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Private Alarm Systems In Bloomfield Must Be Registered
(Hartford Courant, The (CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 28--BLOOMFIELD -- If you're a resident or a business owner with a private alarm system, the police department would like to hear from you.
The town council recently adopted an ordinance requiring private alarm systems to be registered with police. Owners have 90 days to comply.
The ordinance was meant to cut down on the number of false alarms that police, fire and emergency services personnel have been answering. Bloomfield police Capt. Jeffrey Blatter said Friday that the problem increased in recent years because of short staffing.
"We can't ignore the alarm and we can't hire more cops," Blatter said. "We hope to minimize the enormous volume of false alarms."
Over the last three months, Blatter said, police responded to 749 alarms, with 501 of those categorized as false. Those alarms went off at 423 locations, 70 of which were responded to between three and 17 times, with the high school the worst offender.
With the new ordinance, the department plans to track and catalog responses to alarms to focus on bringing problem sites into compliance. Blatter said the registration fee of $12 for two years is needed to help defray administrative costs associated with tracking alarm calls.
The ordinance also comes with fines for repeated false alarms. Property owners will be warned for the first two false alarms. A third false alarm will come with a $25 penalty; the fourth will cost $50; and five or more will cost $90. A public safety response to an unregistered alarm will cost the offender $50, while a violation by an alarm company will cost the company $90.
Blatter said the department has been cataloging alarms over the past few months to familiarize officers with the new policy. He said he expects some errors. If alarm holders believe they have been fined in error, they can appeal to a civilian review board, Blatter said. Nonprofit organizations may be eligible for a waiver of the fee as well, he said.
Mayor Sydney Schulman said the new policy makes sense, both financially and for safety.
"False alarms cost the town a lot of money and are a waste of our public safety resources," Schulman said.
Registration forms for alarms are available at the town's website, www.bloomfieldct.org, or at the police department, 785 Park Ave.
Contact Steven Goode at sgoode@courant.com.
To see more of The Hartford Courant, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.courant.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Hartford Courant, Conn.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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