Moraga's "False Alarm Fee" Chafes Residents; False Alarms Chafe Police

Moraga Police Chief Bob Priebe wants to remind homeowners with alarm systems that the town does charge a $50 fee when those systems are triggered in error and police have to divert from other duties to respond.

Priebe said the need for a reminder was prompted by his conversation with a local resident who was "none too happy about receiving a $50 bill for a false alarm response."

"In the case being discussed an alarm was activated in an interior hallway and the alarm company advised a dog often activates the alarm," Priebe said Wednesday. "An argument was made that nobody knows about the false alarm fee and that we should do a better job of letting people know about it, and since the resident mentioned the Patch, I thought I’d ask you to do that..."

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Moraga used to grant people with alarms in their homes or businesses up to three false alarms within a certain time period before a bill was issued. It is important to remember that police officers can be diverted from other active calls to respond to the false alarm and that it is both frustrating, time-consuming and costly for officers to respond to an emergency call for assistance only to find the family Labrador wagging his tail at them when they arrive.

Priebe said the town's old False Alarm Ordinance was "cumbersome to maintain and did nothing to encourage homeowners to address the problem" and it was changed in 2005.

"Since then we've been charging a $50 fee for every false alarm," he said.

Ordinance 7.04.060 calls for the town to issue a bill for false alarms, due and payable within fifteen days of the billing date.

Alarm users may appeal the service charge by "filing a written notice of appeal with the chief of police within ten days after receipt of the bill. The appeal shall be heard within thirty days of its filing. Thereafter, an alarm user may appeal a decision of the chief of police to the town manager by filing a written notice of appeal within ten days of the chief's decision. The town manager may affirm, modify or reverse the decision and shall advise the alarm user in writing of the decision."

"The response to false alarms has been an ongoing problem for law enforcement agencies throughout the state and some jurisdictions have ceased responding to residential alarms as a result," Priebe said. "MPD will always respond to alarm calls, but we still believe the number of responses is too high."

Here's a year-by-year tally of responses since police went to the single alarm fee:

Year                       Responses

2005                         283

2006                         267

2007                         249

2008                         248

2009                         211

2010                         196

2011                         207

"Other than the 5 percent increase last year, we’ve been making progress...," Priebe said. "I am reluctant to request a fee increase for this service as long as progress is being made in lowering the number of responses each year, but if the number of responses continues to increase, I would have to consider it..."