(Photo: Nathan Ritchie)
False alarm calls to 9-1-1 could soon cost less, in most cases, for people in Kamloops.
Right now, false alarms fees for hold-up or panic alarms are $300 in each instance. Council’s Community Services Commitee is proposing to make the penalty for a first offense as “education,” with a $200-dollar fee for a second offense and a $400-dollar fee for a third time.
That would mean, instead of a $300-dollar fee in each false alarm case, it would cost less for the first two offenses and more for a third instance.
The city has recommended raising the fees to $500 for a second offense and $1,000 for a third. Councillor Denis Walsh opposed that idea.
“Even cell phone use is not a $1,000-dollar fine, and that’s a heck of a lot more dangerous, driving while using a cell phone than having a false alarm. So I think we’re out of line with the rest of the province, I think it’s excessive,” he says. “A thousand dollars on a third false alarm, I don’t think people need that big of a message. I think they’ll get it at $200, $300.”
Municipal support services manager, Jodie MacDonald, says panic alarms are now more common in security systems.
“They have this whole panic alarm, which used to be just businesses would use it for hold ups. Banks, stores, and people working alone. But now residents have actually purchased the ability to sort of have an RCMP officer as their personal body guard,” MacDonald says.
“They push a button even if they’re mowing their lawn, and the police have to attend with lights and sirens. Which has a significant risk associated to it.”
A report from city staff also says Kamloops RCMP responded to 480 security alarm calls last year, and it says 95 per cent were false alarms. Those calls ate up 450 hours of policing time, equating to a cost of about $34,000.
“These calls consume significant RCMP member time that could be directed to higher-priority policing needs,” the report says.
The proposed changes to false alarm fees will go before Kamloops council at a future meeting.
