Chief’s Corner
By Chief Steven J. Wojnar Dudley Police Department All home and business burglar and fire alarms currently in use here in the Town of Dudley are required to be registered. Local by-law Article 117 (former Article 36) is the regulation which governs alarm systems. Since the renewal date for providing up to date information is soon upon us, I thought I would take this opportunity to remind everyone about the process. Police officers and firefighters respond to house alarms quite frequently. Many of these have been activated by accident or they have malfunctioned. It is important to keep current contact information on file with public safety officials in the event of a problem. Article 117 Section 3 outlines the procedure for registering these alarms. It states, “Every alarm user shall submit to the Police Chief the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the user and at least two other persons who can be reached anytime, day or night, and who are authorized to respond to an emergency signal transmitted by an alarm system and who can open the premises wherein the alarm system is installed. The list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of the responders must be kept current at all times by the alarm user and shall be submitted during the first month of each fiscal year.” July first is the beginning of the fiscal year, and this is the date when the information needs to be submitted. Penalties for violations are covered under Article 117 section 5. It provides for a fine of $25 for unregistered or late registered false alarms. In addition, $25.00 can be charged for each month where a homeowner is in non-compliance. This can be costly if not addressed. We hope to avoid doing this and encourage everyone’s compliance with this rule. It is important to have current and accurate information for first responders. This helps to protect your property from damage, allows emergency services and family members to be contacted quickly, and limits the police and fire response in the event of a false alarm. |
There are several ways to provide this information to us. Forms are available for in person pickup at our station. They can also be downloaded via our web site www.dudleypolice.com. If none of those work, simply provide the necessary information on a sheet of paper and send it to us, either by standard US Mail or via email (either to Sgt. Dean Poplawski dpoplawski@dudleypolice.com or to mine listed below). Whichever way you choose to do this, we thank you in advance for your cooperation for providing us with accurate information.
For those still seeking vaccination information, it can be found at www.dudleyma.gov or by calling 508-949-8036. Please continue moving forward with the “re-opening” of our state in a reasonable manner. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. This has been a challenging year plus for everyone. We, at the Dudley Police Department, greatly appreciate the support we receive from our community. Thanks again for your questions and comments. Please send them to me at the Dudley Police Department 71 West Main St. Dudley, Ma. 01571 or email at swojnar@dudleypolice.com. Opinions expressed in this weekly column are those of Chief Wojnar only and unless clearly noted, do not reflect the ideas or opinions of any other organization or citizen. |
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