Colleyville rolls out new alarm management system

It used to be that the Colleyville Police Department only processed applications for alarm permits during business hours from Monday through Friday. Now the city's residents and business owners can apply for alarm permits and make payments online at any time during the week.

The city transitioned to a new online alarm management system on Jan. 2 in an effort to reduce administrative work for the police department, as well as cut down on the high volume of false alarms.

According to the city, 99 percent of the alarm calls from businesses and residents that police officers responded to last year were false alarms. The city said officers devoted more than 1,000 hours to responding to false alarms, which cost the city about $261,000.

The False Alarm Management Solution will manage the city's administrative paperwork for alarm permits. The city expects the new website will help reduce false alarms by 25 percent within 18 months through basic education.

"It is education on how and when to properly use your alarm system—and what the most common causes of false alarms are—and what can be done to fix the problem," said Toni Oyler, program coordinator for CPD.

Alarm owners can now access their permit account information, pay fines and submit new applications for permits online. And responding police officers can access real-time histories of alarm permit owners to know when there is a history of false alarms. For more information, visit www.colleyville.com.