Larimer County, Colo., Proposes False Alarm Fines, Response Policy

Larimer County, Colo., might just be charging your customers soon for false alarms if a proposed policy is approved.

The county will be holding a public hearing on Aug. 22 to discuss the idea of using alarm registration and false alarm charges to cut down on the number of false alarms in the county, or at least to help recoup some of the costs associated with responding to false alarms.

The policy was proposed by county sheriff Jim Alderden according to The (Loveland, Colo.) Daily Reporter-Herald in a report from last week.

The proposal would include registration of alarm systems ($50 for the first time registered, then $25 for each subsequent year), an enhanced call verification policy requiring that the monitoring company attempt two calls to reach alarm owner before police will respond, and fines for alarms that are false.

The proposed false alarm fines would be free for first response, $50 for second false alarm, $75 for third, $100 for fourth, and $200 for fifth and additional false alarms.

The county currently is somewhat behind the times, and does not now require either registration or fines for false alarms, despite the fact that it's largest municipality, Loveland, Colo., has already gone to a verified response policy to cut down on what it saw as a too-high rate of false alarms.