False Alarms to Cost Residents

ORANGE — Repeated false security alarms will now cost property owners money as the result of City Council action Tuesday.

Police will impose fines of up to $125 on the owners of security alarms that repeatedly malfunction, causing police to check the premises.

“They are a high-priority call and officers are taken away from other duties to answer them,” said Orange Police Chief John R. Robertson.

Property owners will be allowed to have police respond to two false alarms within a 365-day period without charge. After that, police will bill $75 for the third offense, $100 for the fourth false alarm and $125 for each succeeding violation.

In the year ending June 30, Orange police responded to 6,742 false alarms that came from 2,391 alarm systems, Robertson said. There are 4,230 active alarm permits in Orange.

Robertson said the response time for the false alarms is equal to having two police officers assigned full time to only respond to the false warnings.

“The goal is not to raise money, the goal is to end false alarms,” Robertson said. “Ninety-eight percent of these false alarms could have been avoided had people who had alarms properly maintained equipment or properly trained people in using the alarms.”