DGO5.10 "False Alarms"

San Francisco Police Department GENERAL ORDER 
5.10

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5.10
Revised: 

This order describes the procedures for responding to commercial, residential, and vehicle alarms, and officers’ responsibilities for making the appropriate CAD disposition entry. Under the City’s False Alarm Ordinance Program, the Emergency Communications Department (ECD) and the Tax Collector are now responsible for the billing of false alarms. The ordinance only applies to police alarms 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, vibrations, employees on the premises, mechanical or system malfunction, advise ECD and make the following appropriate CAD disposition entry:

Type CodeDefinitionDispo codeDisposition Definition
211SSilent Holdup AlarmNCRNon-Criminal Activation Alarm (i.e. employee on premise no merit to robbery)
100AAudible Burglar AlarmPAS or NCRPremise Appears Secure (i.e. unknown cause, weather, animals, etc.)
100SSilent Burglar AlarmPAS or NCRNon-Criminal Activation (i.e. employee on premise no merit to burglary)
100PPanic AlarmNCRNon-Criminal Activation (i.e. employee on premise no merit to panic incident)

B. Members shall not enter dispositions such as “NOM, HAN, ADV, or UTL,” 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 response 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 shall be made under the following conditions:

  1. Criminally activated alarms.
    1. REP-report made: 459, 211, etc.
    2. ARR-arrest made
    3. CRM-criminal activation
  2. Alarms that are canceled prior to your arrival at the scene.
    1. NCR

E. ALARM CODE TYPE shall continue to be used by officers when it is necessary to enter the appropriate code:

  1. Vehicle alarms:
    1. 100V
  2. Muni Buses or Street Cars
    1. 100M

F. VEHICLE ALARMS

  1. CITATION. Issue a citation on a vehicle that is emitting an audible alarm in violation of the Municipal Police Code Section 3703(a) when:
    1. The alarm signal with a variable tone, is similar to that of an emergency vehicle, or
    2. 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).
    1. Entry, search, and damage must be confined to that which is reasonable and necessary to locate and deactivate the alarm mechanism.
    2. The officer shall attempt to contact the vehicle's owner, by telephone or otherwise, before disconnecting the alarm.

    3. If it appears that damage may be incurred while deactivating the alarm, notify your supervisor and get his/her approval before proceeding.

      1. If damage occurs while deactivating the alarm, complete a memorandum describing the damage and forward 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:
    1. The vehicle is parked in a residential or business district either on public or private property.
    2. The alarm cannot be deactivated.
    3. The owner of the vehicle cannot be located within 20 minutes.

References
DGO 1.06, Duties of Patrol Officers 
DGO 9.06, Vehicle Tows