Saturday, Oct. 1 is the last day for Peachtree City residents to register their home or business burglar alarm with the police department.
The registration is required by a new ordinance passed in May which enacts fines when a given location has more than two false alarms in a given 12-month period.
The goal of the new rules is to curb false alarms, which tie up police officers unnecessarily, by encouraging property owners to improve and maintain their burglar alarms, officials have said.
In 2010, the department responded to 2,707 burglar alarms. Only one had indicated an actual crime had occurred, according to Police Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark. A large number of the false alarms are due to operator error, Clark has noted.
The ordinance requires that all alarm users give two phone numbers where a responsible party can be reached. Those two calls must be made before an officer is dispatched to the scene, according to the ordinance.
If you have not yet sent in your registration form, or you misplaced it, it can be filled out online at: https://ptcgovernment-org.cgi-data.com/webform/7888168.cgi.
There will be no charge for the first and second false alarm at a given location. Beyond that the fines are established as follows:
Third through fifth false alarm, per occurrence $ 50
Sixth false alarm $100
Seventh false alarm $100
Eighth false alarm $250
Ninth false alarm $250
Tenth and over false alarm $500
Failure to register $100.
Police offer the following suggestions for burglar alarm owners:
• Carefully review your alarm monitoring company’s procedures for canceling accidental alarms.
• Insist that written instructions are provided to you. Do NOT call 911 if you accidentally set off your alarm. Call your alarm company. The police department will continue to respond until we receive a cancellation from your alarm company.
• Educate every person authorized to enter your home or business on how the system works.
• Make sure people authorized to use your system always have the appropriate pass code.
• Keep doors and windows locked when the system is armed.
• Use deadbolt locks. Follow your alarm company’s instructions on testing your system. Don’t test it by setting it off prior to notifying your alarm company.
• Know how to clear a wrong code if you make a mistake on the keypad.
• Doors and windows must be tight fitting, and contacts should be free of paint and varnish.
• Choose a system that is tolerant of pets. If pets run free in the house, you should ask your alarm company for a motion detector that accommodates pets. Also some dog barks can activate older glass break detectors.
More information on the city’s alarm ordinance is available at: http://peachtree-city.org/index.aspx?NID=949
