Lincoln County, NC Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- Code § 91.02
- Enforcing agency
- Lincoln County Sheriff's Office
- Offense class
- Class 3 misdemeanor
- Continuing violation
- Each day is a separate offense
- Vehicle alarms
- Excluded from Ch. 90 false-alarm system
Summary
A car alarm that keeps blaring in unincorporated Lincoln County falls under the county's general noise ordinance, not a special alarm law: Code § 91.02 bans loud, raucous, and disturbing noise heard on public streets, parking lots open to the public, or at a nearby occupied home. Motor-vehicle alarms are specifically carved out of the separate false-alarm chapter, so the Sheriff's Office handles them here instead.
(A) It shall be unlawful for any person or group of persons, regardless of number, to willfully make, continue, or cause to be made or continued any loud, raucous, and disturbing noise, which term shall mean any sound which, because of its volume level, duration, and character, annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, health, peace, or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities within the limits of the county. ... shall be limited to loud, raucous, and disturbing noises heard upon the public streets ... upon any parking lot open to members of the public as invitees or licensees, or in any occupied residential unit which is not the source of the noise or upon the grounds thereof. (B) Penalty. Violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 3 misdemeanor, and any person convicted of the violation shall be subject to punishment as provided in G.S. § 14-4. Each day a violation continues shall be deemed a separate offense, and shall be subject to monetary fines and injunctive relief as provided in § 91.99 herein.
Full Breakdown
§ 153A-133, defines LOUD, RAUCOUS, AND DISTURBING NOISE as any sound that, because of its volume, duration, and character, annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, health, peace, or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities. 02(A) limits enforcement to noise heard on public streets, in parks, schools, churches, hospitals, on a parking lot open to the public as invitees or licensees, or inside an occupied residential unit that is not the source of the noise, meaning a car alarm sounding in a shopping-center lot or outside a neighbor's house both qualify.
02 that ALARM SYSTEM does not include alarms installed in motor vehicles. 02 as the only tool against a nuisance car alarm. 03 lets the county or the Sheriff ask the complaining party to sign a sworn statement and cooperate in any court appearance, and the county is not obligated to proceed without it. 04, but that exemption does not cover an alarm left blaring outside those uses.
Violations & Fines
A verified violation of § 91.02 is a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable under G.S. § 14-4, and county code also authorizes monetary fines and injunctive relief under § 91.99. Each day the disturbing noise continues counts as a separate offense, so an alarm left unresolved across multiple days can generate repeat citations from the Sheriff's Office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Lincoln County have a separate car alarm ordinance?
Who do I call about a car alarm going off in unincorporated Lincoln County?
What happens if the alarm keeps going off after a citation?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Lincoln County
Compare Lincoln County to another location·View the North Carolina noise from specific sources overview
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