A. Administrative service fee. The penalty for a false alarm is a civil infraction; and the alarm user shall be penalized by an administrative service fee to the police department in accordance with the following schedule:
1. First two false alarms within a calendar year: no charge; warning after second false alarm.
2. Third through fifth false alarm within a calendar year: Two hundred dollars per call.
3. Sixth through each succeeding false alarm within a calendar year: Five hundred dollars per call.
B. Civil penalty. Any person who uses, maintains, or operates any operational security alarm system in the city, for which no alarm permit has issued or while a previously-issued alarm permit for such alarm system is suspended, shall be subject to a civil penalty of two hundred dollars.
C. Suspension.
1. Reasons.
a. An alarm permit shall be suspended for any failure by the alarm user to pay any delinquency assessed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter within one hundred twenty days of the date that the notice of the assessment of the administrative service fee is first mailed to the alarm user.
b. The chief of police may also suspend any alarm permit if he or she determines that the alarm system in question has a history of unreliability, which unreliability shall be presumed upon the occurrence of four false alarms within a period of six months.
2. A suspension for unreliability may be lifted upon a showing that the conditions which caused the false alarms have been corrected. An alarm users whose alarm permit is suspended by the city shall pay a reinstatement fee of fifty dollars to the police department before such permit shall be reinstated.
D. Revocation. It shall be unlawful and the basis for revocation of an alarm monitoring system company's business license to knowingly provide services to an alarm user who has been ordered disconnected from service pursuant to the provisions of this section.
E. Delinquencies.
1. All administrative service fees and civil penalties assessed under this chapter shall be paid to the police department within thirty days of the date that notice of the assessment of the fee and/or penalty is mailed to the alarm user. If any portion of such fee and/or penalty is not paid within the time set forth herein, then it shall become delinquent and a late fee of fifteen dollars shall be assessed and imposed thereon, together with interest which shall accrue at the annual percentage rate of twelve percent (APR) until paid in full.
2. The city and /or police department may use all available legal remedies to collect delinquent administrative service fees, civil penalties, late fees, and interest assessed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. If such delinquency is owed by a business, payment thereof may be required prior to the renewal of the alarm user's business.
F. Excessive false alarms; notice; disregarding alarms without independent information.
1. To discourage false alarm, the police department shall adopt a process of providing written notice, to an alarm user who has more than one false alarm in a calendar year, of the consequences of excessive false alarms, the need to take corrective action, and the prospect that four false alarms in a six-month period may result in the department disregarding any future alarms from the premises unless independent information that verifies the need or an immediate police response is provided.
2. Prior to determining not to respond to a premises, the chief of police shall provide written notice to the alarm user that:
a. Four false alarms have been received from the property within a six-month period;
b. The remedies authorized in this chapter are to be instituted;
c. The alarm user may request a hearing before the chief of police and explain why the chief of police should not take the proposed action; and
d. If no hearing is requested, the police department will, after ten business days from the date that the notice is mailed or personally delivered, disregard alarms from the premises unless there is an in-person call or other independent information that verifies the need for an immediate police response; and
e. A requirement of a personal communication or other verification shall remain in effect until notified otherwise. (Ord. 05-02-2023A, 5-2-2023)