False alarms will bring stricter fines

Columbus city officials hope new rules adopted Monday will deter thousands of false burglar alarms that police respond to each year.

The Columbus City Council approved an overhaul of regulations for alarm

companies and a new fee structure for homeowners and businesses who use them on Monday night.

The city’s alarm rules haven’t been updated since 1998, and city officials have said new technology has made revisions necessary.

The update will force alarm companies to test systems after installation and require battery backups to try to combat thousands of false alarms that police respond to each year. A new schedule of fines is meant to deter false alarms too.

“We put a tremendous amount of resources into responding to those,” said George Speaks, assistant director in the Department of Public Safety. In 2016, Columbus police received about 48,000 alarm calls, including about 34,000 false alarms.

“The expectation is that a year from now we’ll see a change in behavior in regards to false alarms,” Councilman Mitchell Brown said. “It’s going to take a while for people to come around and understand it.”

City code required every home or business with an alarm to pay $35 for a license. The change will increase the residential license fee to $45 and then require an annual renewal fee of $25. The city will charge anyone older than 70 a one-time $15 fee for an alarm. Businesses will be charged $70 for the license and then $35 to renew. Banks must pay $55 for the license and $25 to renew.

A $50 late fee will be charged to alarm users who don’t renew on time. Schools will not be charged for licenses.

False alarm fines would be based on the type of alarm call, whether the owner had a city license and whether it occurred at a residence, business, bank or school. Fines would range from $50 to $1,000. False alarm offenders also would have to go through training.

Under the system in place since 2003, the first two false alarms were free before escalating between $100 and $800.

New rules will give all license holders the first false burglar alarm free. False alarms for residences, businesses and others who don’t obtain a license is $100 for the first offense and increases substantially for each subsequent incident.

In other action, the council also approved spending more than $47,000 to buy 592 portable cribs that it will give to caregivers who do not have a safe sleep surface for their infant.

Providing the portable cribs is part of the city’s Celebrate One initiative to fight the city’s high rate of infant mortality.

Safe sleep habits have been at the center of that initiative, including a campaign telling caregivers where and how infants should sleep.

Last year, the city gave away 1,130 portable cribs. The city is buying the cribs from the nonprofit Cribs for Kids without bidding the contract because it is the “sole provider” of the Graco Pack n Play, which the legislation describes as “by far the safest and most reliable” unit.

Councilman Michael Stinziano said the city is running out of the portable cribs.

“There’s a need that’s immediate,” he said.