City reminds residents to register alarms

Failure to do so could result in a $50 fine

The city considers false alarms the equivalent of “falsely crying wolf.” Noting that the large majority of alarm calls turn out to be false, which results in a significant allocation of Yuma Police Department resources, the city set out to change this.

In May 2015, the city approved a false alarm reduction ordinance aimed at minimizing the overall number of false alarm calls requiring police response. The goal of this program is to cut down on the amount of time officers spend responding to false alarms.

While the police department is seeing some early success with its false alarm reduction program, the city reminds homeowners and business owners that all alarm systems within the city need to be registered. Responses to unregistered alarms result in fines.

“We’re still hearing from people surprised to find a police response to an alarm that hasn’t been registered causes a fine for the property owner,” Dave Nash, the city’s public affairs coordinator, said.

There’s a reason for those fines. The police department receives about 5,000 alarm calls per year. Burglary, panic and robbery alarms are high-priority calls that require more than one officer to be dispatched.

“False alarm calls — about 5,000 a year — take at least two officers and about a half hour each to clear, and 99 percent of alarm calls are false,” Nash said.

Yuma’s false alarm reduction program was officially implemented in September. On Dec. 1, the grace period for the program ended and businesses and residents started to pay a series of fines for false alarm calls, beginning with the third offense.

If an alarm goes off and the business or residential alarm is not registered, the business or resident receives a $50 fine for the non-registration.

“The program is showing some modest but noticeable reduction in false alarms so far this year,” Nash noted.

So far this year, from January through April, Yuma Police have received 151 fewer false alarms compared to last year during the same time frame.

“That equates to an estimated 150 man hours saved on false alarm calls and allowing our officers to do more proactive work,” Police Chief John Lekan noted.

Alarm users and businesses must register their alarm systems and can do so at no charge online via https://www.crywolfservices.com/yumaaz/.

A link to the registration website is also available through the city’s website at www.yumaaz.gov and can also be found under “Police Department” within the website.

The website also contains helpful tips to consumers on how to reduce a majority of false alarms that are preventable with proper operation.

Mara Knaub can be reached at mknaub@yumasun.com or 5396853. Find her on Facebook at www. Facebook.com/MaraKnaubJournalist or on Twitter @YSMaraKnaub.