Gwinnett homeowners, business owners must soon register security alarms or face fines

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County police are looking to curb the amount of false alarm calls responded to by their officers.

Gwinnett police statistics show only one out of every 137 alarm calls are actual emergencies. The rest are accidental trips that cost police, and you, time and money.

Channel 2′s Gwinnett Bureau Chief Tony Thomas spoke with a manager of a business about how they work to control false alarm calls.

“It’s not something you can sit and think about . You have to disarm it very quickly,” said Tina Hargis.

Gwinnett police say false alarms are a bigger problem than you might think. Last year, Gwinnett Police responded to 22,450 business and home alarm calls. Reports show that only 163 were true alarm or emergency calls.

Channel 2 rode along with police as they answered a false alarm on Wednesday. It took the officers several minutes to look around the property before a resident answered and said they had accidentally tripped the system.

“Its a big problem and it takes a lot of time during the day,” said Officer Hideshi Valle.

Gwinnett County is teaming up with a program called Crywolf to help cut down on the time officers spend on false alarms. This company will soon take over registering alarms.

Police hope this will give officers more time to handle real crimes.

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All Gwinnett businesses and homeowners with alarms have until July 1 to register their alarms or face increased fines for false calls.

Sweet Frog manager Tina Hargis says she will register her alarm soon. She’s had at least one situation in the past where her alarm called police for a real crime.

“When a situation does arrive we need prompt help not 20 or 30 minutes later because there are officers turning off alarms at locations where they were false,” Hargis said.

Systems can be registered at Crywolfs website or on Gwinnett County’s site.

Parents worried over accreditation review of Gwinnett County Schools Families told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes they are watching the review closely.

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