The city-parish ordinance governing alarms allows users up to five false alarms in a one-year period without penalty. False alarms #6 through #10 are charged at a rate of $10 each and each false alarm subsequent to that is fined at $25 each. The one-year period begins on June 1st and ends May 31st. The ordinance was passed in 1986 and was designed to help reduce the number of false alarms police must respond to. Since the ordinance went into effect, false alarms have dropped from 98% to 74%. Still, the department on average responds to approximately 30,000 false alarm calls a year.