City of Anderson to Enforce False Alarm Ordinance

ANDERSON, IN – Beginning January 1, 2010, the City of Anderson will join a host of communities who already enforce nuisance alarms. 

“False alarms have become an enormous concern for law enforcement agencies everywhere.  Millions of dollars and man-hours are spent chasing "burglars" which turn out to be nothing more than floating birthday balloons, unrestricted pets, or paper falling from a fax machine, “said Chief of Police Darron Sparks. 

False alarms place the lives and property of community members in jeopardy.  While police are responding to alarms that turn out to be false, they are not available to respond to alarms and other emergencies that are valid. In addition, the occupants and police are less likely to believe in a system plagued by repeated false activations.  

In August, the Anderson City Council approved ordinance 23-09 regulating false alarms and any resulting nuisance penalties.  However, Sparks cautioned that the intent of the ordinance is to reduce alarms and not to collect fees. 

“Our goal is to encourage the alarm owners to maintain their systems so that they are reliable and have minimal false activations.  The purpose of the ordinance is not to make money.  In fact, the cost-recovery measure falls shy of the false alarm related costs to the city,” said Sparks.  “The overriding objective of the false alarm ordinance is to make Anderson a safer place to live for all citizens, whether they own a security system or not.”