Home Security Systems in Tustin, CA
Installation, 24/7 UL-listed monitoring, and a permit year that ends on 31 December no matter when you bought it.
Anaheim office, twenty minutes away
UL-listed monitoring, every day
Serving Southern California
Licensed by the State of California
Tustin is about 78,000 people across eleven square miles, and slightly fewer than half of households own the home they live in. It runs its own police department, which is also the answering point for every 911 call made in the city, while fire and medical response comes from the Orange County Fire Authority. The alarm chapter is a police chapter, and it is stricter than most of the region in three specific places worth knowing before you have anything fitted.
A calendar year permit, and it is not prorated
Buy in November and you still pay for the year that ends six weeks later.
Tustin requires an alarm user permit before a system is installed, used or maintained, with a separate permit for each address (6910). The term is the calendar year: a permit runs “for a one (1) calendar year period from January 1 to December 31, or from the date after January 1 that the application is submitted and approved to December 31 of the same year” (6913).
Then the sentence most people miss: “The application fee shall not be prorated based on the date of application.” A permit taken out in late autumn costs the same as one taken out in January and expires on the same day. It is not a large sum, but it is worth timing deliberately rather than by accident.
The permit does not travel. Permits are not transferable, and a new one is required whenever a residence changes ownership (6910b). If the occupants change rather than the owner, the permit holder has to update the notification list instead. Buying a house with a system already fitted means applying in your own name, not inheriting anything.
Three ways Tustin is stricter than its neighbours
Most of the region is broadly similar. These three provisions are not.
Panic and robbery alarms are charged from the first one. Section 6914(b) requires a fee “for every manually activated false robbery alarm call”. There is no free allowance at all, unlike the three you get on the burglary side. The code is specific that this covers manually activated alarms, so it is the button on the wall or the fob in a pocket rather than a sensor tripping by itself.
An unpermitted system is charged even when the alarm was real. Section 6914(d) applies a fee to a response to a non-permitted alarm “whether false or valid”. A genuine break-in at an address with no permit on file still attracts the charge. The relief is generous and automatic, though: apply for a permit within thirty days of that response and the code says the fee “shall be waived”. Applying is enough, and nobody has to exercise judgement about it.
Your alarm company has to tell the police you exist. Section 6912 requires the alarm business to give the Chief of Police the name, address and telephone number of every new subscriber in the city before the system is activated. The city finds out about a new installation whether or not the householder gets round to the paperwork.
Three free on burglary, none on panic
Two separate counts, on two entirely different rules.
On the burglary side Tustin is middling and clear. Section 6914(a) defines an excessive false alarm as “every false burglary alarm occurring after three (3) false burglary alarms have been received from any one (1) protected premises… within any consecutive three hundred sixty-five (365) day period”. So three carry no charge and the fourth begins them, counted on a genuinely rolling year rather than against your permit year or the calendar.
On the robbery and panic side there is no allowance whatsoever. Every manually activated false robbery alarm is chargeable, from the first. If your system has a panic button, a medical fob or a duress code, that is the part of the household briefing worth doing properly, because the margin for a mistaken press is nil.
Three free
The fourth and each one after it is chargeable, counted across any consecutive 365 days.
Charged from the first
Every manually activated false robbery alarm carries a fee. There is no free allowance at all.
Charged either way
A response to an unpermitted system is charged whether the alarm was false or genuine, waived if you apply within thirty days.
The definition at 6901(7) is unusually favourable in one respect. A false alarm is one “which causes response by the Police Department where an emergency situation does not exist”, and the same subsection defines response as “arrival at the location of the alarm”. A call cancelled before a unit arrives is therefore not a false alarm at all. The exclusions for earthquake, extraordinary weather conditions or other act of God are written into the definition itself, so they apply automatically rather than depending on an officer agreeing with you.
