City eyes fines for false alarms
WATERVLIET, N.Y. >> The City Council unanimously voted Thursday night to approve legislation allowing fines to be issued for false alarms.
City officials said the intent of this local law is to reduce the number false alarms, to encourage the proper use of alarm systems, and to promote the health, safety and general welfare of city residents.
According to the new local law legislation, which went into effect immediately after Thursday night’s council meeting, offenders with alarms systems going off falsely will be fined
$100 for the f i rst false alarm response, $200 for the second false response and
$300 for the third and each and every subsequent false alarm.
Watervliet Police Chief Mark Spain and Fire Chief Robert Conlen both said the issue with the alarm systems going off as false alarms isn’t really a cost problem, nor is it just an issue due to the number of times they respond to false alarms.
Rather, the problem is more about the potential danger created by public safety officials responding to those calls.
“It’s not really the cost that I’m looking at, it’s the safety of our response to those calls,” said Spain on Thursday night. “The cost is rather minimal because we’re out on the road already, the issue is the way we have to respond to the alarm drops with the speed, lights and sirens, and then it’s just a false alarm when we get there.”
“I think the issue isn’t so much the amount of times we go, it’s the fact that it creates a danger,” added Conlen after the meeting. “We get the big trucks rolling and a lot of the time we get there and there is nothing going on.”
Before voting to approve this new legislation the council held a public hearing and only one member of the public spoke during it to ask about the discretion of fines for homeowners.
Spain said that they receive very few calls for false alarm systems in residences, and he also said that they will have the discretion to attach the fines or not.
“We want to respond if
there is a real alarm, but we don’t want to get people injured on the way if it’s not,” said Mayor Michael Manning. “We’re after the repeat offenders; we have some businesses that we have to go to sometimes multiple times a day, and that is what this is really going after.”
Having a penalty for false alarms like this is not completely uncommon with other municipalities.
According to section § 113-8 False alarms; penalty within the city of Troy’s code; “a penalty of $ 50
shall be levied against any subscriber who transmits a false alarm, whether caused by human error or malfunction of equipment at the subscriber’s terminal. Wire trouble caused by problems within the telephone lines shall not be considered a false alarm. The intentional transmission of a false alarm shall be punishable under the New York State Penal Law. No penalty for a false alarm shall be levied against any subscriber except for a third and subsequent false alarm in any calendar year.”
However, some communities such as the city of Cohoes, currently do not have any penalties of fines for false alarms that go off.
“My reason is most alarms that go off are in senior homes and I’m concerned they will pass the cost onto them, but we are looking at a few ideas,” said Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse.
One local Watervliet business owner said after the council meeting that he believes imposing these fines is a good idea for the city to be doing now.
“I think it’s a good idea because it’s habitual when you get the same offenders over and over again,” said Todd Smith, Watervliet resident and owner of Elite Apparel, Awards and Promotions on 19th Street. “The best part about it is that it is going to be discretionary.”