Everett Calls Time Out On False Alarm Ordinance

Tonight the Everett City Council was scheduled to take a vote on an update to its ordinance that covers burglar and panic alarms. For the last 27 years the city has not enforced false alarm fines as the dispatch software used to track such events was not capable. With a new dispatch system that can track false alarms and a need for more revenue, the city on November 21st came up with a plan to require every person who has a burglary or robbery alarm purchase an annual permit for that alarm. The permit will be good for a calendar year and has to be renewed annually.

At the start of tonight’s Everett City Council meeting President Paul Roberts announced that the item calling for the vote on the ordinance was pulled from the agenda. After first a citizen and then the security director for the Everett Clinic each separately spoke out against the ordinance, Roberts advised that the issue would be revisited by the City Council’s Public Safety committee after the first of the year.

You can click here to see the ordinance as it was proposed on November 21st.