Two weeks ago, a burglar alarm for a building in Radcliffe Yard sounded and then stopped almost immediately.

But it wasn't a big deal for the police officer who responded--the alarm sounds every Sunday afternoon as the same employee heads into work.

The incident is one of an increasing number of repeat false alarms to which the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) finds itself responding.

Since January, HUPD has required officers to respond to and confirm every alarm--even if it resets immediately or someone calls in to say they set if off accidentally.

Such calls could be coerced, police officials say.

"Someone could be standing there with a gun to the caller's head," Sergeant James L. McCarthy says.

And while this policy change is meant to improve Harvard employees' safety, due to faulty alarms and employee errors, the policy is also placing police officers at unnecessary risk and wasting valuable patrol time, police officials say.

HUPD officials say the department has seen its calls for service increase dramatically since the policy change, to the point where the sheer number of alarms to which officers respond is now causing a drain on resources and response times and is even placing officers' lives in jeopardy.