Most U.S. cities and towns, especially in urban areas, have ordinances to penalize repeated false alarms from security systems.
These fines are widely used to discourage excessive false alarms and help manage police resources more effectively. By imposing penalties, municipalities encourage property owners to maintain and properly manage their security systems to prevent unnecessary disruptions. Many areas implement a tiered system where fines escalate with the number of false alarms within a specific timeframe. Additionally, law enforcement prioritizes verified alarms—those confirmed through video or audio evidence—over unverified ones, which may result in delayed or no response in some jurisdictions.
What is verified response?
Alarm owners and/or private security companies bear the responsibility of verifying that the alarm is not false and that an intrusion is actually taking place before the police will be dispatched. Verification is accomplished either through a private security guard or through electronic surveillance (audio and/or video).
Why Sonitrol?
- SONITROL’s alarm systems are already Verified through electronic surveillance
- Our proprietary, impact activated audio intrusion technology lets us verify the alarm
- Our dispatches are marked “verified” and we dispatch the police with critical information
- Average police response time to SONITROL’s alarms is 7 minutes vs. an average of 45 minutes for non-verified alarms
- We have assisted law enforcement in apprehending over 172,000 criminals, since 1977
- We have saved our customers millions of dollars in false alarm fees
- With conventional systems, the cost of security guard verification services are passed on to you; with SONITROL the verification is built in so the extra costs are eliminated