If you operate a burglar alarm anywhere in the City and County of Honolulu that is designed to bring a police response, you need a Honolulu alarm permit from the Police Department before the system goes live. The rule is set by Chapter 40, Article 9 of the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, and it applies to homes and businesses on Oahu alike.1American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu 40-9.2 – Alarm User Permits Required As of early 2026, HPD’s Alarm Tracking and Billing Program is under administrative review, but police still respond to alarm activations while that review is underway.
Who Needs a Permit
Anyone whose alarm system is set up to alert police, whether the signal goes directly to dispatch or through a monitoring company, has to register.1American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu 40-9.2 – Alarm User Permits Required Each system at a given address needs its own permit. A business with a burglar alarm and a separate hold-up alarm would need to register both.2American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Chapter 40, Article 9 – Alarm Systems
Do not assume your alarm installer or monitoring company handles this for you. Plenty of people first learn about the permit requirement when a citation shows up. Confirm your registration status directly with HPD.
How to Register
The Alarm Tracking and Billing Section processes permits. Because the program is under administrative review, the online portal may not be fully operational, so contact the section directly for current instructions: (808) 529-3111 or hpdrecalarm@honolulu.gov.3Honolulu Police Department. Alarm Tracking and Billing Section
When you register, expect to provide the alarm site address, the property owner or tenant responsible for the system, the monitoring company’s contact details, and local emergency contacts who can reach the property and give police access if needed. Registration is not complete until you have a valid permit number tied to your specific address. Save that confirmation. Switching monitoring companies or moving means updating or re-registering; the permit does not follow you.
Penalties for Operating Without a Permit
Running an unregistered system is treated separately from false alarm fines and stacks on top of them. The first violation carries a fine of up to $100. If you still do not have a permit 30 days after that citation, every subsequent alarm activation is treated as both a false alarm and a separate violation: $50 for the false alarm plus $250 for the violation, on every trip.4American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu 40-9.7 – Failure to Obtain Permit for Alarm System – Violation
That is $300 per activation once the 30-day window closes, and it keeps compounding until you register. A single busy month with a malfunctioning sensor can produce thousands of dollars in charges on an unregistered system.
Penalties for Excessive False Alarms
A false alarm is any activation reported to emergency services that does not correspond to an actual or threatened emergency: wind-tripped sensors, pet activations, low-battery panel faults, or a monitoring company dispatching police after a keyholder set the system off accidentally.2American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Chapter 40, Article 9 – Alarm Systems If officers arrive and find no evidence of a crime or emergency, the trip counts against your permit for that fiscal year, which runs from July 1 through June 30.
The ordinance allows a limited number of false alarm responses per fiscal year before penalties begin. Once you cross that threshold, each additional false alarm produces a progressively higher fine. Properties with persistent problems can have police response suspended until the system is inspected and certified as functional. A suspension means you are paying a monitoring bill for a service that cannot actually bring help when you need it.
How to Challenge a Fine
If you think a false alarm fine was issued in error, request a review through the Alarm Tracking and Billing Section. The alarm system coordinator has 14 days from receipt of your request to issue a determination.1American Legal Publishing. Revised Ordinances of Honolulu 40-9.2 – Alarm User Permits Required Submit promptly after you get the notice; waiting too long can forfeit your right to challenge.
Include your permit number, the date of the incident, and a clear explanation of why the fine should be reconsidered. If a documented equipment malfunction caused the alarm and it has since been repaired, attach the repair invoice from a licensed alarm technician. A useful invoice names the specific component that failed, the work performed, and the date. Generic receipts carry far less weight. If the review goes against you, the original fine becomes due immediately.
Cutting Down on False Alarms
Most false alarms are preventable, and preventing them is cheaper than fighting the fines afterward.
- Train everyone who uses the system. Household members, employees, and cleaning crews should all know the arm and disarm codes. Keypad fumbles are one of the biggest single causes of false trips.
- Check that door and window contacts are firmly mounted and aligned. Loose contacts are the most common hardware cause of false activations.
- If you have pets, use motion detectors rated pet-immune for your animal’s weight, or position them away from where pets roam.
- Replace sensor batteries on a schedule, before they die. Low-battery signals from wireless sensors can trigger false reports to the monitoring station.
- Have a licensed technician inspect control panels, sensor alignment, and backup power supplies at least once a year.
Ask your monitoring company about enhanced call verification or video verification. Many false dispatches could be canceled in the 30 to 60 seconds it takes to call the property and confirm.
Business Owners: Fines Are Not Deductible
If your alarm sits on a commercial property, do not plan to write false alarm fines off as a business expense. Federal tax law prohibits deducting amounts paid to a government entity in connection with a law violation, and ordinance-based fines like these fall inside that prohibition.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 162 – Trade or Business Expenses Registration fees and alarm system repair or maintenance costs are ordinary business expenses and are treated differently. Keep those separated in your records so the deductible spending is not lumped in with the penalties.
Contact
For permit status, account updates, fine payment, or questions about the program during its administrative review, reach the HPD Alarm Tracking and Billing Section at (808) 529-3111 or hpdrecalarm@honolulu.gov.3Honolulu Police Department. Alarm Tracking and Billing Section Police response continues as normal, so a triggered alarm will still get a dispatch.