EDITORIAL NOT ALARMED HIGHER FINES FOR FALSE ALERTS WON'T WORK IF THEY'RE NOT ENFORCED.

IT'S a good thing members of the Los Angeles City Council have adopted stronger penalties to cut down on false-burglar-alarm violators.

Now, if only they intended to enforce them.

In the drawn-out saga of government inaction, the City Council tweaked the city's burglar-alarm policy to make it tougher on violators - $115 for the first violation, rising successively $50 more for the second and third false alarms. After that, multiple violators could faces charges, even jail.

That sounds tough enough, but the truth is that the city hasn't been enforcing even the smaller fines that were already on the books. Fewer than half of the fines levied by the city on false-alarm violators are paid, according to city officials. And City Hall doesn't even know how many alarm users there are in L.A. because the alarm industry hasn't turned over its client lists, which it has promised to do.

It's true that the new rules have reduced false alarms by about a quarter. But that's not enough to end the drain on law enforcement. An estimated 96 percent of burglar-alarm calls in Los Angeles are false, caused by mistakes, technology glitches or human error.

If city officials truly want to reduce false alarms - and free up cops to go after real criminals - then they must get tough with both the burglar-alarm industry and violators.