[Adopted 3-10-1976 by Ord. No. 239]
This article shall be known and may be cited as the "Lower Moreland
Township False Alarm and Police and Fire Notification Control Ordinance."
The Board of Commissioners of the Township of Lower Moreland
has determined that the receipt of false alarms and false notifications
to the Police Department or volunteer fire company that emergencies
exist or situations exist wherein police or fire assistance or investigation
is required is detrimental to the welfare and safety of the citizens
of Lower Moreland Township and the members of the Police Department
and the volunteer fire company and that the receipt of said false
alarms and notifications by the Police Department and/or the fire
company detracts from the efficiency of said Department and company
in discharging their responsibilities to the citizens of Lower Moreland
Township. It is hereby declared to be the policy to safeguard and
protect the citizens of Lower Moreland Township, the members of the
Police Department and the members of all volunteer fire companies,
present and future, from such hazards or risks.
A.
ALARMS
FALSE NOTIFICATIONS
FIRE COMPANY
FIRE MARSHAL
PERSON
POLICE DEPARTMENT
A. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the following meanings ascribed to them:
Any mechanical or electronic signals reporting by means of
telephone cables or other means of transmission, which signals are
monitored by the Police Department of Lower Moreland Township or volunteer
fire company, at its headquarters, or audible alarm which is heard
and/or called in by another and which signals, upon receipt or upon
activation, indicate to the department or company that an emergency
exists at the sounding location. Said alarms shall include those types
installed to indicate robberies, burglaries and fires at the sending
location.
Any report or request for police and/or fire service for
assistance directed to the Police Department and/or fire company by
any means of any communication wherein the situation, condition, incident
or emergency, as subject of the report or request for police and/or
fire service or assistance, did not and does not exist.
The Huntingdon Valley Fire Company, No. 1 or any other volunteer
fire company which may operate in Lower Moreland Township in the future.
The Fire Marshal of Lower Moreland Township.
Any individual, partnership, association, company, firm,
trust, corporation, department, bureau, agency or other entity recognized
by law as the subject of rights and duties.
The Lower Moreland Township Police Department.
B.
The singular of any word used in this article shall be deemed to
include the plural.
The Police Department shall have the power and the duty to enforce
the provisions of the article insofar as they relate to any false
report and/or request for police service and/or assistance, and the
Fire Marshal shall have the power and duty to enforce such provisions
insofar as they relate to any false report and/or request for fire
service and/or assistance.
A.
After the effective date of this article, it shall be unlawful for
any person or persons, as above defined, including but not limited
to an owner or lessee of any building, in which a fire, holdup or
burglar alarm has been installed, to:
(1)
Cause, suffer, allow or permit the accidental or purposeful transmission
of a false alarm signal from any public or private place in the Township
of Lower Moreland to the Police Department of or fire company in the
Township of Lower Moreland.
(2)
Cause, suffer, allow or permit to be made any report, request for
police or fire service or assistance by any means of communication
wherein the situation, condition, incident or emergency, as subject
of the report or request for police or fire service or assistance,
did not and does not exist.
B.
Exceptions. Unavoidable false alarms received by the Police Department
or fire company are not subject to the provisions of this article.
"Unavoidable alarms" are defined herein as those acts not coming under
human, mechanical or electronic control such as rain, lightning or
windstorms or cutoff of the electric company power supply to any person.
[Amended 3-21-1990 by Ord. No. 392; 11-17-1999 by Ord. No. 503]
Any person as above defined, including but not limited to the
owner and/or lessee of any building in which a fire, holdup or burglar
alarm has been installed, violating any of the provisions of this
article shall, after the first offense in any given calendar year,
receive notice by first-class mail or hand delivery of said violation;
upon subsequent violations and upon conviction thereof by any District
Justice be subject to pay a fine of not less than $25 nor more than
$600, together with the costs of prosecution. Each instance of a violation
shall constitute a separate offense. In default of the payment of
any fine, the defendant may be sent to jail for a period not exceeding
30 days.