Alberta RCMP is following a new policy.

 Under the new policy, RCMP will now verify alarms before responding and do not respond to alarms that are only triggered once. 

Constable Dan Martin of the Airdrie RCMP says these changes are more than welcome. 

"We have seen huge numbers in alarm calls, in 2015 we had 40 calls, in 2016 it went up to 481 and then in 2017 it went up to 1042 and here in 2018 we are already at almost 600 calls.  

A review was conducted which shows that most alarms that only triggered once are false alarms which tie up 911 lines and police resources. Last Year, RCMP in Alberta received just under 15,500 false alarm calls which equate to nearly 8000 human resource hours that could have been dedicated to more urgent calls for service.  

"We average in the area of 98% of those calls being false," says Martin, "These changes are more than welcomed by RCMP and I'm sure the public too, no one likes seeing their resources being wasted on false calls"

RCMP will still respond to ATM, multi-zone intrusion, panic, duress, hold up, glass break, domestic violence and verified alarms.

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