False alarms mean real fines

Yuba City may be getting tougher on false burglary alarms to free police department resources if an ordinance passes.

The ordinance would repeal and re-enact the security alarm systems section of the Yuba City Municipal Code, allowing residences and businesses only three false alarms every 365 days before facing fines.

The Yuba City City Council waived the first reading of the ordinance Tuesday, and the second reading and adoption of the ordinance, as well as establishing the fine amounts, will go before the council at a future meeting.

"We are trying to hold people accountable," said Police Chief Rob Landon "We would rather have the officer's time freed up to do other things."

Of the about 2,500 alarm calls Yuba City Police Department responds to each year, 99.2 percent are false. Each call requires at least two officers, who spend 15 to 20 minutes investigating, he said.

The alarm calls make up 8 percent of all police calls in Yuba City, the highest call for service in the department. And despite the high number of false alarms, few repeat offenders have tried to fix the problem, he said.

"This is not just a Yuba City problem," Landon said. "It's a nationwide problem."

The current code, which has not been updated since 1992, establishes a fine of $63 for the third false alarm in 90 days, and each additional false alarm rises in $63 increments up to $252.

Typically, the larger the business, the more opportunity for false alarms, Landon said. The Yuba Sutter Mall and the Yuba City Unified School District have the most frequent false alarms. The police department may host a training session to help prevent the problem.

Yuba City Unified School District has been successful in trying to proactively curb its false alarms in the last year, said Bruce Morton, director of student welfare and attendance.

"We obviously hope we can work with the police department so we don't end up with these charges," he said.

Morton receives monthly reports from each school site and shares the information with site administrators to try to fix the problem.

Sometimes an alarm is accidentally triggered by a teacher. Other times, classroom objects set off motion detectors. The school wants to do anything it can to alleviate false alarms, Morton said.

Don Covey, owner of Yuba City Florist and president of the Yuba City Downtown Business Association, said he thinks the ordinance is reasonable.

"I think businesses need to be responsible," he said. "We are looking at tightening budgets, controlling costs ... I think we can all take some responsibility."

Covey's shop has had its share of false alarms. In one week he had five false alarms, all set off by spiders. He said businesses are responsible for making sure employees either know how to operate or not set off alarms.

"It's all our responsibility to take care of false alarms so when the call comes in and it's a necessary call that we get a prompt response," Covey said.

The top three causes of false alarms are user errors, faulty equipment and poor installation, Landon said. A great deal of research went into the ordinance, looking at other cities nationwide.

Rocklin allows residents one free false alarm per year and imposes a fine of $50 for the second alarm and $100 for the third and any subsequent alarms. Oakland has a similar policy but charges $100 for the second false alarm, $200 for the third and $300 for the fourth and any subsequent false alarms.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ashley Gebb at 749-4724 or agebb@appealdemocrat.com.