False Alarm Reduction Unit (FARU)

Pay False Alarm Renewal Fee and Fines

FARU Mission & Goals

The False Alarm Reduction Unit's (FARU) mission and goals are:

To maximize public awareness of false alarm issues and their impact on our local emergency response personnel (Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services).

To develop and promote programs which will: address abuse and waste of emergency resources; reduce unnecessary safety risks posed to County emergency response personnel and citizens during false alarm responses; and reduce the numbers of false alarm dispatches within Charles County

What Is A False Alarm

Ordinance 98-48 defines a False Alarm as an Alarm Dispatch Request to the police, fire or emergency medical services where emergency responders find no evidence of medical need, criminal offense or attempted criminal offense, or, after completion of a timely investigation of the Alarm Site, the senior fire officer determines there is no evidence to support activation of the fire alarm system. This simply means that if emergency personnel respond to an alarm signal and, after investigation, find no evidence to support the alarm activation, the response personnel will designate the alarm signal as a false alarm.