By Ethan Forman
DANVERS — Stricter penalties for false burglar alarms saved the police hundreds of man hours last year and raked in $48,000 in fines.
Officers responded to 1,402 false alarms at businesses and homes — nearly four a day — down from the typical average 1,988, police Chief Neil Ouellette said. That works out to nearly 11รขÑ2 fewer alarms each day, a 29 percent drop.
Fewer false alarm calls meant 488 man hours saved. On average, it takes two officers 20 minutes and a dispatcher 10 minutes to handle each call and write up reports, Ouellette said. The time saved adds up to nearly $12,688 in wages, based on a rate of about $26 an hour.
That time allowed officers to follow up on investigations, do more patrols or solve problems in the community, "instead of being like a pingpong ball," Ouellette said.
Police must respond to every alarm call, but more than 99 percent of burglar alarms are false, Ouellette said.
Thanks to the fines, the department also realized a big jump in revenue.
As of Nov. 12, the department had billed $48,000 in fines. In all of 2008, the department collected $6,515 from false alarms.
Town Meeting approved a new alarm bylaw in 2008. Under the old bylaw, the fine for businesses was $25 after two false alarms, $50 after 12 and $100 after 20, all in a year.
The new bylaw carries an $80 fine after the third and each subsequent offense in one year for homes. Business and "panic alarms" carry a $120 fee for the third and subsequent offense.
"We've had many violators tell us they were having their (alarm) company come in because they didn't want to suffer" the fines, Ouellette said. Businesses also wanted to make sure police knew they were working on the problem.
Most false alarms are caused by defective equipment or operator error. Homeowners are not the problem, but big box retailers and some businesses Ouellette described as "habitual offenders."
One former business on Cherry Hill Drive used to rack up hundreds of false alarm calls, with employees setting off the system like clockwork every morning at 8, Ouellette said.
"Every morning, two cars (would respond)," Ouellette said. "They paid their (fines). They must have thought it was the cost of doing business."
So far, downtown businesses are not alarmed by the alarm bylaw.
"There hasn't been any grumbling," said C.R. Lyons, chairman of the Downtown Improvement Committee.
He said the topic came up at a meeting a few months ago in relation to questions about how businesses could update alarm contact information with police. The conversation was positive, Lyons said.
The town charges a $10-a-year registration fee for homeowners and a $25 fee for businesses. The purpose of the fee is to make sure police have the most up-to-date contact information. The department raised $2,485 in registration fees last year.
The Police Department's criminologist, Chris Bruce, said some businesses improved in 2009, including Endicott Liquors in Endicott Plaza, which went from 28 false alarms in 2008 to five in 2009; The Home Depot on Route 1, which went from 25 alarms in 2008 to five in 2009; and Costco, which dropped from 15 to four.
Cristian Giumba, the proprietor at Endicott Liquors, declined comment until he learned more about what his store was doing. A manager at The Home Depot said he was too new to say why the store improved.
Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse improved its false alarm rate, going from 39 in 2008, the top offender, to 15 last year, Ouellette said.
Top false-alarm offenders in 2009 included Enterprise Rent-A-Car on Andover Street, with 29, and Danvers High, with 18, Ouellette said.
School Superintendent Lisa Dana chalked up the alarms at the high school to human error, with more than 100 people who work in the sprawling complex on Cabot Road.
Often, staff or sports teams come in on a Sunday and enter an area that's alarmed without realizing it.
She said school officials try to identify the causes of false alarms during weekly "cleaning meetings" with custodians, who work for the Department of Public Works.
"If they see there is a couple in a row, or one group that continues to make a mistake, they will address it with that group," Dana said.
Leslie's Swimming Pools Supplies on Route 1 had a sharp rate of increase in false alarms in 2009, going from one in 2008 to 11 last year, Bruce said.
Leslie's local manager referred questions to its corporate office.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
False alarms
Last year, police responded to 1,402 false burglar alarms, compared to the usual average 1,988. A sampling of some of the businesses that reduced their false alarms.
20082009
Lowe's3915
Endicott Liquors285
Home Depot (Route 1)255
Costco154
Source: Danvers police
