Every burglar, panic or fire alarm system in the City of San Antonio needs its own City permit, under City Code Chapter 25, Article IV. A residence holds one permit covering police and fire calls, US$50 a year; a commercial site must hold separate police and fire permits, US$200 each a year. The permit finder below says which permits your property holds.
Permit finder: our reading of the City’s pages, not a City determination.
| Permit | Who holds it | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| One permit covering police and fire | System owner | US$50 a year |
- Permits do not transfer to another person, premise, alarm system or alarm subscriber.
| Property | Permit(s) it holds | Who holds it | Fee per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Residence | One permit covering police and fire | System owner | US$50 |
| Residence, 65 or older | One permit covering police and fire | System owner | US$30 |
| Exempt residence (Ch. 25.56) | One permit covering police and fire | System owner | No fee |
| Commercial site | Separate police and fire permits | System owner | US$200 each |
| Leased suites | Building fire permit; police permit for each tenant’s own alarm | Typically the building manager (fire); each tenant (police) | By permit type, as above |
| Gated community gate | One gate permit | HOA or community manager | US$50, one time |
| Self-monitoring cameras only, or a smoke detector not connected to an alarm panel | No permit required | None | No fee |
Fees from the City of San Antonio’s Apply for an Alarm Permit page, and permit holders and exemptions from its Alarm Response & Permits page, as the City’s pages stood on 12 October 2026.
Cameras watched by a monitoring company: The City exempts locations that only have self-monitoring cameras, but its pages do not say how it treats cameras that a monitoring company watches. Ask the Alarms Investigation Office whether your system needs a permit.
The City’s Alarm Response & Permits page also sets these conditions:
- Several structures: A location with several structures on separate alarm panels needs a permit for each.
- Transfers: Permits do not transfer to another person, premise, alarm system or alarm subscriber.
- Leased suites: The building manager typically holds the fire permit and each tenant with its own burglar, panic or robbery alarm holds a police permit; the City tells tenants to ask the building manager to confirm the fire permit is not theirs.
How to Apply
- Online: Through the City’s online permit system, with no account needed.
- Online, then by mail: Complete the online application, then mail a check or money order to City of San Antonio False Alarm Reduction Program, P.O. Box 1314, San Antonio, TX 78295.
- In person: Alarms Investigation Office, 315 S. Santa Rosa St., San Antonio, TX 78207, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The City says you cannot apply or pay at a police substation or fire station.
Renewing and Paying
The City says a permit is valid for one year from the issue date and must be renewed before it expires, and SAPD’s Alarms Investigation Office sends a renewal notice 45 days before expiry. City Council approved PMAM Corporation on 17 October 2024 to administer the Alarm Fee Collection and Permit Program; the City says its services “will include but are not limited to, administering the issuance and renewal of alarm permits, collection of all related alarm fees for new permits, renewal permits, false alarms”. The False Alarm Reduction Program’s phone number is 1-844-392-6325.
With an active permit, your first three false burglar alarms in a 12-month period cost nothing, the City of San Antonio says. After that, the 4th and 5th cost US$50 each, the 6th and 7th US$75, and the 8th and each one after it US$100. Under the City’s schedule, a false robbery, hold-up, panic or duress alarm is free once, then costs US$200, US$300, US$400 and US$500 from the 5th; a false fire alarm activation is free once, then costs US$125 (2nd to 4th), US$250 (5th to 9th) and US$500 from the 10th.
Operating an alarm system without a valid permit is a city ordinance violation, and the City charges for each false alarm from an unpermitted system: US$250 for a residence or a commercial burglar alarm, and US$500 for a commercial robbery alarm. Under the City’s rules, you must pay all outstanding false alarm fees before the City issues a new or renewal permit. The City says SAPD still responds to all alarm calls regardless of permit status or outstanding fines or fees, and that additional fees and fines are charged for the violations.
Example year: Choose an alarm type and whether the permit is active, then step through false alarms one by one to see each fee and the running total. This example uses the City’s published fees and is not a bill.
False Burglar Alarms (Active Permit)
| False alarm in 12 months | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1st to 3rd | No fee |
| 4th and 5th | US$50 each |
| 6th and 7th | US$75 each |
| 8th and after | US$100 each |
False Robbery, Hold-Up, Panic or Duress Alarms (Active Permit)
| False alarm in 12 months | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1st | No fee |
| 2nd | US$200 |
| 3rd | US$300 |
| 4th | US$400 |
| 5th and after | US$500 each |
False Fire Alarm Activations (Active Permit)
| False alarm in 12 months | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1st | No fee |
| 2nd to 4th | US$125 each |
| 5th to 9th | US$250 each |
| 10th and after | US$500 each |
Canceled Fire Alarm Activations (Active Permit)
The City charges these on notification.
| Canceled activation in 12 months | Fee |
|---|---|
| 1st | No fee |
| 2nd to 4th | US$50 each |
| 5th to 9th | US$125 each |
| 10th and after | US$250 each |
False Alarms Without a Permit
| Type of false alarm | Fee without a permit |
|---|---|
| Residential | US$250 |
| Commercial burglary | US$250 |
| Commercial robbery | US$500 |
| Senior | US$75 |
| Fire, residential or commercial | US$250 |
| Fire, senior | US$125 |
Request for Review
If your permit is active, you can submit a Request for Review form for false alarm fines on it, the City says. Investigators review the required documentation and decide whether any fine is waived.
