Amarillo Police say the weather causes more false alarms than usual

Amarillo, TX - If our weather is causing your home or business alarm to go off too often, you might want to have it looked at before you have to pay a fee.

Amarillo police are dispatched to dozens of burglar alarm calls daily.

"It's part of the duties that we're here for," said Sgt. Brent Barbee with The Amarillo Police Department.

Police say our windy conditions here in the panhandle are one of the main reasons why they see more false alarm callsand Tuesday's winds were between 40-60 miles per hour.

"Anything we do takes time away from something else that we could be doing...there's a fixed amount of time we have to respond. We don't like to go to false alarms, but we like to go to alarms and many times we find out they're false," said Barbee.

Depending on the type of alarm system, those high winds can cause door sensors to go off.

The city rates alarm calls as a number one priority. And while police understand businesses and homes may have an occasional false alarm...those who have too many in a year will have to pay a fine.

"After 5, you'll have a $50. During the course of that time they also send you letters to warn you that you're having false alarms and they give you the opportunity to repair that or solve whatever the problem is," said Barbee.

If you don't pay the fine, your home or business will be entered into their systems as being an alarm police will not respond to."We'd rather not do that and that's why we have 5 opportunities and that's why they issue letters to get people to fix," said Barbee.

Barbee says having an alarm can be a really good idea, but at the same time they have to strike a balance between the false alarms and the amount of man power they can use.

It is recommended to do research on any alarm company you do business with...to make sure their system won't cause a false alarm.