Highland, CA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

The car alarm rule is item 5 of the prohibited acts list in § 8.50.030(A) of the Highland Municipal Code. It covers the intentional sounding, or the permitting of the sounding, outdoors of any fire, burglar or civil defense alarm, siren or whistle, and it names any motor vehicle burglar alarm expressly. Two exceptions are printed in the sentence itself: emergency purposes and testing. Outside those, the alarm is unlawful unless it is terminated within 15 minutes of activation.

The rule reaches both the person who sets off an alarm and the person who lets one keep running, so a vehicle owner in the City of Highland who is away from a parked car with a faulty alarm is exposed the same way as someone who triggers it on purpose. Chapter 8.50 defines a responsible person as anyone who owns, leases or is lawfully in charge of the motor vehicle where the noise violation takes place, or anyone who owns or controls the source of the noise (§ 8.50.020). If the responsible person is a minor, the parent or guardian with custody at the time of the violation is the one liable.

Enforcement starts with a warning. Under § 8.50.030(D) an enforcement officer who finds a violation can issue a written notice to the responsible person demanding immediate abatement, and the notice must state that a second violation of the same provision within a 72-hour period can bring a criminal citation, a notice of public nuisance, criminal and civil penalties, and confiscation and impoundment of the components making the noise. Chapter 8.50 puts administration and enforcement with the city manager, the chief of police and their designees (§ 8.50.070), and an enforcement officer is a city code enforcement officer or an authorized peace officer.

Section 8.50.060(N) exempts activities governed elsewhere in the code, and it lists security alarm systems under Chapter 8.04 HMC, so a building alarm falls under that chapter while the vehicle alarm limit stays in Chapter 8.50.