(a) No person shall negligently activate any fire, burglary or robbery alarm for the purpose of summoning police or fire department when there is no actual fire, burglary or robbery or attempted burglary or robbery in progress.
(b) No person shall intentionally activate any fire, burglary or robbery alarm for the purpose of summoning the fire department or police, except in the event of an actual fire, or actual or attempted burglary, robbery, or other actual emergency necessitating Safety Force response, or notify the police of an activated alarm having knowledge that the activation was apparently caused by an electrical or other malfunction of the alarm system and fail, at the same time to notify dispatcher of such apparent malfunction.
(Ord. 99-1980. Passed 4-21-80.)
(c) Any alarm user whose alarm system has a false alarm whereby the Fire or Police Department respond shall be subjected to a citation and/or a charge, as provided herein.
(d) Whoever violates or fails to comply with any provision of this chapter may receive a fifty dollar ($50.00) charge for a false alarm after the third false alarm received for the year and one hundred dollar ($100.00) charge for each subsequent alarm. When a false alarm charge has been issued by the Police or Fire Department, the business or individual will receive an invoice payable within 60 days.
(e) Descriptive Report Detailing Actions Taken to Determine Cause and Eliminate False Alarms.
(1) False alarms responded to by the Police Department.
A. Within 15 days following the third false alarm of the year, the alarm user must submit a report to the Chief of Police describing the actions taken or to be taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarms. Upon submission of the report, the Chief of Police will determine whether the action taken or to be taken will substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms.
B. If the user fails to submit a report, or if the Chief of Police determines that the action taken or to be taken will not substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms, the Chief of Police shall give notice, by certified mail, to the user that such alarm shall be disconnected and shall not be used until proof is given by the user to the Chief of Police that such alarm is repaired or corrected and is not only working properly, but is being properly used.
C. Following the third false alarm of the year, if no report is submitted as required by this section, police will no longer respond to said alarm until adequate proof is provided to the Chief of Police that the alarm is repaired and functioning properly.
(2) False alarms responded to by the Fire Department.
A. Within 15 days following the third false alarm of the year, the alarm user must submit a report to the Fire Chief describing the actions taken or to be taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarms. Upon submission of the report, the Fire Chief will determine whether the action taken or to be taken will substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms.
B. If the user fails to submit a report, or if the Fire Marshal determines that the action taken or to be taken will not substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms, the Fire Marshal shall issue a Hazardous Correction Notice. The Hazardous Correction Notice will place the user on a Fire Watch until the fire alarm system is properly repaired and inspected by the Fire Prevention Bureau, and will state the time period by which the fire alarm system shall be repaired by the user.
(f) Any charges received pursuant to this section must be paid within 60 days of issuance. Any charge for a false alarm, as provided for in subsection (d) above, which remains unpaid 60 days after the date of invoice, shall result in the assessment of the charges against the property involved. The City shall provide notice to the businesses or individuals of the City's intent to assess the costs of the false alarm charge against the property involved at least 30 days before such costs are certified to the County for assessment against the property, and such notice shall contain a description of the false alarms that are the basis for the notice of intent to assess the property, and the total invoice amount.
(Ord. 33-2003. Passed 2-18-03; Ord. 165-2004. Passed 10-4-04; Ord. 66-2007. Passed 4-16-07; Ord. 188-2008. Passed 9-15-08; Ord. 14-2017. Passed 2-6-17.)