Gilroy
– Nearly all of the burglar alarms sounded in local businesses
and homes turn out to be false. But with fewer false alarms today
than years past – despite an additional two large commercial
centers – Gilroy police say they are nowhere near considering a
non-response policy.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Nearly all of the burglar alarms sounded in local businesses and homes turn out to be false. But with fewer false alarms today than years past – despite an additional two large commercial centers – Gilroy police say they are nowhere near considering a non-response policy.
Starting Friday, the Fremont police department will no longer respond to burglar alarms from either homes or businesses because more than 98 percent of the 7,000 burglar alarms there last year were false. The police chief of that city announced the policy as a way to save about $600,000 in staffing expenses, and free officers to respond to more serious calls.
“For most departments in general, this is a problem,” Gilroy police Sgt. Kurt Svardal said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of working with the business owners, so the number of false alarms we’ve gone to has been significantly reduced.”
Police responded to 87 false alarm calls during the month of January this year, according to Gilroy Police Department statistics. In January of 2003, before any stores in the Gilroy Crossing and Pacheco Pass centers at Highways 101 and 152 opened, police responded to 109 false alarms.
GPD policy discourages businesses from racking up too many false alarm calls, as do officers themselves, Svardal said. For example, when one section of the outlets had a greater number of false alarms, police met with store owners and managers to remedy the problem.
“We worked out a way to overcome that with them, so during the daytime they are handling all of their issues,” Svardal said.
Employee error is a common false alarm trigger, particularly when businesses are opening or closing for the day. Instead of those calls going straight to the GPD as they normally would, the stores’ security agencies will call the employee responsible for responding to alarms, without notifying police. If the responder decides police are needed, or if the alarm is more serious – a “broken glass” or “panic” alert, for example – police will still respond.
Police also will help businesses identify other common false alarm triggers, from sensitive motion detectors that react to something as simple as a banner waving inside a store, to faulty door sensors.
Businesses and residents are allowed seven “free” false alarms within one year, starting from the date of their first false alarm, according to GPD policy.
After the third instance, businesses or residents receive written warnings after each new false alarm response, encouraging them to fix what’s wrong, and reminding them that police will not continue to respond after seven.
“The big thing we’re trying to do is not continue to go to the same places over and over again,” Svardal said.
Once a home or business racks up seven false alarms, it is taken off the GPD response list.
Of at least 2,000 homes and businesses in Gilroy with alarms, 60 are off the list, Svardal said.
“The only way you can get back on is pay $520. We don’t want to have the problem of responding to nothing,” he said. “But we do allow flexibility: If you are actively trying to get it fixed … we will work with you.”
For example, one business that recently opened its doors was having a lot of false alarms but has not been penalized because it notified police that it was dealing with employee error.
“Usually, once the business gets established, the problem goes away,” Svardal said.
The time it takes police to handle a false alarm varies, from a few minutes to half an hour or more, he said. Officers will wait at the store for the employee who handles alarm calls from the security company, provided they are not needed on something more urgent. That wait can take up to 20 minutes, after which the officer will conduct a walk-through of the business.
“It can take from 5 to 10 minutes to get the business secured,” Svardal said. “It can be a very time-consuming process.”
Gilroy police will continue to work with businesses and homeowners to reduce the number of false alarms, but at this point there is no talk about implementing a policy like Fremont’s, he said.
“This is working for us, so as long as it keeps working, we’ll continue to go,” Svardal said.
