The city of Los Angeles will begin charging higher fees today if LAPD officers have to respond to false burglar alarms. The city's revised Alarm Ordinance ups the fee per false alarm and eliminates the two "free" responses provided for in the original ordinance. It continues a policy of providing police response to only two unverified alarms at a home or business per year. Officers respond to about 106,000 alarm calls a year, 95 percent of which are false. The revised ordinance will require property-owners who possess a valid alarm permit to pay $115 for their first false alarm. The fee will escalate by $50 for each subsequent offense. For property owners without a valid city alarm permit, a misdemeanor in itself, a first false alarm will bring a fine of $215, a fee that escalates by $100 with each additional violation. The Burglar Alarm ordinance went into effect Jan. 1 of this year but had little impact and required revisions to increase its effectiveness. The city council voted 13-0 on Sept. 7 to amend the ordinance. "I believe that we will substantially, significantly see a reduction in the number of false alarms," Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said at the time. The alarm policy was adopted after months of debate last year between the police commission and the council. In March, the police commission threatened to scrap the policy altogether because the LAPD had been unable to collect fines from violators. The department was collecting about 48 percent of fines charged, LAPD Lt. Debra Kirk told the council on Sept. 7.