Westfield, IN Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 34-51 sets the city's baseline noise standard: no device may produce sound that is clearly audible 40 feet or more from its source, or measures 90 decibels or more at a distance of six feet, whether on public property or private property (measured from the property line). Section 34-52 then lists nine exemptions from that prohibition, and the third covers "burglar alarms and other warning devices when properly installed" — the category a vehicle alarm falls into. The exemption is conditional, not absolute: it applies only "providing the cause for such alarm or warning device sound is investigated and turned off within a reasonable period of time." A car alarm that a driver ignores, or that no one silences promptly, loses the protection of the exemption and becomes an enforceable violation of the general noise prohibition.

The Westfield Police Department enforces the article. Enforcement runs through section 34-53, which sets escalating infraction fines, and section 34-54, which makes each day of a continuing violation a separate offense and lets the city seek injunctive relief plus recovery of attorney fees and costs if it has to sue to force compliance. There is no separate car-alarm permit or registration system in the code; the alarm exemption and its investigate-and-silence duty are the whole of the local rule.