Mounties in Alberta will not respond to alarms that are triggered just once in order to help free up resources across the province.
The new policy, which came into effect on July 13, would “ensure our officers are where they are needed most,” RCMP said in a statement Tuesday.
In 2017, RCMP received close to 15,500 false alarm calls that was equal to almost 8,000 “human resources hours that could have been dedicated to more urgent calls for service.”
RCMP will still respond to ATM, multi-zone intrusion, panic, duress, holdup, glass break, domestic violence and verified alarms (which include any alarm at a school or financial institution during business hours).
After determining that 96 per cent of all reported intrusion alarms in 2016 were false, Edmonton Police Service changed its policy to help tackle an increased demand on police resources.
All intrusion alarms now face an extra level of verification and officers are only dispatched if there is a combination of an exterior breach (door/window breach, glass break) and interior motion alarm activations and if officers can reach a key holder to determine the legitimacy of the alarm.