What Tustin does not count against you
Across the region the burglary allowance runs from one to three. Anaheim, Santa Ana and Long Beach stop at one; Fullerton, Garden Grove, Yorba Linda, Orange, Brea and Costa Mesa give two; Irvine and Tustin give three. You can compare them on our service areas page, and our guide to alarm permits covers the wider region. Buena Park allows three, and requires your alarm to sound for thirty seconds before it transmits a silent signal. Every city we cover is compared side by side here.
Three provisions to set up on day one
All three are equipment or paperwork decisions, and all three are easier before the install than after.
Fifteen minutes, and it has to reset itself
Section 6904 requires every audible alarm system to include a device limiting the sound to fifteen minutes, for homes and businesses alike, and separately requires an automatic resetting device that re-arms the system when it shuts off. Unlike some neighbouring cities, neither is optional and silencing it by hand is not an alternative. An alarm sounding beyond fifteen minutes is declared a public nuisance in its own right.
Forty five minutes, if they ask
Section 6910(c) requires a person on your notification list to be at the property within forty five minutes if the Police Department requests it. It is conditional rather than automatic, and it sits alongside the shut off duty rather than replacing it. Failing to attend when asked is a listed ground for revoking the permit, so the names on that list should be people who could realistically make the trip.
Fifteen days to appeal, and you keep using the system
Section 6916 gives fifteen days from the decision being delivered or posted to appeal to the City Manager, in writing, against a denial, a revocation or a reimbursement demand. Crucially, an order of revocation is stayed while the appeal runs and you may keep using the alarm until the process is exhausted. Note the clock starts on mailing, not on you opening the envelope.
What a Tustin property changes about the setup
Old Town design review, a rental majority, and a panic button with no margin for error.
Slightly fewer than half of Tustin households own their home, and households run a little under three people. Four things follow from that, from the chapter, and from where in the city you are.
Brief the household on the panic button
With robbery and panic alarms chargeable from the very first activation, this is the one setting where a mistaken press costs money immediately. Everyone who lives in the house should know what the button does, what it does not do, and that the code forbids using it merely to summon police in place of dialling 911.
In Old Town, check before you drill
The Cultural Resource District is an overlay covering much of Old Town, and section 9252 requires a Certificate of Appropriateness before the exterior features of a building in it are altered. Ordinary maintenance that does not change design, exterior material or original appearance is exempt, but a visible camera or a conduit run on a street elevation is a judgement call rather than an obvious pass. The Planning Division on 714-573-3140 is the right first call, and it is a much shorter conversation before installation than after.
Landlord permission, then paperwork
In a city where more than half of households rent, the practical sequence is permission first, then the permit. Remember the permit is not transferable and a change of ownership needs a new one, while a change of occupants only needs the notification list updating. Getting that straight avoids a fee for an unpermitted response later.
Fire alarms sit outside this chapter
Section 6902 exempts fire and smoke detectors from the alarm chapter entirely, unless they are being used as intrusion detection. Fire and medical response in Tustin comes from the Orange County Fire Authority rather than a city department, so monitored smoke and heat detection runs on a different track from the burglary rules on this page.
What we install for Tustin homes
Six systems, fitted and monitored across the city
Eight years with a Tustin business
Not a house, and we would rather say so than dress it up.
The Tustin customer in this story is a restaurant in the 92780, not a home. We are putting it on a page about home security deliberately, because what it shows is not about the building. It came on in September 2018, which makes it eight years this month, and it is still on service today.
It runs an interactive system on equipment we own, and it is billed annually rather than monthly, which is unusual enough on our book to be worth mentioning. In eight years three things have needed attention: a call in 2021, a question about the fire side in the summer of 2023, and a glass break sensor with a low battery last June. Each one was picked up and closed out. We also moved it onto LTE when the carriers began retiring the older cellular networks, before it became a problem rather than after.
That is the whole point of including it. A restaurant is harder on a security system than a house is, and eight years of it produced three service calls and nothing outstanding. The engineers who would come to your door in Tustin are the same ones who have been going to that address since 2018.
