(a) The purpose of this section is to more effectively deal with the problem of excessive false alarms and to defray the costs incurred by the Police Department and the Fire Department in responding to multiple false alarms within the corporate limits of the City.
(b) For purposes of this Section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) "Alarm system" shall mean any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged to signal audibly, visibly, or electronically to a location outside the structures protected by the system or to a monitoring station which in turn notifies the appropriate agency, the occurrence of an illegal entry or other activity requiring urgent attention to which the Police Department or Fire Department is expected to respond, but shall not include alarms installed in motor vehicles. For purposes of this chapter, an "alarm system" shall not include an alarm system or device installed upon premises occupied by the United States Government, the State, any other governmental entity that is specifically exempted from local control by State or Federal law, city schools, or the Port Authority.
(2) "False alarm" shall mean the activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation, carelessness or negligence of the owner or lessee of an alarm system or of his employees or agent that alerts a government organization, police, fire, or other emergency service of an emergency requiring their immediate response. For purposes of this chapter, a "false alarm" does not include an alarm triggered by an act of God, or an alarm triggered by a criminal act or an attempt to commit a criminal act when there is actual physical evidence that the scene of the alarm suggesting an abandoned or completed effort to commit a crime.
(3) "Alarm user" shall mean the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organization of any kind in control of premises wherein an alarm system is maintained or used.
(4) "Alarm company" shall mean any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organization engaged in the business of installing, servicing, maintaining, or repairing alarm systems.
(5) "Particular location" shall mean a property or group of contiguous or non-contiguous properties, whether or not under common ownership, which are under a common street address, both as to house or building number and street name.
(c) Editor’s Note: Former subsection (c) hereof was repealed by Ordinance 91-15.
(d) The following procedures shall be followed whenever the Police Department or Fire Department has responded to multiple false alarms within a calendar year resulting from the malfunction of the same commercial or residential alarm system:
(1) Whenever an alarm is activated requiring an emergency response to the location by the Fire Department and/or the Police Department, a police officer or firefighter who responds to the alarm address shall inspect the areas protected by the system and shall determine whether the emergency response was in fact required as indicated by the alarm system.
(2) If the inspecting police officer or firefighter determines the signal to be a false alarm, the police officer or firefighter shall make a report of the false alarm to the respective Records Department. A notification of the false alarm report shall be mailed or delivered to the alarm user, at the address of the alarm system, advising the user of the false alarm.
(3) If the inspecting police officer or firefighter determines that a false alarm occurred due to an alarm company failing to notify either the Police Department or the Fire Department prior to conducting work on the alarm which caused a false alarm, the notification provided for in subsection (c)(2) shall also be sent to the alarm company advising said company of the false alarm.
(e) If a false alarm occurred due to the failure of an alarm company to notify either the Police Department or the Fire Department prior to conducting work on the alarm, causing a false alarm, said alarm company shall be responsible for any fees imposed and be subject to any penalties provided in subsections (g) through (j) of this Section.
(f) Upon receipt of any false alarm report from the Fire Department or the Police Department, the alarm user or alarm company may elect to respond in writing to explain the actual cause of such alarm. Such response shall be made to the issuing agency within ten (10) days from the date of receipt of the false alarm report. If the Chief of the issuing agency upholds the false alarm determination, the alarm user or alarm company shall have thirty (30) days from the date of notification in which to request an appeal to the City Manager. The City Manager, or his designee, shall hear appeals from the alarm user or alarm company on the issue of whether the alarm system in question activated a false alarm as determined by the police officer or the firefighter at the scene of such activated alarm. At the hearing, which shall be scheduled within fifteen (15) days from the date the request for the hearing is received, the alarm user or alarm company shall have the right to present evidence and testimony that a false alarm did not occur. The City Manager or designee shall make a decision whether to uphold or disallow the false alarm report and shall notify the alarm user or alarm company, and Records Department of the respective Department within ten days from the date the hearing is concluded.
(g) (1) If more than two (2) false alarms occur at a particular location in any calendar year, then the Fire Chief or Police Chief shall invoice the alarm user or alarm company for reimbursement of a portion of the costs of responding to the third and subsequent false alarms in the amounts listed in Section 110.045.
(2) The charges stated in Section 110.045 shall be due and payable by the alarm user or alarm company upon receipt of the invoice.
(h) Violations under this Section shall continue for each successive false alarm until the calendar year has elapsed. Each calendar year the record shall be cleared and the next false alarm shall be deemed the first false alarm.
(i) If any alarm system produces three or more false alarms in any calendar year the civil penalty prescribed in subdivision (e) shall be assessed to the alarm user. Failure to pay this civil penalty within thirty days of receipt shall be a minor misdemeanor.
(j) Each violation of this Section shall be a minor misdemeanor. If the offender has previously been convicted of a violation of any section of this chapter, each subsequent violation of this chapter shall be a fourth degree misdemeanor.
(Ord. 79-13. Passed 8-26-13.)