From the Desk of Jim Coats June 2009

Next month the Sheriff’s Office will begin enforcing a new County Alarm Ordinance. The ordinance, which will become effective on July 1, 2009, will require home and business owners to register their alarm systems with our office, or face the possibility of being fined for any false alarms which may occur at the home or business.

Over 90% of alarm calls investigated by our deputies turn out to be false alarms. The purpose of the ordinance is to reduce the number of false alarms in our jurisdiction and the time it takes for our deputies to respond to them. Fewer false alarms will contribute to the efficiency of deputies on patrol, by freeing them up to respond to other calls for service.

The ordinance covers the unincorporated area of Pinellas County and the 12 cities that contract with us for law enforcement services. The contract cities are Belleair Bluffs, Belleair Shore, Belleair Beach, Dunedin, Indian Rocks Beach, Madeira Beach, North Redington Beach, Oldsmar, Redington Beach, Safety Harbor, Seminole and South Pasadena.

In order to assist home and business owners in all of these areas in complying with the new county alarm ordinance we have created the Sheriff’s Alarm Registration Program, or “SHARP.” 

Alarm subscribers registered with SHARP who experience a false alarm event due to equipment malfunction or other related problems receive two free passes annually on false alarms.
Home or business alarm owners who are not registered with Sharp do not receive any free passes and will be subject to a fine as identified in the schedule below.

# of Alarms Fine Per Alarm
1-3  $175
4  $200
5  $250
6  $400
7 and above $600

Registered alarm owners who experience more than two false alarm events in one revolving year will be subject to fines, as identified below:

# of Alarms Fine Per Alarm
3  $75
4  $100
5  $150
6  $300
7 and above $500

An appeals process is available to both registered and non-registered subscribers. Fines will be collected by the Sheriff’s Office after the alarm subscriber is notified following a violation.
There is no registration fee to sign up with SHARP.

There are several ways to register:
Go to Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office website at www.pcsoweb.com
and click on the SHARP icon to fill out the registration form online.
Click on the Sheriff’s Office link on the Pinellas County Government website at www.pinellascounty.org, or from the websites for any of the twelve contract cities.
Pick up a SHARP registration form at the following locations:

Pinellas County Sheriff’s Administration Building
10750 Ulmerton Rd., Largo
Pinellas Sheriff’s North District Office
737 Louden Avenue, Dunedin
Pinellas County Courthouse – Information Desk
315 Court Street, Clearwater

The city halls of the Sheriff’s twelve contract cities.

For more information on SHARP or for answers to questions about registration, please call (727) 582-2870 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
We look forward to working with home and business owners as we transition into compliance with the new county ordinance.

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