Business owners and homeowners would pay higher fines when county fire and police respond to false alarms, under measures to be introduced this week in the Harford County Council.
Councilman Dion F. Guthrie, an Edgewood Democrat, said he plans to introduce two bills Tuesday that would increase fees for false alarms resulting in a response by county sheriff's deputies and firefighters.
"The sheriffs and the Fire Department have been nagged with many false alarms, and a lot of it is because people neglect their equipment, or the alarm goes off and they don't bother to call," Guthrie said.
Last year, 6,183 alarm calls were made to police, but only nine required incident reports, according to Harford County Sheriff's Office statistics. Alarms made up about 3.9 percent of the total calls for service last year to the sheriff's office.
"Deputies are going to a false alarm when they could be going somewhere else," Guthrie said.
Last year, the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company reported that of the 2,199 calls for services, 448 - 20 percent - were false alarms.
"Anytime we have a response for an alarm, it's going to take units out of service and lessen the number of available units," said Dave Williams, a spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association.
Williams said he hopes that an increase in the fines would motivate home and business owners to properly maintain their alarm systems.
A negligent or accidental activation, faulty or malfunctioning equipment and signals activated to summon police or fire in nonemergency situations are considered false alarms. It does not include signals triggered by weather conditions.
In 1992, the County Council began levying service fees for false alarms. Under county codes, fines are assessed after the third false alarm in a month or after the eighth false alarm in a year. The fourth false alarm in a month results in a $25 fine, the fifth a $50 penalty and the sixth a $75 fine.
Guthrie proposes a $50 fine for the third false alarm in a calendar year, $100 for the fourth and $200 for every successive false alarm.
"False alarms could be stopped," Guthrie said. "If you set one off, you pick up the phone and give them a code. Then they turn it off and stop the policeman from coming. But it's easier to say, 'I'll tell them when they get here.' That's not what we want."
Firefighters and sheriff's deputies say false alarms waste valuable time.
"Whenever deputies respond to an alarm, no matter how many times they've been there, they have to walk around the perimeter," said Sgt. Christina Presberry, spokeswoman for the county sheriff's office. "When we get these false alarms, it does take the deputy a while to clear that call. That's the big point: It's time-consuming."
The county took in $47,986 in false-alarm fines for fiscal year 2007, excluding June. The county school system and businesses usually rack up the most false-alarm fees, authorities say. Harford public schools had $7,125 in fines in fiscal year 2006 and $7,550 in fiscal year 2007 excluding June, according to the county Department of Treasury.
"It takes about 20 minutes at the larger schools," said Sgt. Douglas Keithley of the county sheriff's office, who often responds to false-alarm calls. "You have to walk around the schools. There's nothing you can do in five minutes. You walk around, look at the windows, check the doors and look into the classroom."
The school system is working to improve its alarm system by educating employees and replacing alarm batteries, said Bob Benedetto, safety and security coordinator for county schools.
"This past year, we have aging buildings and new construction," he said. "It might appear that we may be the biggest violator, but we are one of the most aggressive in trying to reduce it."
Of the school's 72 buildings, 24 had recurring alarm problems, he said. Public buildings should be exempt from false-alarm fines because "what we're doing is taking money out of one pot and putting it right back," Benedetto said.
Councilman Chad R. Shrodes, a north county Republican, said he supports higher fines to help pay for costs associated with responding to false alarms.
"With the cost of fuel, and the wear and tear of the vehicles and time associated with it, those fines would be paying back the services that it costs the fire companies," Shrodes said. "It costs a lot of money to get out there."
A bill to increase false-alarm fines was proposed by Guthrie and former Councilman Robert G. Cassilly in 2005. But the measure did not come to a vote by the County Council, which noted a lack of data on the issue.
madison.park@baltsun.com