False alarm fines to begin this year

The Chapel Hill fire and police departments won’t start imposing fines for multiple false alarms until later this year — but right now they’re working hard to prevent having to fine people at all.

Under an ordinance passed by the Chapel Hill Town Council in October, residents and businesses whose buildings have more than three false alarms in a one-year period will have to pay up.

Lt. Joshua Mecimore, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said the fire and police departments are working with community watch groups and local business organizations to make sure residents understand the policy before it goes into effect.

The town’s website also features a page of FAQs about the system, known as the Chapel Hill Accidental Alarm Program.

“We realize it’s a new ordinance and people aren’t entirely familiar with it,” Mecimore said. “We’re taking the first part of 2014 to educate.”

As part of the new system, businesses and residences will have to register their alarms with the Chapel Hill fire and police departments starting this spring.

Mecimore said a third-party vendor is working on a website where residents and businesses will register their alarms.

Police and firefighters will still respond to all alarms. The new database will allow both departments to fine home and business owners who fail to maintain a working alarm.

Mecimore said the police and fire departments need contact information for alarm owners before they can start enforcing the new rule.

“We’ll have a good, up-to-date database,” he said. “Especially with businesses, as they change ownership or management, that information doesn’t always get updated with the alarm company.”

Once the registration system is in place, new alarms must be registered within 30 days, and people who don’t register their alarms will face a fine.

Car alarms do not need to be registered.

Matt Lawrence, deputy chief for the fire department, said the rules will not be enforced until the alarm registration website is up and running.

“We recognize we have to have enough time to get folks registered,” he said.

Mecimore said the town will continue to update its FAQ webpage as questions come up so people will know as much as possible before enforcement begins.

“Our hope is that we don’t have to fine anyone,” he said.

The police department responded to 3,630 false alarm calls in 2012, which cost the town $75,213, according to a report given to the Town Council. In the same year, the fire department responded to 1,250 false alarm calls at a cost of $122,400 the report states.

The fire department sends out three to four vehicles and up to 10 firefighters each time it gets a call, and the police dispatch two officers.

Mecimore said this wasted manpower is exactly what the town wanted to eradicate with the ordinance.

“The hope is that less of that will happen, which frees up officers to deal with other issues,” he said. “And hopefully it will increase their response time to real, valid alarms.”

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