city council

It’s an echo of the cautionary tale about that boy who cried wolf: If home and business security systems generate too many false alarms over coming months, their owners will be fined $150.

Moorhead Police Capt. Deric Swenson told the City Council that false alarms represent a significant cost, in terms of time, to a police department already coping with a growing number of calls for service. “Alarm calls have been increasing,” he explained to council members March 14. “On the average, each call takes one police officer at least 30 minutes spent on the scene.” He added, “That’s a conservative estimate.”

The problem, he said, is security system errors caused by unlocked doors, improperly operated systems, and situations like waving advertising banners that set off the motion detectors. When a security system generates its automatic call to police and then the owner, the officer stays on site until someone with a key arrives; in some cases, no one comes.

In the past, Moorhead has not levied fines, no matter how often an alarm system summons the cops. The police department proposed – and the council approved – charging $150 for each false alarm after the first three unnecessary calls in a calendar year.

In 2020, Swenson said, at least 46 calls would have exceeded that level. That number grew to 81 last year.

“We aren’t trying to punish alarm users,” he emphasized. “We want to encourage them to maintain their systems for reliability and to use them properly.” The fee would not apply to acts of nature, utility line mishaps, weather conditions or alarms that occur within the first 30 days after installation of a new system.

Fargo, West Fargo and Dilworth all have similar ordinances.