The city of Cleveland is planning on using debt collectors to help curtail the number of false security alarms that local law enforcement respond to every year.
About 98% of the 25,000 security alarms that police respond to every year are not actual emergencies. The city has approved a contract with an unnamed debt collector that will seek to collect on a $130 fee if police respond to two false alarms during a calendar year.
At the outset, only commercial alarms will be subject to the fees, even though the majority of false alarms are from residential security systems. Residences will not be subject to collections for an undetermined period, according to a city official.
