Astoria, Ore. enacts new ordinance to fight false alarms
By SSN Staff
Updated Tue August 3, 2010
ASTORIA, Ore.—An Aug. 2 story in the Daily Astorian reports the Astoria City Council recently put an ordinance in place that will cut back on false alarms and could cost alarm owners money.
The penalties range as high as $250 and apply to all alarm users, including residential, commercial, governmental and nonprofit organizations, and repeat offenders could find themselves without police response to their burglar alarms. The municipality's belief is that repeat offenders may change their behavior (most false alarms are triggered by user error) when they realize how expensive false alarms can be.
The fine schedule is as follows: One false alarm in a fiscal year (July 1 to June 30) results in no penalty if a permit had been obtained within the previous 30 days. If there is no permit on file, the fine is $50; For the second false alarm, there's a $50 fine and a warning that it will cost more next time. The third false alarm earns a $75 fine. A fourth false alarm results in a $100 fine, a warning of increased fine and termination of police response to alarms. The fifth false alarm results in a $150 fine and termination of police response to alarms unless the customer requests continued service in writing and agrees to pay a $250 fine for each subsequent police response to a false alarm in the fiscal year.
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