An alarming occurrence

Leave it to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to try to make things even worse for county taxpayers.

Starting July 1, the Sheriff's Office will begin enforcing a new ordinance that will heavily penalize those whose unregistered alarm systems register a false alarm.

County officials say the Sheriff's Alarm Registration Ordinance is meant to reduce the number of false alarms in the unincorporated areas of the county. Apparently, deputies were spending too much time investigating false alarms.

Last time we checked that was one of many functions of law enforcement that taxpayers already pay for. How registering an alarm system with the Sheriff's Office is going to reduce the number of false alarms is puzzling. There aren't many people who set off an alarm on purpose. What difference does it really make if an alarm system is registered or not? With budgets tightening in all areas of government, it's obvious the Sheriff is looking for ways to increase the cash flow into his coffers.

This new ordinance will accomplish nothing but to create more animosity between taxpayers and local law enforcement that already gets a lion's share of the taxes collected in the county. It's time for the folks at the Sheriff's Office to tighten their belts like everyone else and do the job the taxpayers are already paying them to do. Charging a resident or a business owner a stiffer fine because they didn't register their alarm systems isn't the way to do it.


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