar year, and $50 fine is issued for the third and fourth alarm. Five or more false alarms result in a $100 fine.
However, that ordinance doesn’t appear to be working. Based on statistics released by the Yukon Police Department, false alarm incidents increased nearly 90 percent since the ordinance went into effect.
In 2009, there were 779 false alarm incident, compared to only 415 in 2008.
Yukon police said the ordinance wasn’t heavily enforced in 2009, but they plan to step up their enforcement efforts in 2010 to reduce the number of false alarm incidents.
Regardless of where you live, everyone who is testing an alarm should notify their police department, so officers won’t be dispatched to check on a false alarm incident.
On the flip side, some false alarms are unavoidable. One time, the alarm in my house went off due to a glitch. A police officer showed up, I apologized, and he went on his way. There was nothing I could do because I have no control over technology.
I wonder how many other people had false alarms triggered by a glitch?
Tim Henley
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