[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Perkasie
12-16-1991 as Ord. No. 688. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Emergency Alarm Ordinance."
The purpose of this chapter is to promote the health, safety and general
welfare of the inhabitants of the Borough of Perkasie.
Certain words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the meanings
ascribed as follows:
Any person, firm or corporation who or which sells or leases or installs
or maintains alarm equipment.
A service whereby trained employees, in attendance at all times,
receive messages from automatic protection devices reporting an emergency
at a stated location and who have the duty to relay immediately such emergency
message over a designated or direct trunkline to the Bucks County Radio Room.
Any device, bell, horn or siren which is attached to the interior
or exterior of a building and emits a warning signal audible outside the building
and designed to attract attention when activated by a criminal act or other
emergency requiring the Police or Fire Department to respond.
An electrically operated instrument composed of sensory apparatus
and related hardware which automatically transmits a prerecorded alarm over
regular telephone line by direct or indirect communication to the Police or
Fire Department of Perkasie Borough upon receipt of a stimulus from a sensory
apparatus that has detected a physical force or condition inherently characteristic
of intrusion or fire.
A protective system, or group of such systems, operated privately
for customers by a person, firm or corporation which maintains supervisors
and accepts recorded messages from automatic protection devices at a central
station having trained operators and guards in attendance at all times that
have the duty to take appropriate action upon receipt of a signal or message,
including the relaying of messages by designated or primary trunkline to the
Bucks County Radio Room.
Any signal activated by an automatic protection device, any audible
alarm or other kind of direct or indirect signal or message given to the Perkasie
Borough Police or Fire Department which is not the result of unauthorized
entry, fire or similar emergency.
A.
Timing mechanism required on audible alarms. After enactment,
owners or lessees must equip audible alarms with a timing mechanism that will
disengage the audible alarm after a maximum period of 15 minutes. Audible
alarms without such a timing mechanism shall be unlawful in the Borough and
must be disconnected by the owner or lessee within 60 days from the effective
date of this chapter.
B.
Connection to Bucks County Radio Room of reporting alarms.
Persons who have reporting alarm devices shall arrange that such devices report
alarms to the Bucks County Radio Room by a means whereby there is a human
being intermediary reporting and not a machine.
C.
Each alarm equipment vendor shall make service available
directly or through an agent on a twenty-four-hour-per-day basis, seven days
a week, to repair such device or to correct any malfunction that may occur.
D.
At the time of installation, alarm equipment vendors
shall furnish buyer or lessee written repair service information telling how
service may be obtained at any time, including the telephone number of the
person responsible for service. The buyer or lessee and the person supplying
the service shall be responsible for having the device disconnected or repaired
as quickly as possible after notice that the automatic protection device is
not functioning properly.
A.
Automatic protection devices are prohibited. All reporting
alarms shall be of the answering service or central station protective system
type. It is a violation of this chapter to have a machine use the Police or
Fire Department telephone line.
B.
When messages evidencing failure to comply with the operational
requirements set forth above are received by the Police or Fire Department,
and the Borough Manager concludes that the automatic protection device sending
such messages should be disconnected in order to relieve the particular department
of the burden of responding to false alarms, the Borough Manager is authorized
to demand that the owner or lessee of the device, or his representative, disconnect
the device until it is made to comply with the operational requirements.
C.
If disconnection of any defective device is not accomplished
promptly, and the Borough Manager determines that the malfunctioning device
is repeatedly sending false alarms, the Borough Manager may then take any
steps necessary to disconnect the defective automatic protection device.
D.
Under no circumstance will devices be hooked directly
to Bucks County 911 lines.
A.
Within 30 days after the effective date of this chapter,
all owners and/or lessees of property in Perkasie Borough, or their alarm
equipment vendors, who have installed therein any alarm reporting device,
audible alarm or other kind of alarm designed to reach, by the Bucks County
Radio Room, the Perkasie Borough Police or Fire Department shall register
such device with the Borough of Perkasie on a form obtained from the Borough.
B.
After the effective date of this chapter, it shall be
unlawful to install any alarm reporting device, audible alarm or other kind
of alarm designed to reach the Perkasie Borough Police or Fire Department
without a human intermediary.
All applicants for a permit shall provide the following information
on a form approved by the Borough:
A.
The telephone number(s) of the owner or lessee at home
and at his place of employment or business.
B.
The address where the device is to be installed and the
telephone number of that address.
C.
The name, address and telephone number of any person
other than the owner or lessee who is authorized to respond to an emergency
and gain access to the address where the device is installed.
D.
The name and telephone number of any person, firm or
corporation who or which is responsible for maintenance and repair of the
automatic protection device or audible alarm.
All information furnished pursuant to this requirement shall be kept
confidential and shall be for the use of the Borough Manager and designated
personnel of the Police and Fire Departments and the Bucks County Radio Room.
All applicants for a permit shall pay a fee to the Borough as set forth
from time to time by resolution of the Borough Council.
The sensory mechanism used in connection with an alarm reporting device
or audible alarm must be adjusted to suppress false indications of intrusion
or fire so that the device will not be activated by impulses due to knocking
on or shaking doors, the rattling or vibrating of doors or windows, vibrations
to the premises causes by the passing of vehicles or any other force not related
to genuine alarms.
All components comprising such a device must be maintained by the owner
or lessee in good repair.
A.
Each alarm equipment vendor shall furnish operating instructions
for each type of automatic protection device or audible alarm and, at the
time of installation, shall furnish to any buyer or lessee using a repair
service written information as to how service may be obtained at any time,
including the telephone number of the alarm equipment vendor or agent responsible
for service.
B.
Alarm equipment vendors shall furnish, prior to the time
of contracting and at their expense, a copy of this chapter to owners, lessees
or users of the equipment to be supplied.
A.
A person that owns, uses or possesses an alarm device
or automatic dialing device may not, after causing or permitting three false
alarms to occur in a consecutive twelve-month period, cause or permit a subsequent
false alarm to occur in the same twelve-month period. A person violating this
subsection commits a summary offense and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced
to pay a fine of not more than $300 pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 7511,
or such other amount as established by state law.[1]
B.
Deliberate false alarms by any person caught doing so
or the creation of three or more false alarms by neglect of the system in
one week are serious violations of this chapter.
Any person, firm or corporation who or which violates any provision
of this chapter and who or which fails to comply with requirements of a written
notice advising of such violation within five working days of receipt of such
notice shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding before any District
Justice, be liable for a fine or penalty not to exceed $300 for each and every
offense; or, if failure to pay is not caused by indigence or lack of sufficient
assets, shall be subject to imprisonment in the Bucks County Prison for a
period not to exceed 30 days. Each day that such violation is continued after
notice shall constitute a new and separate offense, punishable by like fine,
penalty or imprisonment; and further notices to the offender shall not be
necessary in order to constitute such continuance as additional offense or
offenses.
Nothing in this chapter is intended to, nor shall it, regulate the use
of sirens or other alarms by emergency service vehicles or devices installed
on automobiles to signal illegal entry.
This chapter shall become effective 30 days after adoption.
