Next time your business or home alarm goes off by accident, you could receive a bill from Horry County under a newly-enforced ordinance.
County council passed the "false alarm" ordinance in 2002, but it's never been enforced. Beginning in late summer or early fall, the county will begin fining repeat offenders.
The director of the county's E-911 services says the dispatch center receives between 5,000 and 8,000 false alarm calls every year.
"We have to deal with those. Deal with those just as if they are real until someone arrives on the scene and determines it's false," said director Toni Bessent.
Bessent said each time an officer is dispatched to a false alarm, it costs the county valuable resources.
"If we can eliminate five or six percent of what we do, then our man power would go a whole lot farther to get the job done for the folks who need us," Bessent said.
The county contracted with CryWolf, a company that installs software to track false alarms and then send the bills to the alarm owners.
Under the law, every business and residence with an alarm is afforded two false alarm calls. But on the third offense, the owner will be billed $50. On the fourth and subsequent false alarm, the owner will be fined $100.
Horry County Administrator John Weaver said the law is meant as an incentive for people to repair faulty alarms to prevent them from giving false alerts.
Weaver said law enforcement resources are stretched thin as it is without having to deal with thousands of false alarm calls.
"I think this will be an incentive. Not a penalty, but an incentive to the public to help us in our police and public safety efforts," Weaver said.
Weaver said the company estimated the county could generate $200,000 per year in revenue by enforcing the ordinance. But Weaver said council cut that number to $100,000 to be conservative. CryWolf will get most of the money from the program, Weaver said, because the county doesn't have the manpower to enforce the ordinance.
When asked if the county decided to begin enforcing the law as a way to make up for budget deficits, Weaver said no.
"The fact that this is a tough budget year and that we are now implementing this just happen to be circumstance," he said.
Back at the dispatch center, Bessent said she's heard of other counties enforcing similar laws and she thinks it will help cut down on false alarms.
"It probably (will) if it (hits) people in their pocketbook."
