Police chief: Possible punishment could encourage alarm maintenance

Maricopa residents who fail to properly take care of alarms on their properties could face a city fine in the near future.

During the police department’s monthly Coffee with the Chief meeting Saturday morning at the Maricopa Public Library, Chief Steve Stahl said the agency is researching practices around the country that encourage residents to voluntarily take care of their alarms through the threat of harsh punishment.

“I want voluntary compliance,” Stahl said. “I don’t want to fine anyone. … But if they don’t want to take care of it, I want to encourage them with something on the back end.”

The police department’s interest in creating some type of punishment comes from the high volume of alarm calls it receives each month – many of them false alarms caused by maintenance issues. Stahl presented some data Saturday to residents. In March, the department responded to 117 alarm calls, and in April, police responded to 113 calls.

Stahl said alarm calls to businesses, residences and other buildings usually rank No. 1 or No. 2 for the agency’s top calls for service. At least two officers respond to these calls, and that takes them away from more important calls for service when it’s a false alarm.

“When our staffing is four, five or six at the most, two officers spending a half hour at an alarm call takes them away from some of the priorities that you want us to attend to, whether it be robberies, whether it be burglaries, whether it be drugs, whether it be traffic,” he said.