Cape's alarm registration program cuts false alarm calls in half

On Monday, Cape Girardeau Police Chief Wes Blair told City Council members the city's alarm registration program has cut false alarm calls in half.

The program, implemented last year, reduced false alarm calls in the city from 2,139 to 1,060.

The plan requires all businesses or residences installing an alarm system to pay a $25 annual fee. More than 650 alarm registrations have been made since the program began, and $60,000 in fees has been collected. Of the $25 collected for the program, 73% goes to the City of Cape Girardeau and 27% is retained by the company that differentiates actual emergencies and false alarms.

But the program's reduction in staff hours spent responding to false alarms is key.

According to the City of Cape Girardeau website, police officers have spent up to 3,000 hours responding to false alarms each year.

"The outside company was retained because they are experts in the field of alarm collections with the software, mechanisms and staffing in place to perform the service," Blair said. "Taking that task on internally would require the addition of one to two clerical staff at the police department to perform the same task and potentially purchasing/maintaining alarm registration."

Along with having a record of who owns the alarms, an additional benefit of reducing the number of false alarm calls is to allow officers to avoid complacency when responding to the activation of an alarm system.

"The real benefit for us is it is a huge job safety benefit because I think every officer in this room are all pretty tenured guys who will all tell you we get a little complacent in certain alarm calls when less than 1% of them are actually real calls," Blair said. "When you get complacent, then that creates a situation where you can get hurt. So having fewer of those minimizes that as well."

According to the city's website, the majority of false alarms are caused by user, equipment or installation error, and some alarms have caused more than 40 false alarm calls within a single year. Under the program, an alarm holder who experiences a false alarm will not be charged the first incident, but additional alarms can cost the user between $50 to $300. The contract with Cry Wolf Services is a three-year contract.

To register for the program, visit www.crywolfservices.com/capegirardeaumo or call (877) 665-2981.