Nanaimo RCMP say city officials has tweaked a bylaw they hope will curb the growing number of false property alarms.
Officers say they have called to more than 100 false alarms since April. Police say the bylaw now will hold property owners accountable for false alarms.
The first incident will be a warning, the second incident will result in a $150 charge added to the owner's property taxes.
The third and subsequent false alarms jumps to $500 in fees.
RCMP say most local home alarm calls turn out to be false, and can take between 20 to 30 minutes to clear up and sometimes require multiple officers to deal with them.