(A) General definitions. For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACTS OF GOD. An unusual, extraordinary, sudden and unexpected manifestation of the forces of nature, which cannot be prevented by reasonable human care, skill or foresight.
ALARM or ALARM SYSTEM. Any medical or electrical device which is used to detect unauthorized entry into buildings or onto premises, or to warn or alert others of an emergency or fire or of the commission of an unlawful act.
ALARM AGENT. Any person who is employed by an alarm business, either directly or indirectly, whose duties include selling, installing, maintaining, servicing, repairing or monitoring any alarm or alarm system.
ALARM BUSINESS. Any person, partnership, or corporation who owns or conducts the business of installing, leasing, renting, maintaining, servicing or monitoring alarm systems, devices, or services.
ALARM COORDINATOR. Police Department individual designated to coordinate police/fire relations with the licensed alarm businesses and to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
ALARM SITE. The location where the alarm system is installed.
ALARM SUBSCRIBER. Any person, firm, partnership, corporation which leases, rents or purchases any monitored alarm system, device or service from an alarm business, or which leases or rents an audible alarm system or device.
ALARM USER. The person or persons who contracts for the lease, purchase or rental of an alarm system; or who is responsible for the premises where an alarm system is located; or otherwise arranges for the installation or service of an alarm system.
AUDIBLE ALARM. A device which, when activated, generates an audible sound on the premises.
AUTOMATIC DIALER. A device which is interconnected to a telephone line, cellular telephone service or radio link, and is programmed to select a predetermined telephone number and transmit an emergency message indicating a need for emergency response, either by voice methods or code signals or by maintaining an open line with emergency services. CANNOT BE 911.
COMMON CAUSE. A common technical difficulty or malfunction which causes an alarm system to generate a series of false alarms. Such series of false alarms shall be counted as one false alarm if the false alarms have all occurred within a 72-hour period, and the responsible alarm business has documented to the Police Department the cause, the action taken to rectify the cause, and during the previous or subsequent 30-day period there were no false alarms generated by that documented cause.
CP-01 LISTED CONTROL PANEL. An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for the manufacturer of alarm panels that are specifically designed to reduce user initiated false alarms.
ECV: ANSI/CSAA-CS-V-O1. An American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved standard for the telephone verification of intrusion signals, requiring a minimum of two phone calls to two different phone numbers prior to requesting a response to an alarm site. This does not apply to silent alarms such as panic or holdup and does not apply to fire signals.
FALSE ALARM. Any activation of an alarm eliciting a response by police or fire personnel, when a situation requiring a response does not in fact exist. It does not include activation for testing purposes, when the Police Department has been given advance notice of such testing. It also does not include activation caused by Police Department or Fire Department personnel.
HEARING OFFICER. An employee with the City of Sierra Vista, designated by the City Manager, to review appeals of alarm ordinance violations in order to either affirm the decision of the Alarm Coordinator, reverse the decision in whole or in part, or return the case to the Alarm Coordinator with a recommendation to bill the alarm subscriber for the alleged violations.
MONITORED ALARM. An alarm system that transmits signals to an alarm business or monitoring agency for the purpose of alerting public safety personnel.
MONITORING AGENCY. Any person or organization, including but not limited to, alarm businesses, answering services or governmental agencies that are legally or contractually responsible for monitoring one or more alarm systems in the jurisdiction.
NON-MONITORED ALARM SYSTEM. Those alarms that are not monitored by a monitoring agency and depend on local audible devices to summon help.
RESPONDING PARTY. The person or persons designated by the alarm user or alarm subscriber to respond to the alarm site during alarm activations to make contact with the police.
SELF-INSTALLER. Any property owner, proprietor, partnership, or corporation who may elect to install its own alarm system. A SELF- INSTALLER will be liable for all provisions of this chapter the same as an alarm business except for registering with the State Board of Technical Registration.
(B) Alarm definitions. This alarm definition list was prepared by members of the Public Safety Committee of the ABFAA to provide all users with general guidelines for the various industry terms to facilitate improved communications and expedite response.
BURGLARY/INTRUSION. A signal received from a monitored alarm that indicates a forced or unauthorized entry. Can be used for either commercial or residential, and can be audible or silent.
DUAL ACTION PANIC/HOLDUP DEVICES. All devices intended to initiate a silent alarm such as holdup, duress, ambush or robbery shall be of dual action design.
FIRE. A signal received from a monitored alarm that indicates fire, smoke, heat, or water flow through a sprinkler system. These detectors may be connected directly to the alarm system which will automatically activate the alarm or the alarm can be manually activated. Is used for commercial and residential, and is primarily an audible signal.
MEDICAL. A signal received from a monitored alarm that is manually activated and indicates a medical emergency. This alarm is normally a residential alarm, and the signal is primarily audible.
PANIC/HOLDUP. A signal received from a monitored alarm to indicate a manual activation designed for the detection of a robbery, hold up or the commission of an unlawful act at the alarm location, false activation of which can only be construed as user error.
(Ord. 1002, passed 3-14-96; Am. Ord. 2008-003, passed 1-10-08; Am. Ord. 2015-001, passed 5-14-15)