Don’t know how operate your home alarm system? If it repeatedly goes off and police show up, it now may cost you a hefty fine.

The Simi Valley City Council last week voted to change an ordinance to enable stiffer fines for false alarm calls to the police.

False alarms are a nationwide problem: studies show that 98 percent of the alarms involving police response are false. The trend isn’t different in Simi Valley. Between October 2003 and September 2004, Simi Valley police received 3,548 alarm calls. All but 65 were bogus.

The new ordinance allows a business or homeowner two false alarms a year without a fine. With the third, however, alarm calls must be verified. The alarm company must authenticate by two means—audio, motion, interior or exterior sensors, video surveillance cameras or by reaching the resident or business owner by telephone—confirming that the alarm is genuine before alerting police.

For both businesses and residents the third false alarm will cost $150; the fourth, $250; the fifth and those thereafter, $500.

Police Chief Mark Layhew said the new ordinance is an improvement over the old one because it permitted as many as 10 false alarms in one year with relatively small fines.

False alarms cost the city of Simi Valley an estimated $186,000 last year and hundreds of hours of officers’ time since two policemen usually respond and spend as long as 30 minutes making sure a home or business is safe, officials said.

The police department expects the amended law will save the city about 1,750 hours in officers’ time.

An elderly resident told the council he was concerned that the extra time it will take to verify that police are needed will give intruders more time to assault their victims.

Layhew said verifying an alarm doesn’t take much time and, where police are needed immediately, most systems provide a panic alarm. Police respond immediately to panic alarms, which are exempt from the new ordinance, Layhew said.

The new law was crafted over the past three months with input from the community and the alarm industry. Both groups generally support it, Layhew said.