Joining other municipalities across the country, the Chico, California, Police Department has stopped responding to automated burglary alarms to eliminate “bad calls for service” that are taking up time for the understaffed department, according to command staff.
Chico police officers respond to an average of 3,000 false alarms each year, Capt. Ford Porter said. The department has seen significant cuts in staffing and it has to better utilize personnel, he said.
The department has realized for some time now that false alarms are an issue, and so close to the beginning of the year, the idea to change the policy was brought up, he said.
Under the new policy, Chico police will only respond to automated burglary alarms if there’s another form of verification to prove it’s a valid alarm. This is why it is critical for property owners – home or business – to have a verified alarm system.
Officers will respond if someone sees an open door, or if they see flashlights or something indicating there might be someone inside a building, Porter said.
For all automated alarms, Chico police requires at least two officers to respond. Each alarm response varies, but it takes an average of 20 to 30 minutes from the time an officer is dispatched to the time he or she is clear, Porter said.
Chico police Lt. Mike O’Brien, who is in charge of overseeing the new policy, said officers will still respond to human-activated alarms, like those at banks.
The policy is specifically addressing burglary alarms with no other component to back up the alarm, he said.
“We’re trying to weed out those 3,000 bad alarms that we get every year that really are unproductive,” O’Brien said.
A total of 18 notices were sent out to the various alarm companies in the city to alert them of the policy change.
The Chico Police Department said it will monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the policy and will adjust if it needs to.
“When you have limited staffing like we do, you have to make difficult decisions,” O’Brien said.
Source: Chico, CA, Enterprise-Record
