The Milton City Council has updated its monitored alarm ordinance, clarifying when police will respond and adopting an escalating schedule of fines for false alarms, among other changes.
Monitored alarms and alarm companies must be registered with the city, the ordinance says. Police will not respond to an alarm at a property 30 days delinquent on a fine, but they will respond to 911 emergency calls or upon verification by the alarm contractor or user that the alarm was set off by criminal activity.
The alarm monitoring company must try to verify an activated alarm, making phone calls to the user at two different numbers, before alerting law enforcement – except in cases of a panic or robbery-in-progress alarm, or if a crime has been verified by video and/or audible means.
The new schedule of fines is $50 for the third false alarm, $100 for the fourth and $150 for the fifth and subsequent false alarms within a permit year. The previous penalty was a $150 fine for the second and any subsequent false alarm within a 12-month period.
The changes correct conflicting language in the old ordinance and institute best practices provided by the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and Security Industry Alarm Coalition, according to an agenda memo to the council by Police Chief Rich Austin.
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