Vol. 417 No. 5
164 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Justice the number of burglar alarm calls in the Cork city area and the proportion of these which were proven to be false in each of the years 1989, 1990 and 1991, and if he will give details of the action plan he proposes to take to reduce the incident of false alarms.
Garda records show that in the Cork city area, 19,221 burglar alarm calls were received in 1989, 20,597 in 1990 and 20,299 in 1991. On average the number of those calls that proved to be false was 97 per cent.
This very high level of false calls in the Cork city area is a reflection of the situation being experienced countrywide. This means that the alarms systems in question, which were intended as a useful instrument of crime prevention, are now, on balance, operating in a way which is wasteful of resources and hampers the gardaí. False calls can be attributed to carelessness, poor quality equipment and faulty installation/maintenance.
As I outlined in my reply to Question No. 239 on 3 March 1992, the Garda Commissioner has put proposals to my Department for a new policy to deal with the unacceptably high level of false alarm calls. The details of this policy are being finalised at present and I intend to make an announcement shortly in the matter.
