Date: Fri 09-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

police-council-alarm-ordinance

Full Text:

False Alarm Keep Newtown Police Running

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Newtown's new police chief, James Lysaght, Jr, says Newtown averages six false

alarms a day, each requiring a response by a police officer and a backup

officer.

"The town is, in effect, employing a whole officer a year just to go to false

alarms," Chief Lysaght told the Legislative Council's ordinance commitee at

its meeting last week.

Last year there were 2,223 burglar alarm incidents; all but 11 of them were

false, he said.

Recently the ordinance committee produced a third draft of a revised false

alarm ordinance in an effort to find a mechanism that might slow the

escalating problem of false alarms. But after Police Office James Mooney, Jr,

and Robert Berkins, police records manager, researched the subject on the

Internet, the committee agreed that more work needs to be done.

"My point of view is that there is nothing worse than doing a lot of work and

then finding that a loophole or court challenge will overturn 80 percent of

the work you've done," Chief Lysaght said. "That's why it is so important to

put together a fair, clean and usable ordinance."

Chief Lysaght said the revised ordinance needs to include an appeals process.

Otherwise, Newtown might find itself in the same position as a New York town

which had its case against a chronic violator overturned in court, he said.

"The work that Bob Berkins and Jim Mooney (Jr) did on the Internet was really

enlightening," said committee member Lisa Schwartz. "A lot of the work we did

(on this ordinance) needs to be revisited."

Mrs Schwartz said that while the existing ordinance includes a schedule for

fines, it does not say what will happen if the fine isn't paid. The committee

may wish to add language which stipulates that unpaid fines will be sent to a

collection agency, she said.

Committee Chairman Pierre Rochman asked whether the police department has the

authority to notify chronic violators that future alarms will not get a

response.

"This is a significant question," Chief Lysaght said. "It would require

careful consideration of the long-term history (of the violator) and an

examination of what is causing the false alarms. If the equipment is faulty,

perhaps the burglar alarm company should pay the fine."

"If it is a false alarm, it's a false report of an incident," he explained.

"If the burglar alarm company did not take steps to verify it, then they made

a false report."

When carelessness on the part of homeowners is the problem, education,

combined with stiff fines for violators, has proved to be successful in

reducing false alarms in many communities, the chief said.

"Education is the single most cost-effective way of reducing false alarms but

you have to have enforcement. Punishment has to be fair and certain."

With nearly 200 new homes being built each year in Newtown, and most

containing burglar alarm systems, the problem of false alarms is escalating,

he said.

"The police deparment has had a cable access television show and I intend to

do a portion on the subject of false alarms," he said. "Property owners should

know that one officer fell down the steps [answering a false alarm at a house]

and collected $4,000 from the homeowner."

Chief Lysaght said approximately 2,500 alarms systems are registered with the

Newtown police department. Hundreds more aren't, he said.

The committee wrestled with the question of whether registrations should

require a fee. Currently there is no fee to register an alarm system.

Mr Rochman said he had a philosophical disagreement with imposing a fee on

homeowners whose alarms may never go off. And he said he is opposed to

creating more bureaucracy. "I'd rather see an escalating fine for false

alarms," he said.

Council chairman Joseph Mahoney said taxpayers should pay only for services

that all residents of Newtown enjoy.

"If you feel you need extra service - such as having an alarm system - you

should pay for it," he said. "And if you make the fines high, people will be

more careful.

"I'd like to see this be the toughest, most expensive ordinance the town has,"

Mr Mahoney said.

Mr Rochman, Mrs Swartz, and committee members John Kortze, Bill Brimmer and

Gail Halapin agreed to research some of the questions that still need to be

answered about the proposed revisions to the ordinance before the next meeting

of the ordinance committee is scheduled.