NY's Suffolk County to Address False Alarm Issue

New York's Suffolk County is, like a number of counties and municipalities, facing a problem with false alarms and accidental trips of burglar alarms. The county is proposing to address the problem with the standard fare of registration and fines, reports Newsday.com.

A new proposal in the county's legislature would require registration of alarm systems ($75 for residential systems, $100 for commercial systems), and would require renewal of that registration every third year (at $60 for residential, $80 for commercial).

The proposal would fine alarm owners upon the third false alarm in a year (starting at $50), and fines would increase along with the number of false alarms. Following the fifth response to a false alarm in a year, the proposal gives the police the option of going to non-response for that property, or simply revoking the permit for the alarm system at that property.

Unregistered systems would face stiffer fines: $50 for first false alarm, $200 for each additional false alarm from an unregistered property.

The proposal excludes panic/hold-up alarm, alarms from schools and city/county buildings and areas of the county that have individual police departments.