Home security in Phoenix: burglary data, alarm permits and installers

Quick answer: Phoenix Police data shows 3,904 burglaries in 2025, 18.0% fewer than in 2024, with just under half at houses, apartments and condos. Every alarm in Phoenix needs a $17 a year permit applied for within 10 days of installation, and false alarms cost $96 each from the second. The City of Phoenix licenses alarm businesses and alarm agents itself.

Burglary in Phoenix: the official figures

The Phoenix Police Department publishes crime incidents on the City of Phoenix Open Data portal, by the primary offence on each incident. For burglary:

3,904 burglaries in 2025, against 4,760 in 2024 (down 18.0%) and 5,258 in 2023.
In 2025, 1,104 were at single-family houses, 770 at apartments and 82 at condos or townhouses: 1,956 homes in all.
Burglaries at houses fell from 1,475 in 2024 to 1,104 in 2025, and at apartments from 975 to 770.

Premises, 2025	Burglaries
Single-family house	1,104
Apartment	770
Rental storage facility	205
Office or commercial building	198
Garage	169
Condo or townhouse	82

The dataset runs to the end of 2025. Because it records only the primary offence, a burglary that also involved a more serious crime is counted under that crime instead.

Alarm permits and false-alarm fees in Phoenix

Phoenix regulates alarms in Article IX of Chapter 10 of the City Code, administered by the Police Department’s Alarm Unit. The key points for a home:

Item	Rule or fee
Alarm subscriber permit	$17, valid one year; $17 annual renewal
When to apply	Within 10 days of installing a new system
Each extra control panel	A separate permit and $17 fee
False burglar alarm	$96 each, from the second
Alarm with no permit, after a warning	$96 per activation
False alarm prevention class	$10

Sources: Phoenix City Code sections 10-76, 10-76.01 and 10-86.01; Phoenix Police alarm permit application (form 80-302D).

Monitored or not. The permit is required for every alarm subscriber and proprietor alarm owner, so a local-only siren system needs one too.
Low-income exemption. A resident on a fixed income at or below the federal poverty guidelines gets the permit free on showing proof of income, if no business is run from the home.
Responsible people. The application asks for at least two responsible representatives who will respond within 30 minutes of an activation to meet police and secure the home.
Renters. A tenant who installs or rents an alarm is the alarm subscriber; if the system came with the apartment, the owner is. Each apartment is a separate address.
Fees are shared. The alarm subscriber and the alarm business are jointly responsible for false-alarm fees.

Phoenix Police’s own advice lists wrong keypad codes, untrained sitters and relatives, doors and windows left unsecured and failing to cancel with the monitoring centre as the most common home causes. Our false alarm checklist works through them.

Doorbells, cameras and recording

Filming your own porch or driveway is generally lawful in the US, but audio is regulated more tightly. Arizona is not among the all-party consent states listed in our guide to audio recording and state wiretap laws, but secretly recording a private conversation you are not part of can still break federal and state law. Practical steps: switch off audio on cameras that face shared or public spaces, keep cameras off neighbours’ windows and yards, and use privacy zones. See also cameras pointed at a neighbour’s property and police requests for doorbell footage.

Summer heat is the local equipment issue: ask about the operating temperature range of outdoor cameras and doorbells, and avoid mounting them in full afternoon sun.

Typical alarm and camera prices

We have not found an official Phoenix 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). The City permit adds $17 a year. 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 installer in Phoenix

City licences. Section 10-72 of the City Code makes it unlawful to run an alarm business, or work as an alarm agent, without the City’s licences. The City’s alarm subscriber information form asks for the company’s City of Phoenix alarm business licence number and the technician’s alarm agent number, and asks you to view the agent’s licence.
State contractor licence. The Arizona Registrar of Contractors licenses low-voltage communication systems work, which includes alarms, with separate residential and commercial classifications. Check the company on the Registrar’s contractor search.
The permit. The information form asks you and the company to agree who will send the permit application within 10 days. Make sure one of you does.
Handover. The same form confirms that the company has shown you how to use the system and cancel an alarm and given you the Police Department’s alarm packet.
Contract terms. Minimum term, automatic renewal, price rises and cancellation fees.

Alarm and camera installers in Phoenix

These independent businesses appear in public business listings for the Phoenix 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. Ask to see the company’s City of Phoenix alarm business licence and the technician’s alarm agent licence.