Service and response in Tustin
Our office is in Anaheim, about twenty minutes away.
Epic Alarm installs and services security systems across Southern California from our office in Anaheim, and our monitoring runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year, through a UL-listed centre we own and operate. We are licensed by the State of California, ACO #7125.
Tustin runs its own police department, and it is the primary answering point for every 911 call made in the city rather than routing them elsewhere first. Fire and medical response is provided by the Orange County Fire Authority from three stations in Tustin. Alarm permits and false alarm billing are handled for the city by PMAM Corporation on 1-888-549-2733, though the chapter itself is administered and enforced by the Chief of Police. The police non-emergency line is 714-573-3225.
Common questions about alarms in Tustin
The calendar year permit, the panic button rule, the unpermitted charge and the fifteen day appeal.
Do I need an alarm permit in Tustin?
Yes. Section 6910 requires an alarm user permit before a system is installed, used or maintained, and a separate permit for each address. Fire and smoke detectors are exempt from the chapter unless they are being used as intrusion detection.
When does my Tustin alarm permit expire?
On 31 December, whatever the date you bought it. A permit runs for a calendar year from 1 January, or from the date after 1 January that your application is approved through to 31 December of the same year. The code also says outright that the application fee is not prorated, so a permit taken out in November costs the same as one taken out in January.
How many false alarms do I get in Tustin?
Three on the burglary side. A fee attaches to every false burglary alarm occurring after three have been received from the premises within any consecutive 365 days, so the fourth is the first chargeable one and the window is genuinely rolling rather than tied to your permit year.
Is a panic or robbery alarm treated differently in Tustin?
Yes, and this is the strictest thing on the page. There is no free allowance at all: section 6914(b) requires a fee for every manually activated false robbery alarm, so the first one is chargeable. It is worth making sure everyone in the household knows exactly what the panic button does before it is ever pressed.
What happens if I have an alarm but no permit in Tustin?
A response to an unpermitted alarm is charged whether the alarm turned out to be false or genuine, which catches people out. There is a generous escape though: if you apply for a permit within thirty days of that response, the code says the fee shall be waived. Applying is enough, and no official has to be persuaded.
Does my alarm company tell the city about my system?
Yes. Section 6912 requires the alarm business to give the Chief of Police the name, address and telephone number of every new subscriber in the city before the system is activated. The city learns about a new installation independently of whether you have filed anything yourself.
How long can my siren sound in Tustin?
Fifteen minutes, for homes and businesses alike. Every audible system must include a device limiting the sound to fifteen minutes, and must also include an automatic resetting device that re-arms the system when it shuts off. Both are mandatory here, and an alarm sounding longer than fifteen minutes is declared a public nuisance in its own right.
Does somebody have to go to the property when my Tustin alarm goes off?
Only if the Police Department asks. Section 6910(c) requires a person on your notification list to be at the location within forty five minutes of being advised, when the department requests it. It sits alongside the shut off requirement rather than replacing it, and failing to attend when asked is a listed ground for revoking the permit.
Can I appeal a false alarm charge in Tustin?
Yes. You have fifteen days from the decision being delivered or mailed to file a written appeal to the City Manager, covering a denial, a revocation or a demand for reimbursement. An order of revocation is stayed while the appeal runs and you may keep using the system until it is decided. The clock starts on mailing, so do not wait for the envelope to be opened.
I live in Old Town Tustin. Does that change anything?
It can. The Cultural Resource District is an overlay covering much of Old Town, and a Certificate of Appropriateness is required before the exterior features of a building in it are altered. Ordinary maintenance that does not change the design, exterior material or original appearance is exempt, but a visible camera or a cable run on a street elevation is a judgement call. The Planning Division on 714-573-3140 is the right place to check first.
Get a free quote for your Tustin home
We will walk the property, set the delays around how the household actually moves, and make sure everyone knows what the panic button does before it is ever pressed.