Date: Fri 03-May-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

ordinance-false-alarms

Full Text:

Ordinance Panel Revises Alarm Rules

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

The Legislative Council's ordinance committee has produced a draft of a

revised false alarm ordinance it intends to submit to the full council for

approval. A public hearing must be scheduled before a revised ordinance is

adopted.

The proposed revision also will be referred to the Police Commission at its

May 7 meeting for discussion and comment.

At the ordinance committee meeting last week, committee chairman Pierre

Rochman said he and committee member Lisa Schwartz met recently with Acting

Chief Michael Fekete to review the ordinance, which Chief Fekete was

instrumental in creating in the mid 1970s. They also discussed changes which

the police department has implemented to try to stem the growing problem of

false alarms.

"There has been a change in procedures in the last six months that has had a

significant impact on the problem," Mr Rochman said. "As soon as a false alarm

occurs, a postcard is sent to the homeowner to notify the homeowner that the

police responded."

If the alarm isn't registered, the police send a notice to the homeowner and a

registration form with a letter which explains that alarm systems must be

registered, Mr Rochman said.

Chief Fekete said procedures were changed last year when there was a change of

personnel in the department's records division. There is now a part-time

employee who records and responds to each instance of false alarm.

"There's a whole system of notification and collection which was established

by Chief DeJoseph in late 1995," Chief Fekete said, explaining that when fines

aren't paid the bill may be sent to a collection agency or to small claims

court.

"Our new employee is doing an excellent job," he said. "Collections are up."

But it's too early to verify whether false alarms are dropping, he said,

because before the improved record keeping system was implemented many false

alarms probably weren't recorded.

Mr Rochman said he was inclined to do away with the registration process, as

the town of Fairfield did recently, but was dissuaded by Chief Fekete who said

it is important to be able to get ahold of a property owner when an alarm goes

off.

"We've had instances of alarms that have gone off for days," the acting police

chief explained. "One alarm went off all weekend until the police broke in to

cut the wire and then resecure the house. The homeowner was glad that we did

because the noise was driving all the neighbors crazy."

The revised ordinance would exempt all town departments and the Board of

Education from paying fines because paying such fines would only be a transfer

of money from one town agency to another. However, the ordinance would require

the name of a contact person responsible for taking corrective action. That

person will work in cooperation with the police deparment in reducing the

unnecessary dispatch of police and/or fire personnel to town-owned buildings,

Mr Rochman said.

The existing ordinance allows three false alarms without a fine at any

property within a 12-month period. The revised ordinance would change the

wording "12-month period" to "calendar year" to simplify record keeping. The

amount of the fines would continue to be established by the Board of

Selectmen.

The issue of false alarms has been bouncing back and forth between the

ordinance committee and the Police Commission for nearly two years. Former

Chief DeJoseph, who stepped down recently to take another job, had urged an

updating of the ordinance, explaining that each alarm requires a response by a

police office and a backup officer. According to the town's annual report, in

the last fiscal year police responded to 2,190 false alarms at a cost of more

than 1,000 hours of police worktime. Only 11 alarms were real.

The Police Commission proposed a strengthening of the ordinance, with heavier

fines, a better registration process and biennial fees that would help pay for

the salary of a full time clerk to administer and enforce the ordinance.

"We're trying to come up with a revised ordinance that is palatable to

everyone," Chief Fekete said. "The ordinance had some sections which were

obsolete. But I'm still adamant about getting some registration fee, if it

becomes possible, to pay for a full time person."

The ordinance committee also has begun work on a new ordinance on underground

home heating fuel tanks. The committee agreed to ask Assistant Town Sanitarian

Martha Wright and a representative from a fuel oil company to come to a

meeting tenatively scheduled for May 30 to discuss the problem of leaking

tanks and the options for solutions.

The ordinance committee has undertaken a comprehensive review of all town

ordinances. They also have been requested to consider the creation of a scenic

road ordinance.