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A. The Alarm Administrator may assess the alarm user a fine for a false alarm occurring at that alarm user’s alarm site. The amount of said fines for the listed categories shall be established by City Council and may be subsequently amended by resolution of the City Council.
B. If a false alarm fine is not paid within 30 days after the invoice is mailed, a late charge as established by resolution of the City Council shall be imposed.
C. Fines for False Alarms from Non-Registered Alarm Systems. For person(s) operating a non-registered alarm system incurring a false alarm, fines shall be imposed as established by resolution of the City Council.
D. Any monitoring company after 5 business days of receiving notice from the Alarm Administrator that an alarm user’s registration status is that of non-registered shall not make a burglar alarm dispatch request from that alarm user.
E. If cancellation of a police response occurs prior to the officer’s arrival at the alarm site, the response is not considered a false alarm and no false alarm fine will be assessed.
F. The alarm installation company shall be assessed a fine in an amount established by resolution of the City Council if the officer responding to a false alarm determines that an on-site employee of the alarm installation company directly caused the false alarm. Such false alarms are not included in the total number of false alarms for the alarm user, nor is the alarm user to be held liable for any false alarm fine resulting from such alarm activation.
G. A fine in an amount established by resolution of the City Council shall be imposed against any monitoring company that fails to verify alarm system signals as required in § 8.20.090C.2. of this chapter.
H. Notice of the right of appeal under this chapter will be included with notice of any fine.
I. All registration fees, renewal registration fees or fines assessed under this section are due within 30 days of written notice unless otherwise noted. A late charge in an amount established by resolution of the City Council shall be imposed for each individual fee or fine due that is not paid within 30 days.
J. The Alarm Administrator may waive the false alarm fine for the first chargeable false alarm during the alarm user’s 1-year registration period, pending the successful completion of the online alarm user awareness class available through the Alarm Administrator. In order to have the fine waived, the alarm user shall have successfully completed the class within 30 days of the fine notice. Alarm users without online access may request the online school and test be mailed to them. Reasonable additional time to complete the alarm user awareness class shall be allowed for mail delivery.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. The Alarm Administrator shall notify the alarm user in writing or by other electronic means after each false alarm. The notice shall include the amount of the fine for the false alarm, the fact that police response to further alarms may be suspended after the fourth false alarm during the alarm user’s 1-year alarm registration period, (excluding duress, robbery, holdup and panic alarms), and that the alarm user has the right to appeal.
B. The Alarm Administrator shall notify the alarm user in writing 30 days beforehand that a Police Department response to further alarms is to be suspended. The right of appeal under this chapter shall be included with the notice. The notice of suspension shall also include the amount of any fees and/or fines due and a description of the reinstatement process.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. The Alarm Administrator shall notify the Police Department of each alarm user whose alarm registration qualifies for suspension under this section. The Alarm Administrator may suspend an alarm registration if it is determined that:
1. There is a false statement of a material fact in the registration application;
2. The alarm user has had 4 or more false burglar alarms within the 1-year registration period, except that the Alarm Administrator may waive a suspension of a registration upon receipt of documented work orders showing reasonable attempts to repair the alarm system prior to the notice of suspension; or
3. The alarm user fails or refuses to pay an alarm registration or alarm registration renewal fee, false alarm fine, late charge, or any other fee, fine, or charge assessed under this section.
B. It is a violation of this section for a person to operate a burglar alarm system during the period in which the alarm registration is suspended. It is a violation of this chapter for a monitoring company to make an alarm dispatch request to a burglar alarm site after the monitoring company’s alarm response manager (ARM) has been notified by electronic mail by the Alarm Administrator that the registration for that alarm site has been suspended. A grace period of 5 business days after the ARM’s notification shall be granted the monitoring company to comply. The alarm monitoring company shall be assessed a fine in an amount established by resolution of the City Council for requesting a burglar alarm dispatch request on a suspended alarm site.
C. False Alarm Fines under Suspension Status. In addition to the fines set forth in § 8.20.110
A., a supplemental fine is hereby imposed upon any person operating a suspended burglar alarm system. The amount of said fines shall be established by resolution of the City Council.
D. It shall be the responsibility of the alarm user to notify their respective alarm monitoring company of their suspension status. An alarm user shall be held financially accountable for all false alarm fines incurred.
E. Unless there is a separate indication that there is a crime in progress, the Police Department may or may not dispatch an officer to an alarm site for which an alarm registration is suspended.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. If the Alarm Administrator assesses a fee or fine, suspends an alarm registration or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm registration, the Alarm Administrator shall send notice of the action and a statement of the right to appeal to the affected applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company.
B. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company may appeal any action described in division A. above to the Police Chief (or his or her designee) by setting forth in writing the reasons for the appeal and delivering the appeal to the Police Chief (or designee) within 20 days after receipt of notice of the action. Failure to deliver the appeal within that time period is a waiver of the right to appeal.
C. The procedure for an appeal to the Police Chief (or designee) is as follows:
1. The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may file a written request for appeal by paying an appeal fee and setting forth the reasons for the appeal. The appeal must be entitled “Appeal from Alarm Administrator’s Action.” The appeal fee shall be in an amount established by resolution of the City Council and will be returned to the appealing party if the appeal is successful.
