Redding Police Respond to 672 False Alarms

Every time an alarm goes off by accident at a residence in Redding, two police officers must respond to it, per protocol. The two officers each spend 20 minutes on average on these calls, for a total of 40 "man-minutes" per false alarm.

In 2011, responded to 672 false alarms out of the 17,092 calls (roughly four percent) — emergency, non-emergency and routine — they went out on, according to Chief Douglas Fuchs.

(Redding Police responded to 15,843 calls in 2010, meaning the number of calls they responded to in 2011 increased 7.8 percent from the previous year, while maintaining a staff of the same size.)

Since it takes 40 "man-minutes" to respond to these calls, crunching the numbers, 19 24-hour days are theoretically spent by one Redding officer just answering false alarms.

Earlier this week, a letter was sent out to Redding residents reminding them of the town's ordinance for false alarm violations. The town passed the ordinance in 2001.

According to Fuchs, residents are allowed three false alarms per year without being fined. A fourth violation carries a $50 fine, a fifth $75, a sixth $100 and a seventh and more each carry $150 fines.

"The hope is that by assigning these fines, people spend a little more effort making sure their alarm is maintained," Fuchs said. "I would certainly encourage the use of an alarm, because it’s a good deterrent" but false alarms take away from officers' abilities to respond to other more important calls.

For example, Fuchs said, officers might respond to a false alarm on Route 7, near Ridgefield. Their next call then might be for a false alarm on Poverty Hollow Road near Newtown.

"It takes a tremendous amount of man-hours," he said.

New this year, police officers responding to false alarms are instructed to leave a hang tag on a residence's door knob "to alert the homeowner to the fact that the Redding Police Department responded to their home to investigate a false alarm," Fuchs' letter sent to residents says. In the past, the department billed those in violation every six months, a process "which turned out to be extremely labor intensive."

Fuchs encourages residents with further questions regarding this matter to not hesitate to contact him.