6.28.24 – The Standard-Times – New Bedford
New Bedford Police responded to 3,508 residential and commercial burglar alarm calls in 2023, according to police records. More than 97% were false alarms, said Chief Paul Oliveira. Less than 1% have resulted in an arrest, he added. And, Oliveira said, the numbers this year are keeping pace.
Police officers are wasting hundreds of hours on the calls, he said. But that could be remedied if alarm owners were held more accountable.
That could be accomplished by increasing the fines to repeat offenders, he stated in a letter to Mayor Jon Mitchell calling for a ordinance amendment to effect the increases.
Mitchell supports the amendment, saying the current ordinance is inadequate to discourage the false alarms. Homeowners with four false alarms in a year pay a $25 fine and $50 for each subsequent false alarm.
Some commercial properties logged over 10 false alarms
He said some commercial properties log 10 or more a year.
The proposed fine schedule would allow two false alarms without fining, but a third would be $50, a fourth would be $100, a fifth would be $150, a sixth would be $200, a seventh would be $250, and an eighth and any subsequent false alarm would be $300 apiece.
The City Council Thursday referred the proposed amendment to its committee on ordinances for consideration.