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Capitola to Scale Back Proposed Alarm Ordinance
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Capitola to Scale Back Proposed Alarm Ordinance
By Michael Thomas
The Capitola Police Department is responding to an increasing number of calls triggered by electronic security systems. Police Chief Rick Ehle would like to see the City adopt a registration system and fines similar to what’s charged in other area jurisdictions.
However, the City Council rejected a staff proposal for a new ordinance that included fees for residential alarm systems, a move that sent City staff scrambling to revise the proposal.
City officials are now developing a narrower plan that levies fines on businesses that generate frequent false alarms.
The revised ordinance will be considered at a meeting on May 25. Council member Kirby Nicol had been among the first proposal’s critics.
“It was poorly written and created a whole new bureaucracy giving businesses a whole other paperwork thing to do when they are already overburdened,” Nicol said.
However, Chief Ehle says the Police Department, which has been chronically understaffed in recent years, needs a way to stem the tide of false alarms. Last year, the Department responded to 738 alarm calls. Ninety-nine percent of them were accidental alarms.
Businesses Cause Most False Alarms
City Manager Richard Hill said many of the false alarms are triggered by employees at local businesses.
“Sometimes it’s several times a night,” Hill said, “especially with new businesses and employees.”
Hill said that the City only wants businesses to be responsible for training staff.
“From our perspective it’s reasonable to have the employees trained to use the alarm,” he added.
Ehle said the false alarms added up to 120 hours of police officer time last year. But since more than one officers responds to most alarms, he thinks the real burden is about 300 hours a year.
“Basically that’s a quarter-time officer,” Ehle explained. “That’s a lot of time for us to absorb.”
Original Plan Called for Annual Registration
The original proposal called for registration fees for new alarms, as well as an annual renewal fee and fines of between $100 and $200 for excessive false alarms. Each alarm user would get two free police responses a year before the fine is applied.
The City of Santa Cruz imposes a smaller fine for repeat false alarms. The County of Santa Cruz has a fine that adds up to about $100, as well as a registration system. According to Ehle, the County’s system has just been automated, so it takes relatively little staff time to enforce. When alarm owners are delinquent in paying fees, they automatically receive a notice in the mail.
However, Capitola Council members expressed concern that a registration system for a city as small as Capitola would create more work than it would pay for.
“Just administering it and keeping track of all the alarm [systems] in the City is a job all by itself,” said Mayor Dennis Norton. “We don’t need another level of bureaucracy.”
Ehle said that registration systems have other benefits. For example, officers know if a home has a “panic button” in bedrooms or just a forced-entry alarm, so they can approach the call appropriately.
Nevertheless, after the full ordinance met with low support from the Council, the plan will be amended. According to Ehle, it will most likely be limited to fines for businesses that have three or more calls per year.
The revised ordinance will be discussed at the Council’s May 25 meeting.
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