The Washoe County Sheriff's
Office is concerned with keeping the community informed about the
operation of the Sheriff's Office. One of the ways to accomplish
this is by regularly keeping the news media, and thereby the public,
informed of events involving the Sheriff's Office and its personnel.
The Public Information Officer (P.I.O.) coordinates this by acting
as a liaison between the Sheriff's Office and media representatives.
Duties include assisting reporters assigned to cover news stories
and providing them with general information at the scene of major
incidents. Our goal is to provide timely and factual information
to the community we serve.
The P.I.O.
is available 24 hours a day to respond to the scene of major incidents.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 23, 2010
Washoe County Alarm Reduction Program
Effective January 4, 2010, Washoe County’s new alarm ordinance and alarm reduction program was implemented. Washoe County has contracted with Alarm Tracking & Billing (ATB) Services to assist in the implementation, billing and tracking of all residential and commercial false alarms within Washoe County.
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responds to an average of 4516 alarms per year, in which 99.9% of the alarms are false due to various reasons. The average alarm call, due to the unknown risk, requires the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office to dispatch two patrol units to each alarm.
There are several goals the new alarm reduction program is designed to accomplish. First and foremost, to reduce the large amount of false alarms the Sheriff’s Office responds to in a given year. Secondly, to educate the alarm users on the proper utilization of their alarms in preventing false alarms due to owner error.
Over the past three years, both the Cities of Sparks and Reno have not only implemented similar ordinances, but have also contracted with ATB in their own Alarm Reduction program. ATB was contracted by Washoe County due to their unique ability to not only track, but complete the monthly and yearly billing process for all false alarms.
Over the past month ATB has sent a yearly renewal fee to all alarm users within the unincorporated areas of Washoe County who have an active alarm. If you have received one of these bills it is not a scam but part of the new Alarm Reduction program. It should be noted that ATB is located in Colorado Springs and therefore all renewal fees, false alarm fees and fines should be mailed to their address in Colorado Springs.
If you have any questions regarding the Alarm Reduction program or Washoe County Alarm Ordinance please contact Lt. Tim O’Conner at 328-3350.
