All residents and businesses in Howard County with professionally monitored alarm systems are required to register their system with the police department. Registered alarm systems help to prevent false alarm calls that result in an enormous burden in manpower and expense and reduces the time available to respond to real emergencies.
There is an initial $25 fee to register your alarm system. This is one-time fee as long as you remain at your current address, even if you switch alarm companies. Registrations are required to be renewed every two years at no additional cost. Please log in to your account at the linked website below to renew your system. Failure to register your alarm system can result in a civil penalty of $200 for each police response.
If it is possible that you may have an existing alarm registration, please contact the False Alarm Reduction team prior to creating a new account.
You MUST register your alarm if:
- it is located at a business or a residence and notifies a third party upon activation
You DO NOT have to register your alarm if:
- it is an alarm installed on a vehicle, that is not permanently located at the site;
- it is an alarm designated to alert only the inhabitants of a premises; or
- it is a self-monitored alarm system.
Unsure if you need to register your alarm or have other questions, contact the False Alarm Reduction team at 410-313-6199 or falsealarmreduction@howardcountymd.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
A false alarm is defined as an alarm activation that results in a dispatch request to the police department, that is not cancelled prior to the officer arriving at the scene, and for which there is no evidence of criminal activity to justify a police response.
The Howard County Police Department is working to reduce false alarms in the County because they take police officers away from other crime prevention efforts and delays response time to true emergencies. Alarm legislation was adopted in an effort to reduce the waste of resources that occurs when a false alarm sounds. An excessively high false alarm rate reduces overall effectiveness and places a greater burden on public safety.
The false alarm ordinance requires all residential and non-residential alarm users to register their security alarm systems with the Howard County Department of Police.
We strongly recommend registering your alarm online, however if you are unable to do so, you can contact the local branch of your alarm company to obtain a paper copy of the registration form. If they are unable to provide you a copy contact our office at falsealarmreduction@howardcountymd.gov and we will mail you a registration form.
If your alarm system is self-installed and you are having it monitored by an alarm company/monitoring center, you must register the system.
There is a one-time, non-refundable $25.00 registration fee.
An alarm user (residential and non-residential) registration is effective for a period of 2 years. There is no fee for the renewal of a registration. Alarm registration renewal is done through your existing account. Do not create a new account for renewal purposes.
If you still live at the same address or are at the same business address (same suite, if applicable) you do not need to register again. If you have set up online access to your alarm registration, you can make the updates, otherwise contact our office at falsealarmreduction@howardcountymd.gov and we will update your alarm registration.
An alarm system registration is not transferable. An alarm user must inform the alarm administrator within 10 business days of a change that alters any information listed on the registration application.
A person who maintains or operates an unregistered alarm system is subject to a civil penalty of $200.00 for each police response to the alarm site in addition to the penalties imposed for a false alarm response. The penalty may be waived if the alarm user registers the system within 10 days after the violation.
False alarms one and two are warnings, no fine is imposed. False alarm three is $50.00 and each subsequent false alarm escalates by $50.00 up to false alarm 10. For example, false alarm 10 is $400.00. False alarms 11 through 14 escalate by $100.00 each and false alarm 15 escalates by $200.00. The maximum fine is $1,000.00 (15 Plus).
Each false alarm is on a 365 day rolling calendar (from the date of the false alarm).
Do not panic! Enter your disarm code carefully to reset your system. Wait for your alarm/monitoring company to call, give your password or ID number. Do not call 911 to cancel a false alarm. You must call your monitoring station (if they do not call you). Only the alarm company/monitoring station can cancel the false alarm with the Department of Police.
Review the False Alarm Appeal Guidelines. Print out the appeal hearing request form. It must be received within 30 days of the day the alarm was processed (the date of the letter not the date that the alarm occurred) and the request must be accompanied by a $20 filing fee.