Pittsburgh police announce changes to the way they respond to burglar alarms

PITTSBURGH — The City of Pittsburgh is making adjustments to the way police officers respond to burglar alarms.

City officials said the changes are an effort to “serve city residents and businesses in the most efficient and effective manner possible.”

Currently, Pittsburgh police respond to all burglar alarms, even if the alarm company is unable to reach the homeowner, business owner or key holder to verify the alarm. City officials said this results in thousands of police staff hours each year for burglar alarms, the overwhelming majority of which are false.

An internal audit showed in 2023, there were 9,097 calls for service for burglar alarms in 2023. Of those 9,097, 39 of those - or 0.43% - generated police reports, six of which involved a verified (non-false) alarm, a break-in occurring and an actor near the incident.

Additionally, the majority of the burglar alarms with police reports - 25 out of 39 (64%) - resulted from vandalism or objects being thrown through windows; or in total 25 out of 9097 (0.27%), city officials said.

“These 9,097 calls resulted in 4,166 police staff hours, or 174 days, with an average of 13.5 minutes per unit spent on burglar alarm responses. This is not a cost-effective or productive use of officers’ time that could be spent bolstering community engagement efforts, increasing training time, expanding proactive patrols, and prioritizing officer wellness initiatives. Several cities across the U.S. have adopted this model which has resulted in cost savings for residents without sacrificing service quality or public safety,” says Police of Chief, Larry Scirotto.

Under the new model, officers will respond to the following types of alarms:

• Hold-up alarms (human-activated)
• Panic alarms (human-activated)
• Medical alert alarms (secondary to Pittsburgh EMS)
• Priority locations such as, but not limited to, government buildings, critical infrastructure, firearms sales/storage locations, medical facilities, or any other location where a burglary or unauthorized intrusion has the potential to become a larger threat to public safety
• Verified burglar alarms where the homeowner, business owner, key-holder, witness, or alarm company provides reliable information to support a belief that a crime has happened or is in progress, i.e., video or audio of unauthorized individuals in or around the property, second authentication factor, or eyewitness reports on-scene to verify a break-in
• Multiple progressive alarm activations, i.e. activation of a window alarm, followed by activation of a motion detector alarm inside of the building

Upon receiving a burglar alarm activation, Allegheny County Emergency Operations Center dispatchers will try to verify the alarm and assign call priority based on whether the alarm is verified or unverified, city officials said.

City officials also clarified that police will respond to all burglar alarms, but unverified ones will be placed in a queue and given the same level of response as other non-priority calls.

The Pittsburgh Police Telephone Reporting Unit will also begin documenting officer responses to false alarms. Alarm holders are permitted two false alarm responses, and for each false alarm after that, the permit holder will be required to pay a fee.

The fifth documented false alarm activation in a calendar year will result in permission for police supervisors to disregard the call, city officials said.

“Last year, officers responded to nearly 1,500 repeat addresses, which generated 6,857 burglar alarms - or approximately 75% of all burglar alarm calls. One single address in the city resulted in 81 calls for service for burglar alarms in 2023, reinforcing the need to hold permit holders financially responsible for police response to multiple false alarms,” city officials said in a press release.

The new response model goes into effect on April 15.

To register your home or business security system, visit here on the City of Pittsburgh website.

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