Mesa council to vote on new guidelines for false alarm calls

The city of Mesa, Arizona, is looking to change a rule that unfairly affects law-abiding citizens with permits for home security systems.

Last year, Mesa police responded to more than 11,000 burglar alarm calls, 98 percent of which were false alarms. According to department statistics, reducing false alarms between 2001-2010 saved the city about $500,000. Citizens are required to have a permit for home security systems in Mesa, but so far, thousands of systems have gone unregistered.

Due to a city ordinance, police are only able to issue false alarm fines to homeowners who have registered their alarms, according to local news source KTAR. The city council is expected to vote soon to change that law and allow fines to be handed out for unregistered alarms.

"It almost seems unfair that the only people that can be held accountable, up to this point, are the ones who are being responsible in the first place," Mesa Police Sergeant Ed Wessing told KTAR.

Despite the costs associated with false alarms, home security systems do help reduce crime rates. Recently, Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney told local CBS affiliate WKMG that crime would fall by 10 percent if every homeowner installed security cameras.

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