Having a security alarm is a smart way to protect your home or business. In Asheville, every resident and business owner must get an alarm permit from the police department. This rule applies to everyone, even if your alarm system is not watched by a professional company. By getting this permit, you make sure the police have your correct phone numbers so they can call you quickly if your alarm goes off.

How to apply for your permit

To sign up, please use the online form on Asheville’s website for the False Alarm Reduction Program: https://www.crywolfservices.com/ashevillenc/

If you don’t get a permit

If you do not have a permit, the police will ask you to apply for one after your alarm goes off for the first time. If it happens a second time and you still don’t have a permit, you will be charged a $100 fine. You will keep getting charged $100 every time the alarm goes off, even if it is a false alarm, until you get your permit.

Reducing false alarms helps the City of Asheville because it keeps police officers free to answer real emergency calls. When officers aren’t busy checking on alarms where nothing is wrong, they can respond faster to actual break-ins and emergencies. This makes the community and the officers much safer.

The City of Asheville has a set of rules, called an ordinance, that explains the fines for false alarms. A false alarm is when a security system goes off and police show up, but there was no actual emergency. This includes alarms caused by mistakes or broken equipment. However, if an alarm is triggered by severe weather, it is not considered a false alarm.

If your alarm goes off multiple times in a single day, you will only be charged one time for that 24-hour period. This “alarm day” starts the moment the first alarm is triggered. No matter how many times the system activates during those 24 hours, you will only receive one penalty for that day.

False alarm fees

The false alarm fee schedule gives businesses and homeowners two “free” false alarms every year. This 12-month period runs from July 1 to June 30. Every July 1, the number of false alarms on your record resets to zero.

The costs for false alarms are listed below:

  • 3 to 5 false alarm days: $50 for each alarm
  • 6 to 7 false alarm days: $100 for each alarm
  • 8 to 9 false alarm days: $250 for each alarm
  • 10 or more false alarm days: $500 for each alarm

Get your system ready

To help keep costs and fines low, we ask all businesses and homeowners with alarms to do the following:

  • Fill out and send in an alarm permit application with your most current information.
  • Make sure your alarm system works the right way and have it repaired or checked often.
  • Ensure that everyone allowed to be on your property knows the right code to turn off or reset the alarm.
  • Call your alarm company to make sure they have your correct phone number.

Responding to an alarm

The Asheville Police Department wants you to know how to handle it when your alarm goes off. If you have a person who holds a key to your property, please ask them to give a cell phone number to your alarm company. This helps the police dispatch center reach them if they need more information.

It is the policy of the Asheville Police Department for officers to meet with the key holder (a person listed as having a key with the alarm company) at the scene. However, officers will not wait to meet if:

  • The officer is called away to a different emergency.
  • The key holder takes more than 20 minutes to get there.

If the key holder takes longer than 20 minutes, the officer can still meet them later once they arrive. To do this, the key holder must call the police dispatch center at (828) 252-1110 and say they still want to meet with an officer. These steps help the police provide you with the safest service possible.

Canceling your alarm

If you set off your alarm by mistake and want to stop the police from coming, you must call your alarm company. You will need to give them the correct code to cancel the police response.

If the alarm is canceled at least one minute before an officer arrives at your home or business, it is considered officially canceled. In this case, it will not count as a false alarm on your record.

Appeal process

The City of Asheville’s Alarm Ordinance defines a false alarm activation as: “means activation of an alarm by any means that elicits a response by a city emergency service when no situation requiring such a response does, in fact, exist. This includes accidental, avoidable, and unnecessary alarm activation due to user error, equipment malfunction, improper or unsuited equipment, but does not include alarm activation caused by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user or alarm business.”

Basically, Asheville’s rules define a false alarm as any time a security system goes off and brings emergency services to a location when there is no real emergency. This includes alarms caused by mistakes, broken parts, or poor equipment. It does not include alarms caused by severe weather or other major events that the owner cannot control.

If you are fined for a false alarm, you can appeal the decision. You must send a written letter to the Alarm Administrator within 10 days of getting the fine notice. You can send your appeal by email to ashevillenc@alarm‐billing.com or by mail to:

City of Asheville
PO Box 935989
Atlanta, GA 31193‐5939

The Alarm Administrator will send you a written decision. When you send your appeal, make sure to include these details:

  • Your name
  • Your email address
  • The address where the alarm is located
  • The date the false alarm happened
  • Your account number
  • The reasons why you are appealing
  • Any proof that supports your case

Contact information

Felicia Hamlin, Records Supervisor
Email: fhamlin@ashevillenc.gov
Phone: (828) 259-5905

Asheville Police Department
100 Court Plaza, Asheville, NC, 28801
Mailing: P.O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC 28802
Office Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday-Friday