False alarms may cost

Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies will still come running when your security system sends out a false alarm, but it could cost you.

False alarms have become so common that local governments often choose to ignore alerts, according to Undersheriff Jeff Carr. Salt Lake County isn't ready to go that far, but officials want to discourage false alarms, so they have urged changing the county's policy.

Under the proposed ordinance, the first two false alarms would be free, but a third would bring a $50 charge, and each one after that would cost $100. The false alarms would be cleared from a resident's record after 12 months. If an alarm went off at a home, the sheriff's office would only respond if the alarm company could get either the homeowner or a friend, neighbor or relative to be at the scene. In the case of a business alarm, the new ordinance would require alarm businesses to make a few calls to verify if the alarm is valid or not before summoning the police.

"We're not in the business to try and make money," Carr said. "What we're trying to do is discourage false alarms and make sure alarm owners are being responsible."

The County Council on Tuesday postponed a vote on an ordinance regulating alarm businesses after several council members asked that the ordinance undergo more public scrutiny before a final vote.

Last year, at least 82 percent of all alarm reports to the county sheriff's office were false. Rats, open doors and even spider webs waving in the wind in front of an alarm sensor have triggered the false alarms.

Alarm company owners support such ordinances, as long as they are not too broad and overreaching, said Bill LaRochelle, president of the Utah Alarm Association. "You want people to clean up their act; we have no problem with that."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com