NEW BURGLAR-ALARM PENALTIES OK'D DESPITE PROTESTS, COUNCIL ADOPTS HIGHER FINES.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

Despite warnings they were making criminals out of burglar-alarm users, Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday approved a new set of penalties, including fines that begin at $115 for false alarms.

Beginning Jan. 1, homeowners and businesses will face the $115 fines for the first false alarm in a 12-month period, escalating by $50 for each subsequent false alarm.

The policy lets authorities treat multiple false alarms as misdemeanors - with the possibility of jail time - or as less-serious infractions.

``The last thing we want to do is clog the courts with misdemeanor crimes, to make our citizens criminals technically,'' said Councilman Greig Smith.

Violations of the city's current alarm policy, which penalizes alarm owners for more than two false alarms in a year, also are treated as misdemeanors. In practice, however, violators face sanctions no more severe than fines, officials said.

And fewer than half of the fines slapped on homes and businesses for multiple false alarms are paid, said Lt. Debra Kirk of the Los Angeles Police Commission's investigations division.

Kirk and other officials say they hope to improve the city's collection rate with better technology for tracking alarm users and encouraging unlicensed alarm owners - who account for about half of alarm customers in the city - to register their alarms.

Some alarm-company managers Tuesday complained that the new policy and fines are intended to squeeze more money from alarm users, not to free up police from responding to false alarms.

``This is all about making the city's cash registers ring,'' said Arnie Bell, president of Scientific Security Systems.

A year ago, the City Council voted to end the LAPD's policy of automatically responding to burglar alarms absent evidence of a break-in. Police Chief William Bratton argued at the time that the more than 95 percent of ringing alarms that are false were consuming valuable officer patrol time.

Bratton had advocated for the LAPD not to respond to any unverified alarms. But city leaders, pressured by homeowners groups in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere, decided to allow up to two false alarms at an address in a year before police stop responding.

Even with the new response policy, the city left in place its practice of not fining homeowners until the third false alarm in a year, which carries a $95 bill. After a year of discussion, the council approved the new fines on Tuesday.

``It took a lot longer than we would have liked,'' Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said. ``We hopefully ... will be able to see the number of false alarms reduced more substantially.''

LAPD statistics show the new response policy reduced false alarms by about 25 percent since it took effect Jan. 1. But the proportion of alarm calls that are false remains high, about 96 percent.

Industry representatives called the new measures needlessly punitive. George Gunning, president of the Greater Los Angeles Security Alarm Association, said the city's burglar alarm task force, which brought together industry and homeowner representatives as well as officials, didn't envision the fines approved Tuesday.

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com