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Alarm Information
The Tempe Police Department is in the midst of an epidemic
that is wasting countless officer man-hours, and costing the citizens of Tempe
hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. What is this epidemic? FALSE
ALARMS. In fact, in a recent national police department survey,
over 98% of the alarm calls that officers responded to were false. Only
2%
of the alarm calls that police responded to were the result of a criminal act.
What
is a false alarm?
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Alarm
User information
Overview
of Tempe's False Alarm Ordinance
Tempe's
False Alarm Ordinance
A false alarm is any alarm caused by human error or
equipment problems, requiring a police response, with no evidence of any actual
crime having been committed.
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Where are all of these alarms coming from?
Locations with many users contribute to most of the false
alarm calls. Government locations (municipal buildings, schools, state and
county buildings) represent one third of our total alarm calls. The other two
thirds of false alarms came from residential and commercial installations.
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- Failure to train other authorized users.
- Use of incorrect key pad codes.
- Failure to secure doors and windows before turning the
alarm system on.
- Failure to notify monitoring facility of unscheduled
openings or closings.
- Failure to update authorized personnel list or
responsible parties with the monitoring company.
- Improper application or installation of interior motion
detectors.
- Improper application or installation of outdoor beams.
- Improper charging or maintenance of batteries.
- Changes in the environment (i.e. new animals, design
changes, seasonal decorations, plants, etc.).
- Faulty equipment (i.e. panels, detectors, key pads,
etc.)
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Most new alarms users will have one to three false alarms
within the first thirty days of installation.
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New Homes Pre-wired for Alarm Systems
Pre-wiring homes for alarm systems have become a standard
feature and a great selling point for residential builders. Often the wiring is
usually done by an electrician that does not have a basic knowledge of burglar
alarm systems. The builders are failing to give the new homeowners system
instructions, or the requirements for alarm systems in the City of Tempe.
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New Alarm Companies
The proliferation's of alarm companies over the past
several years has contributed greatly to the false alarm problem. Many of the
companies are small (some are a single person operation) and sell the systems at
a severe discount in order to compete. Sometimes this causes the installer/owner
to cut corners either on equipment or training of the homeowner.
Many alarm companies are not licensed. An alarm system
that costs less that $750 requires no licensing for the company to sell or
install an alarm system in Arizona. So some companies will keep their price
under that amount.
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In response to this growing problem, the City of Tempe in
1992 adopted an
Alarm Ordinance, Tempe City Code Chapter 22.
The code has specific requirements for both the user and the alarm company, for
example:
- All alarms in the city, residential and
commercial, both existing and new installations, must be registered with the
police department.
- In order to become registered, an alarm user must
complete a permit application and pay a one time permit fee of $10.00.
Apply online here.
- Alarm companies, when installing a new system, must
advise the new user of the requirements of the ordinance.
- The alarm company also must try contacting the premises
before or immediately after calling the police on intrusion alarms
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The Code provides for fines when failing to
register an alarm, or when officers respond to two or more false alarms in a
permit year.
False Alarm
Fees Schedule
| Number
of false alarms |
Amount
of Fee |
| 0 to 2 |
Free (No Fee) |
| 3rd call |
$50.00 |
| 4 and above |
$50.00
increments
(e.g. $100.00 for the 4th call, $150.00 for the 5th call, etc.) |
|
Excessive Audible Alarm
(longer than 20 min)
|
$75.00 Each
Occurrence |
An alarm system is only as good as it's user.
It has been
proven that user education is the best defense against false alarms.
Know your system!
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How do I contact the Alarm Unit?
Payments should
be directed to:
City of Tempe - Alarm Unit
P.O. Box 29615
Phoenix, AZ 85038-9615
Correspondence
may be directed to:
Tempe Alarm Unit
120 E. Fifth Street
Tempe, AZ 85281
480-350-8778
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