2. The Police Chief (or designee) shall conduct a hearing on the appeal within 30 days after the Police Department’s receipt of the request for appeal and appeal fee and shall consider the evidence submitted by the appealing party and the Alarm Administrator. The Police Chief (or designee) must base the decision on the preponderance of evidence presented at the hearing and must render a decision within 15 days after the date of the hearing. The decision shall affirm or reverse the decision or action taken by the Alarm Administrator. The decision of the Police Chief or designee shall be the final decision in the matter.
3. Filing of an appeal stays any action by the Alarm Administrator to suspend an alarm registration or require the payment of a fee or fine until the appeal process has been exhausted. This provision applies only to the action of the Alarm Administrator that is the subject of the appeal. This provision does not operate as a bar to enforcement action on violations of this section that occur thereafter.
D. The Alarm Administrator or the Police Chief, or their respective designees, may adjust the count of false alarms or assessed fees based on:
1. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by action of a communications services provider (i.e., telephone, cellular, cable company);
2. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by a power outage of more than 4 hours or severe weather such as a tornado, earthquake, or excessive winds (35 m.p.h. or above as measured by a local, recognized weather monitoring station);
3. Evidence that an alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm; or
4. The occurrence of multiple alarms within a 24-hour period, which may be considered as 1 false alarm if the alarm user has taken corrective action, unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user.
E. The Alarm Administrator may waive all or part of a false alarm fine due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action with supervisor approval.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. On the suspension of an alarm registration, a person whose alarm registration has been suspended may obtain reinstatement of the registration by the Alarm Administrator if the person:
1. Pays a reinstatement fee as established by resolution of the City Council;
2. Pays, or otherwise resolves, all outstanding fees, fines, and other charges;
3. Submits a written notice from an alarm installation company stating that the alarm system has been inspected and repaired (if necessary) by the alarm installation company;
4. The alarm user successfully completes an alarm user awareness class and test.
B. The Police Department shall reinstate its response to an alarm site as soon as is practicable after receiving notice of reinstatement from the Alarm Administrator. The alarm user and monitoring company shall take notice that the alarm site has been officially reinstated only after receiving notice from the Alarm Administrator of that fact. It shall be the responsibility of the alarm user to verify that his, her, or its registration status and future police response has been properly restored.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. The Police Chief or designee may suspend police response to an alarm dispatch request from an alarm installation company or monitoring company if it is determined that:
1. There is a violation of this chapter by the alarm installation company or monitoring company and the condition causing the violation has not been corrected; and/or
2. The alarm installation company or monitoring company has failed to pay any fee, fine, or other charge assessed under this section, more than 60 days after the fee, fine, or other charge is due.
B. The Police Department may not respond to any alarm dispatch request where the alarm installation company or monitoring company who installed or monitors that alarm has failed to comply with any licensing requirements or failed to maintain a valid copy of any required alarm company operators license.
C. A suspension of police response made pursuant to this division is subject to the appeal process provided for within this chapter. In addition, the Alarm Administrator has the ability to accept a workable solution from the affected party prior to an appeal. The affected party has 60 days after the written notice of suspension before police response is suspended to its alarm customers.
D. The Alarm Administrator shall notify all known alarm users subscribing to an alarm installation company or an alarm monitoring company that the Police Department has suspended response to the company’s alarm dispatch requests.
E. The city shall assess the alarm installation company or monitoring company a reinstatement fee in an amount established by resolution of the City Council. In addition, if the Alarm Administrator has incurred costs in notifying alarm users by mail of the suspension of their alarm installation company or monitoring company, reimbursement to the city of those costs shall be a condition of reinstatement.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
A. Subject to the suspension provisions in § 8.20.130 above and the discretion discussed in § 8.20.190 below, the Police Department at its discretion will respond to all “in progress” robbery, panic or burglar alarms as promptly as possible, taking into account pending calls for service and any policy establishing priority of dispatched calls following notification of the receipt of the alarm from the monitoring company. Police supervisors may, in their discretion, cancel a police response to any or all alarms based on weather or other factors affecting police service needs.
B. The Police Chief or his or her designee may re-prioritize assignment of burglar alarms and response time at any time during a 24-hour period as may be necessary due to the service needs of the community.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
All information contained in documents gathered through alarm registrations, the submission of customer lists, the alarm appeal process and records relating to alarm dispatch requests must be held in confidence by all employees of the Alarm Administrator, City of Canby and any third-party alarm administrator. Such information is proprietary and is hereby declared confidential and not a public record. Absent special circumstances, such information must not be released to the public or any person other than a law enforcement agency, third party administrator or the applicable alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company except pursuant to court order or applicable public records law.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)
The issuance of alarm registrations does not create a contract between the Police Department and/or the city and any alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company, nor does it create a duty or obligation, either expressed or implied, on the Police Department to respond to any alarm. Any and all liability and consequential damage resulting from the failure of the Police Department to respond to an alarm dispatch request is hereby disclaimed and full governmental immunity as provided by law is retained. By applying for an alarm registration, the alarm user acknowledges that the Police Department response is influenced by the availability of officers, priority of calls, traffic conditions, weather conditions, emergency conditions, staffing levels, prior response history and administrative actions.
(Ord. 1479, passed 5-16-2018)