False alarm calls on the rise in Blytheville

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) - The city of Blytheville is seeing an issue of high false alarm calls from citizens.

In most cities, they allow citizens to place three to four false alarm calls per year. For Blytheville, citizens can place three to four per month before they start to run the risk of receiving a citation.

Out of the 2,397 burglary alarms that Blytheville police responded to in 2022, only .4% of them turned out to be true.

“The number of false alarms is high. Anytime officers are going to a false alarm, it takes them away from other duties, whether that be traffic enforcement, or investigating a burglary, or theft, or anything,” Chief Ross Thompson said.

He encourages people to get alarms but to make sure they are in working order, as a person is sometimes unaware their alarm was triggered.

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