The City of Garden Grove adopted Municipal Code Section 8.60 in 1983 establishing codes that govern the use of alarm systems within the City. This Municipal Code section has remained relatively unchanged since that time.

The proposed changes to the alarm ordinance will address several areas of concern, reduce false alarm responses and better align practices to industry standards.

Major changes to the ordinance would include:

• Additional verification of burglary alarm activations. This would require that alarm companies attempt to make two phone calls to responsible parties before a police response is requested on burglary alarms. In 2018, 94% of alarm calls were false alarms. After the City of Anaheim implemented this process in 2012, they saw a 36% decrease in false alarm dispatches.

• Penalties for non-permitted systems. Alarm system users who fail to obtain or maintain a permit would be charged for any false alarm from their system.  Currently, non-permitted alarm system users are afforded the same courtesy as permitted users, which are two false alarm activations at no charge.

• Addition of an alarm user awareness class. This class would be available to all alarm system subscribers. It would be used to educate users about false and excessive alarm activations. Any user that successfully completes this class will receive a certificate that may be used in payment for one false alarm activation if it is used within one year of its issuance.

• Issuance of administrative citations. Administrative citations will be issued for systems that suffer from excessive alarm activations, or for each activation for which a current and valid permit has not been obtained or maintained.

It is recommended that City Council:

• Introduce and conduct first reading of the attached Ordinance amending and updating the City’s regulations governing the use of burglary and panic/robbery alarm systems.

By: Rebecca Meeks, Communications Manager