Rockland is considering raising its fines for the false activation of security alarms after they took up about 100 hours of police time last year and appear to be getting more common this year.
Rockland officers responded to 390 alarms in 2023, the vast majority of which were false, Deputy Chief Alexander Gaylor said in a letter to the city council last week.
And the problem appears to be getting slightly worse this year, although the total number of alarms police respond to has held relatively steady in the last decade. The city has so far billed for 52 false alarms in this fiscal year, up from 41 last year, according to Gaylor.
The majority of the false alarms come from the same large businesses — ones that have not fixed issues with their alarms or properly trained their staff to deal with them when they accidentally set them off, Gaylor said.
“Their lack of due care cost the City of Rockland, and ultimately the tax payers, valuable time and money responding to these complaints, that can be better spent on other law enforcement duties,” Gaylor said in the memo.
Gaylor proposed that the city double its fine for false alarms. Since 2007, it has charged $50 for each false alarm triggered after the first five. Now, councilors will consider raising that to $100 because of inflation and the continued cost to local taxpayers.
There are exceptions to the false activation of alarms that do not result in a fine, including those caused by repairs or testing, those in which there is a sign of attempted entry, and those activated by owners or employees who genuinely believe there may be some sort of emergency, according to the existing ordinance.
The Rockland City Council will do its first reading of the ordinance amendment at its June 10 meeting.
Jules Walkup is a Report for America corps member. Additional support for this reporting is provided by BDN readers.
