Home security in Los Angeles: burglary data, alarm permits and installers

Quick answer: LAPD’s COMPSTAT profile shows 6,294 burglaries in 2026 to 19 September, 26.3% fewer than a year earlier. Every home alarm in the City of Los Angeles needs an alarm permit ($60, then $31 a year), and since 4 May 2026 each false alarm the police attend costs $260 with a permit or $360 without, rising with each repeat. Alarm companies must be licensed by California’s Bureau of Security and Investigative Services (BSIS).

Burglary in Los Angeles: the official figures

The LAPD publishes a four-weekly COMPSTAT Citywide Profile. The edition covering 23 August to 19 September 2026 shows:

6,294 burglary and breaking-and-entering offences so far in 2026, against 8,538 by the same point in 2025: down 26.3%.
10,289 by the same point in 2024, so the 2026 figure is close to 40% lower than two years ago.
601 burglaries in the latest four weeks, against 653 in the four weeks before.

The profile covers the whole City of Los Angeles, 472.93 square miles with a population of 3,908,705. It does not split home and business burglaries, and it counts offences under the FBI’s NIBRS rules, so do not compare it directly with older figures. Cities inside Los Angeles County with their own police, such as Santa Monica, Culver City or Beverly Hills, are not included and have their own alarm rules.

Alarm permits and false-alarm fees in Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles runs one of the strictest alarm regimes of any large US city. The Office of Finance says every alarm user, home or business, must have a valid alarm user permit, and that LAPD officers handle 6,000 to 7,000 alarm calls a month, over 90% of which turn out to be false.

Item	With a permit	Without a permit
Initial alarm permit	$60.00
Annual renewal	$31.00
1st false alarm	$260	$360
2nd false alarm	$310	$460
3rd false alarm	$360	$560
4th false alarm	$410	$660

Source: Los Angeles Office of Finance, fees effective 4 May 2026.

No free false alarms. The Office of Finance says that under the revised Alarm Ordinance the City will no longer respond to alarms free of charge: the $260 is a fee for service, with penalties on top for repeats.
It is a misdemeanour to run an alarm without a permit, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in county jail, or both.
Your installer must check. Ordinance 180490 requires alarm companies, before installing, to make sure a valid permit exists or to get one for the customer.
Alarm School. Permit holders can do the LAPD Alarm Section’s online or mail-in course once in any 365 days to waive one false-alarm charge.
Display the number. Give your permit number to your alarm company and post it near the main entrance.

With these fees, preventing false alarms pays for itself quickly: see our false alarm checklist. For how US permits compare with other countries, read alarm permits and police response.

Doorbells, cameras and recording

Filming your own porch or driveway is generally lawful in the US, but audio is treated differently. California is one of the states that require the consent of everyone in a private conversation before it is recorded, so a doorbell or camera microphone that picks up conversations between other people carries more legal risk here than in one-party states. Practical steps: switch off audio on cameras that face shared or public spaces, angle cameras away from neighbours’ windows and yards, and use privacy zones. Our guides cover audio recording and state wiretap laws, cameras pointed at a neighbour’s property and police requests for doorbell footage.

Typical alarm and camera prices

We have not found an official Los Angeles price survey, so start with the national ranges in our US home security costs guide. HomeGuide reports an equipment package at $199 to $599, installation and activation at $0 to $299 and professional monitoring at $25 to $50 a month (April 2024), and $500 to $1,600 for a professionally installed 4-camera system (December 2023). Whatever you pay for equipment, budget $60 for the permit in year one and $31 a year after that. Add the city permit fee and allow for false-alarm charges, then compare at least two written quotes for the same equipment list and the same monitoring plan. For the full cost over several years, see our five-year cost guide.

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How to choose an alarm company in Los Angeles

BSIS licence. California’s Department of Consumer Affairs says alarm companies must be licensed by BSIS to sell alarm systems at your home, to install, service, repair and monitor them, and to respond to activations. Retail stores can sell alarms only in the store. Check the licence on the Department of Consumer Affairs licence search.
Agent registration. The person who comes to your home to sell or install should hold a BSIS alarm agent registration. A temporary registration lasts 120 days, and the Department warns that people working on one have not yet been through the Bureau’s criminal history review.
The written contract. It must include the company’s BSIS licence number, and the agent’s registration number if an agent negotiated it. Since 1 January 2017 you must be given a separate written notice if the contract renews automatically for more than a month; without your signed acknowledgement, the auto-renewal clause is invalid.
The permit. Ask the company to confirm it has checked or applied for your City permit, as the ordinance requires.
Verification. Ask how the monitoring centre confirms an alarm before calling police, since every false dispatch now costs you at least $260.

Alarm and camera installers in Los Angeles

These independent businesses appear in public business listings for the Los Angeles area and describe themselves as installing alarms, cameras or both. We left out national brands, franchise and dealer branches, and lead-generation sites. We have not checked their work, prices, licences or insurance, and none of them has paid to appear. Check any company’s BSIS licence yourself on the California Department of Consumer Affairs licence search.