Posted on: Friday, April 12, 2002

Burglar alarms must be registered

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

The Honolulu Police Department yesterday opened its new Alarm Tracking Section that is responsible for implementing a new city ordinance that requires home and business owners to register their alarm systems with the police by Aug. 25.

Under a new city ordinance, everyone who owns or leases a burglar alarm system or has a burglar alarm system installed on their property must register their alarm systems. Registration forms may be picked up at any police station, public library or Satellite City Hall, or may be downloaded from HPD's Web site, www.honolulupd.org.

There is a $15 registration fee and $5 annual renewal fee. If police respond to more than three false alarms at the same address within a 12-month period, the property owner must either attend a class on security alarms or face a $50 service charge for the fourth alarm.

Money collected from fees and service charges will go back to administering the alarm program.

Honolulu Police Chief Lee Donohue said alarm systems that aren't properly maintained are responsible for thousands of false alarms each year. He said officers respond to approximately 33,000 false alarms annually.

"This means that officers are taken unnecessarily off the road 33,000 times, costing taxpayers an estimated $675,000," he said. "More importantly, false alarms could create delays in responding to genuine emergencies."

For more information, call the Alarm Tracking Section at 532-8445 or 532-8446.