Fee to be charged for excessive false alarm calls

City of Canton residents and businesses received a letter in the mail the past week from the Canton Police Department and the City of Canton regarding false alarm calls and a fee to be implanted after three false alarm calls were received.

Stemming from the Canton City Council meeting in Aug. 1, Canton Police Chief Brad Allison went before the council asking for a fee schedule to change to help control the number of “false alarm calls.”

In the Aug. 1 meeting, Chief Allison stated, “the Canton Police Department and first responders are answering multiple false alarms calls around the city, for both business and residential calls. In July, we answered 48 false alarms. Since January, we have responded to hundreds of calls. One of these businesses had 13 false alarm calls, in one month alone. Several of the calls are where we have been out to a certain location three or more times and they are false alarms. Most cities are charging a fine for excessive calls that are false alarms. The false alarm calls at the same places lowers the officers concern about the call, and it makes the officer complacent and that puts him in danger. It’s the same old thing, a false alarm.” Chief Allison said that some of the repeated false alarm calls are from businesses/residences with motion sensor alarms.

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