It’s yet another symptom of suburban growth-as businesses set up shop and homes spring up, the number of false alarms received by police departments skyrocket.
They can consume a lot of officers’ time and they ultimately cost a village money.
Two municipalities are responding to the problem. Lisle is beginning to publicize a registration and fine program passed last year, and Hinsdale, which has had such a program for years, is boosting fines for false alarms.
Each Lisle business or resident may have two false alarms in a six-month period. After that, a business will be charged $50 for every false alarm. Residents will be charged $15 for the third false alarm.
Lisle police receive about 1,000 false alarms a year, many of those from the same sites.
Hinsdale for many years has required alarm registration and has imposed false-alarm fines. But the fines haven’t been increased since 1984, so the Village Board took steps last week to change that.
Officials voted to triple the fees to $75 for false burglar alarms and $150 for false fire alarms for residences. Fines for false calls to commercial properties would increase to $100 from $50 for burglar alarms and to $250 from $100 for false fire alarms.
