Anchorage police have begun sending bills to people if officers have to make more than eight trips per year to their homes.The first homeowner to be billed under a law that allows police to charge people got a tab for $23,000 last week.
Police have been called to the home dozens of times since last summer and 10 times so far this year, they said.
An ordinance that took effect in 2002 calls for taxpayers to pay for the first eight police responses to a home in a year. After that, the homeowner may be charged $500 per visit, what police estimate it costs to pay officers and maintain equipment for a single call.
"We're trying to tell homeowners that if you're having an excessive amount of calls to your residence, you need to take responsibility for those calls," said Anchorage police Sgt. Denny Allen. "We're not encouraging people not to call the police for valid reasons."
Of course, the bleeding hearts out there are going to say that you don't want to give people a reason not to call the police after 8 visits in a year. While I'm a little sympathetic to that, it doesn't change the fact that if you have the police to your home 8 times in one year, you know you've got a problem. Rather than constantly expect the police to mediate your problems, you should do something about them. And here's one thing do gooders never take into consideration-it is those habitual cases that tie up police resources and seriously delay the police when others have emergencies.
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