Source: City of San Antonio, Alarm Response & Permits, False Alarm Penalties and Fees & Penalties, as the City’s page stood on 12 October 2026.
SAPD’s Trespass Affidavit (Private Property) is how you request and authorize SAPD to act for you when nobody from your property is there. As the City published the form (archived copy, 2023), it asks SAPD to enter the premises and, in your absence, to enforce all applicable trespass laws on your behalf. It also asks SAPD to tell anyone who is not a customer, invitee or employee to leave the property immediately or be arrested under Section 30.05 of the Texas Penal Code.
The form asks for five things:
- Signer: The owner of the building, or the owner’s agent.
- Notary: Signed and sworn before a notary public of the State of Texas.
- Signs: A statement that “NO TRESPASSING” signs have been posted throughout the property.
- Prosecution: A statement that you, or your designee, will cooperate fully in the prosecution of anyone arrested for a violation of any local or state law.
- Contact details: The signer’s address, phone number and email.
SAPD’s Downtown Bike Patrol Unit described the affidavit in a post of 24 December 2015 as allowing SAPD (any Texas peace officer) to act as your agent in your absence. The unit said officers in the field primarily use it while the business is closed and someone is trespassing, and that it supplements the “No Trespassing” signs a business typically already has, so officers can issue a trespass warning on its behalf. That downtown program renewed the forms yearly and required one form for each physical property address; those were its terms for 2016, not necessarily the citywide rule today.
The archived form states no term and no fee, so confirm with SAPD how to file it today and whether it needs renewing.
On their own, the permit and the affidavit do not mean anyone sees a trespasser. The City’s page says SAPD responds to all alarm calls regardless of permit status or outstanding fines or fees, and it gives its 2022 figures: SAPD responded to more than 62,000 false alarm calls that year, one false alarm every 8 minutes, and 91% of all burglar alarms are false alarms. SAPD’s December 2015 post on its downtown trespass program says the signed affidavit allows SAPD (any Texas peace officer) to act as your agent in your absence, and that it “is primarily used by officers out on the field while the business is closed” and someone is trespassing. As we read them, none of these texts (the permit, the fees, SAPD’s response to alarm calls, the affidavit) describes anyone watching your property.
Blinkless adds that part. When a potential threat is detected on your cameras after hours, a trained Blinkless agent is alerted immediately and reviews the live feed.
One Night, Two Ways
An example. Nobody from the property is on site, and your Trespass Affidavit is on file. On the first path, nobody watches the cameras live, and the alarm’s signal reaches SAPD as an alarm call. On the second, the person watching, or whoever they alert, calls SAPD.
Relying on the Alarm
- The alarm goes off after hours, and its signal reaches SAPD as an alarm call.
- SAPD responds: the City’s page says SAPD responds to all alarm calls regardless of permit status.
- Your Trespass Affidavit is on file: your request and authorization for SAPD to enforce all applicable trespass laws on your behalf in your absence, as set out above. The form states no term.
With Blinkless Remote Guarding
- When a potential threat is detected on your cameras after hours, a trained Blinkless agent is alerted and goes live on the feed.
- If the agent judges the person an intruder, we order them to leave over your site’s loudspeaker with a live voice-down.
- We send you instant alerts with footage.
- SAPD is called, with the same Trespass Affidavit on file.
On either path, nothing the City or SAPD publishes says when officers arrive, what priority they give the call or what happens next.
Sources: City of San Antonio, Alarm Response & Permits (sa.gov), as the City’s page stood on 12 October 2026; San Antonio Police Department, Trespass Affidavit (Private Property), the form as archived in 2023; SAPD Downtown Bike Patrol, December 2015 post.
Every permit, fee and trespass rule on this page comes from three City of San Antonio and SAPD sources. Fees and forms change, so check the City’s pages before you rely on a figure.
- Alarm permits and false alarm fees: the City of San Antonio’s Alarm Response & Permits and Apply for an Alarm Permit pages, which summarize City Code Chapter 25, Article IV, as the City’s pages stood on 12 October 2026.
- Affidavit form: SAPD’s Trespass Affidavit (Private Property), the form as archived in 2023 (the Internet Archive’s May 2023 capture from the City’s former site).
- SAPD’s description of the affidavit: SAPD Downtown Bike Patrol Unit, “Criminal Trespass Affidavit”, post of 24 December 2015.
This is general information, not legal advice.
To compare San Antonio with other cities, see its entries in Alarm Permit & False Alarm Fees by City and Trespass Affidavits & Letters of Agency by City.
Blinkless assesses your property remotely, so no site visit is needed: as we put it, we can do everything over Google Earth.
- You name the property: Tell us where it is and what worries you, and a Blinkless security specialist will be in touch shortly.
- We look at it remotely: Over satellite imagery, with no site visit.
- You hear what we would watch: Where cameras and loudspeakers would let our operators watch the property live and speak to an intruder with a live voice-down. Blinkless says a live speaker, rather than a prerecorded message, is part of what sets it apart.