Buckeye police are encouraging home and business owners to take steps to prevent false alarms and preserve critical police resources.  Last year, Buckeye police responded to 1,585 false alarm calls. During these calls, officers arrived at the location and determined the alarm was a false alarm because there was no emergency, threat or crime in progress.

Historical data shows 2023 was not an anomaly. Buckeye police responded to 1,764 false alarms in 2022 and 1,518 false alarms in 2021.

In 2014, alarm regulations were adopted into city code requiring home and business owners to register their professionally monitored alarm systems. The goal of the False Alarm Reduction Program is to urge community members to be a part of the solution in reducing false alarm calls so officers are free to respond to emergencies.  Alarm system users pay an annual subscription of $5 to $15 with the first false alarm response at no cost to the user. Subsequent false alarms come with fines that increase with each false alarm call.

False alarm fines do not, on their own, reduce false alarm calls. Home and business owners can take the following steps to help prevent false alarms:

• Inform your household and visitors on your security system and how it functions
• Make sure all doors and windows are secure, closed and locked
• Keep pets, fans, heaters, balloons and other moving items away from motion sensor areas
• Know and rehearse the process to cancel an accidental alarm with your alarm monitoring company

Buckeye police recently switched to PMAM to manage the False Alarm Reduction Program. If you need to register your alarm system or have questions about the switch from our previous vendor Cry Wolf, visit www.buckeyeaz.gov/residents/police/false-alarm-reduction.