Avoiding false alarms is important because 1) alarms are noisy and 2) false alarms sometimes lead to fines. Penalties for false alarms vary by locale. In some towns, the police and other emergency personnel charge hefty fines whenever they’re dispatched for a false alarm. In other towns, there’s never a charge or the fine might be waived for the first offense. A couple of measures help protect against unneeded emergency response. First, by law, an alarm company needs to give you 30 seconds to disable the alarm. (To bypass the 30-second rule, add a panic button!) Second, if an alarm is triggered, you’ll have the opportunity to tell the monitoring company that no service is needed.