(A) Any alarm system which has three or more false alarms within a consecutive 365-day period shall be subject to assessment as provided herein.
(B) If the Police Department records three or more false alarms within a consecutive 365-day period:
(1) The Police Department shall notify both the subscriber and alarm business or the proprietor alarm owner by mail of the Police Department’s initial notice of assessment of false alarm service fees and the amount of the assessed service fees. The alarm subscriber and alarm business or the proprietor alarm owner may, within 20 days of the date of the mailing of the notice, appeal to the Police Chief by filing a petition with the Police Chief or his or her designee. The petition shall contain specific defenses to the assessment. Affirmative defenses to a false alarm service fee assessment alarm may include evidence that a false alarm was caused by an act of God, common cause, action of the telephone company, telephone line outage, power outage lasting longer than the life of a fully charged battery, and other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm business, alarm subscriber, or proprietor alarm owner;
(2) Any petition submitted pursuant to division (B)(1) above shall be received by the Police Chief or his or her designee within the time specified. If the petition is not timely submitted, any notified party shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to any further review or hearing as provided herein and the initial assessment shall be final;
(3) If a petition is timely submitted pursuant to division (B)(1) above, the Police Chief or his or her designee shall review the defenses, if any, set forth in the petition. If it is determined that a valid defense to the initial determination of false alarm assessment has been set forth, a notice shall specifically set forth the findings and conclusions of the Police Chief or his or her designee with respect to the review of the initial assessment;
(4) If the Police Chief or his or her designee determines that a defense to the initial notice of assessment has not been set forth, a notice of decision shall be sent by mail to both the alarm subscriber and the alarm business or the proprietor alarm owner that they will be assessed pursuant to division (B)(5) below. The notice of decision shall contain the specific findings and conclusions of the Police Chief with respect to the review of the initial assessment; and
(5) Service fees assessed pursuant to divisions (B)(2) and (4) shall be in an amount of $74 per false alarm upon the third and any subsequent false alarm to recover the cost of the response by the Police to the false alarm. The alarm subscriber, alarm business or the owner of a proprietor alarm system shall, except as provided in § 95.15, be jointly and severally responsible for the payment of the service fees imposed upon the alarm system. No service fee shall be imposed under this section for any false alarm for which a service fee has been imposed against the alarm subscriber or proprietor alarm owner pursuant to § 95.15.
(Prior Code, § 4-4-3.5)
(Prior Code, § 4-4-3)