Policy Text
San Francisco Police Department 5.10
GENERAL ORDER Rev. 02/28/07
FALSE ALARMS
This order describes the procedures for res ponding to commercial, residential, and vehicle
alarms, and officers’ responsibilities for maki ng the appropriate CAD disposition entry. Under
the City’s False Alarm Ordi nance Program, the Emergency Communications Department
(ECD) and the Tax Collector are now responsi ble for the billing of false alarms. The
ordinance only applies to police alar ms handled by the police department.
I. PROCEDURES
A. After arriving at the scene and determining that the alarm is false, identify the cause of
activation, e.g., power failure, vi brations, employees on the prem ises, mechanical or system
malfunction, advise ECD and make the follo wing appropriate CAD disposition entry:
Type Code Definition Dispo code Disposition Definition
211S Silent Holdup NCR Non-Criminal Activation
Alarm (i.e. employee on
premise no merit to
robbery)
100A Audible Burglar Alarm PAS or NCR Premise Appears Secure
(i.e. unknown caus e,
weather, animals, etc.)
100S Silent Burglar Alarm PAS or NCR Non-Criminal Activation
(i.e. employee on
premise no merit to burglary)
100P Panic Alarm NCR Non-Criminal Activation
(i.e employee on p remise
no merit to panic incident)
B. Members shall not enter dispositions such as “NOM, HAN, ADV, or U TL,” for false alarms
as these dispositions do not accurately indicate that an alarm was in fact false.
C. Members shall no longer complete the alarm res ponse cards, as this information is recorded in
CAD and monitored by ECD.
D. ALARM RESPONSE CAD disposition code entries: The appropriate CAD
disposition code entry sha ll be made under the following conditions:
DGO 5.10
Rev. 02/28/07
2
1. Criminally activated alarms.
a. REP-report made: 459, 211, etc.
b. ARR-arrest made
c. CRM-criminal activation
2. Alarms that are canceled prio r to your arrival at the scene.
a. NCR
E. ALARM CODE TYPE shall continue to be used by officers when it is necessary to
enter the appropriate code:
1. Vehicle alarms:
a. 100V
2. Muni Buses or Street Cars
a. 100M
F. VEHICLE ALARMS
1. CITATION. Issue a citation on a vehicle that is emitting an audible alarm in
violation of the Municipal Poli ce Code Section 3703(a) when:
a. The alarm signal with a variable tone, is similar to that of an emergency vehicle, or
b. The duration of the audible alarm exceeds 5 minutes.
2. INCIDENT REPORT. The citation does not require an incident report,
signature of the offender or an incident number.
3. DEACTIVATING A VEHICLE ALARM. Instead of towing the vehicle, officers may
attempt to deactivate a vehicle alarm that is in violation of the Municipal Police Code
3703(a) by applying 3703(b).
a. Entry, search, and damage must be confined to that which is reasonable and
necessary to locate and deact ivate the alarm mechanism.
b. The officer shall attempt to contact the vehicle's owner, by telephone or
otherwise, before disconnecting the alarm.
c. If it appears that damage may be incu rred while deactivating the alarm, notify
your supervisor and get his/her approval before proceeding .
DGO 5.10
02/28/07
3
1. If damage occurs while deactivatin g the alarm, complete a memorandum
describing the damage and forw ard it to your commanding officer.
4. TOWING (Also see DGO 9.06, Vehicle Tows). California Vehicle Code
Section 22651.5 allows an officer to tow a vehicle emitting an audible alarm when ALL
of the following conditions exist:
a. The vehicle is parked in a residentia l or business district either on public or
private property.
b. The alarm cannot be deactivated.
c. The owner of the vehicle cannot be located within 20 minutes.
____________________________
References
DGO 1.06, Duties of Patrol Officers
DGO 9.06, Vehicle Tows