LUMBERTON — Sheriff Burnis Wilkins says his office is being stretched thin by false alarms, and he will soon ask the Robeson County Board of Commissioners to adopt an ordinance that could mean those responsible are charged a fee.
Wilkins is working on an ordinance that would be similar to Lumberton’s, which he will present to the commissioners.
The Sheriff’s Office responded to 4,905 calls for service during July and 905 of the calls were triggered by home and business alarm systems. He said of those, 95 percent were false. One business had 18 false alarms.
“Of those calls, over 50 of them were repeat responses in excess of three times within the same month,” Wilkins said.
Deputies are wasting valuable time and efforts responding to the calls, Wilkins said. The sheriff did not provide information on how much false alarms cost the Sheriff’s Office, but said thousands of man-hours are being wasted.
“Unfortunately, this has gotten out of hand and we have to address it to better serve the citizens of the county,” the sheriff said.
The ordinance Wilkins plans to draft with the help of Robeson County attorneys and then present to the Robeson County Board of Commissioners would allow up to eight false alarm responses per calendar year at the same location. After that, each false alarm would cost the home or business $25 per call, Wilkins said.
“False alarms are described as those caused by error or mistakes, intentional misuse and repeated malfunctions,” he wrote in an email sent to The Robesonian. “Not considered as false alarms will be those caused by weather conditions, vandalism or other attempted crimes such as a break-in or by a servicing agent or contractor that is still on scene when law enforcement arrives.”
If the person responsible for the alarm calls Robeson County Communications at 910-671-3170 within 90 seconds to report that the alarm was set off by mistake, then the alarm will not be considered false.
Robeson County Attorney Gary Locklear said it is a reasonable request even though he has yet to see a written proposal.
“It’s been adopted in just about every jurisdiction,” Locklear said. “The county is just getting around to it.
“I think what it should do and what it’s intended to do is to make people with alarm systems more conscious of everything that goes into a false alarm. There is a cost involved.”
After the ordinance is drafted and a public hearing is set, county commissioners will decide to adopt as is, make changes or reject it.
The city of Lumberton already has a similar system in operation, according to Bill French, director of Lumberton Emergency Services.
“They get six false alarms free, the seventh and beyond is $25 per incident,” French said.
According to the city, there were a bout 475 false alarms responded to during 2018, result in about $11,875 in fines.
Misuse of 911 emergency services could result in a Class 1 misdemeanor charge, according to North Carolina law.
“It is unlawful for an individual who is not seeking public safety assistance, is not providing 911 service, or is not responding to a 911 call to access or attempt to access the 911 system for a purpose other than an emergency communication,” the statute reads in part.
French said that in the 11 years he has been with the city, he has not filed any charges regarding the misuse of 911 services. Misuse of the 911 system differs from excessive false alarms.
“Most alarm systems are automatic, and we expect homeowners and businesses to work with their alarm company to correct issues with their system,” he said. “Misuse of 911 is a malicious, purposeful misuse of the 911 system.”
