Plans to hike fines for false alarms draws debate

Residents alarmed over a proposal to overhaul the city's policy for responding to false alarms told police Wednesday night they have to be careful not to punish those with clean records.

At a sparsely attended public meeting on police plans to increase fines for multiple false alarms in a year, Deputy Police Chief Ron Gibson presented the same proposal that got unofficial head nods from City Council two weeks ago.

Police want to crack down on the more than 10,000 false alarms they respond to annually by charging a $30 to $40 annual fee on anyone who has an alarm and increasing charges for those who repeatedly make false alarms. The annual fee would make owners more accountable, police say.

For Charles and Tauni Orndorff, who have alarms at their medical business and at home, the annual fee could be a sticking point.

"It is going to start putting it out of people's price range," Tauni Orndorff said.

Current policy calls for a one-time registration fee of $12.

The meeting's attendees agreed that an annual registration fee for alarm systems should be lower and the city should begin fining for second-offense false alarms.

Charles Orndorff told Gibson he would like City Council to earmark the revenue generated by false- alarm fines for the police department.

Other local business owners asked that the policy include a reinstatement fee in the event a single location surpasses a maximum amount of false alarms allowed, and that multiple offenders be deemed by police as unworthy of response.

Gibson, who has also gathered input from various neighborhood organizations around the city, said the department plans to put a formal proposal in front of City Council in June.