Township of Robbinsville, NJ Chapter 62 Alarm Systems

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township of Washington (now Township of Robbinsville) 12-31-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-37 as § 4-1 of the 2001 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Noise — See Ch. 166.

§ 62-1 Definitions.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ALARM BUSINESS

Any business operated by a person, partnership, corporation, etc., for profit, which engages in the activity of altering, installing, leasing, maintaining, repairing, replacing, servicing or responding to fire or burglar alarm systems, or which causes any of these activities to take place. Excluded from this definition, however, are retail establishments which only sell alarm systems over the counter.

ALARM DEVICE

Any type of alarm-activating equipment which provides warning of burglary, intrusion, fire, flood or like peril causing potential for harm to life or property.

ALARM SYSTEM

The installation in one or more buildings of one or more alarm devices for the express purpose of giving visual, audible and/or electronic warning, as connection to a monitoring facility, of an emergency such as burglary, intrusion, fire, flood or like peril.

ALARM USER

Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind in control of any building, structure or facility wherein an alarm device is operated.

FALSE ALARM

An alarm signal eliciting a response by police or fire fighters or other public officials when a situation requiring a response by police or fire fighters or other public officials does not in fact exist (but excluding an alarm signal caused by violent conditions of nature, such as, but not limited to, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm business or alarm user).

INDEPENDENT SMOKE/FIRE DETECTOR

A device giving an audible alarm indicating smoke and/or fire within a structure and not connected to an alarm system or to any external warning device.

§ 62-2 Registration and information required.

A. No person shall install or operate any alarm system unless the alarm system has been registered with the Police Department. An alarm system shall be deemed registered at such time as a registration form supplied by the Police Department is returned to the Police Department, receipt of which is acknowledged in writing. Among the information to be provided on the registration form is the following:

(1) The name, address and telephone number of the owner or manager of the property upon which the alarm system is installed.

(2) A list of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of two or more persons in possession of keys and who may be contacted in the event of an alarm or in an emergency situation determined by the Police Department.

(3) The name of the company installing the system (name, address and phone).

(4) The type of system.

(5) The names, addresses and telephone numbers of the persons or company maintaining the alarm system.

B. No further renewal registration shall be required unless and until there has occurred any material change in the information previously submitted with respect to any alarm system, in which event it shall be the duty of the user of the alarm system, within 10 days of such material change, to file a supplemental or revised registration containing accurate, current information.

[Amended 8-30-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-29]

§ 62-3 Rules and regulations.

A. Each alarm system shall be installed utilizing discrete circuitry for multipurpose alarm systems to ensure an appropriate emergency response.

B. Any alarm system which requires for its operation electricity supplied by a public utility may be equipped with a battery rendering it operable in the event of a power outage if so desired by the property owner, shall be approved by Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., and shall comply with the National Electrical Code. Such a battery backup system shall only be required for any alarm system which will trigger itself automatically in the event of a power fluctuation, surge or outage.

C. All burglar alarm systems must be provided with a device which will automatically shut off the alarm after 15 minutes of activation.

D. All burglar alarm systems not fitted with an external key switch shall be equipped with a time delay of at least 15 seconds, which may include an audible signal of the same length of time, the time delay to be designed to prevent accidental activation of the system. The fifteen-second signal, if utilized, shall be audible only within the structure and not externally.

E. No person shall install, cause to be installed or permit to be installed any device, by whatever name known, which automatically selects a telephone line dedicated to the Police Department or Fire Department for the purpose of playing a recorded message to report any emergency.

F. In the event that any alarm system is tied into and/or is serviced by a central station or answering service, upon activation of the alarm system, the central station or answering service shall verify the validity of the alarm prior to notifying the Police Department of the same.

G. The resetting of any fire alarm shall be done in the presence of a member of the Fire Department, if possible.

H. No alarm business or person owning, using or possessing an alarm system shall cause or permit the giving of repeated false alarms, whether intentional, accidental or otherwise.

I. An alarm business having knowledge of conditions described in Subsection H above shall be responsible for notifying the Police Department when one of its customers using or possessing an alarm system sells his/her property. The alarm business shall notify the Police Department as to the name of the new owner and whether or not the new owner is continuing with an alarm device or system within the property.

§ 62-4 Information to be confidential.

All information submitted in compliance with this chapter shall be held in the strictest confidence and shall be deemed a record exempt from public disclosure pursuant to state statute. Any violation of confidentially shall be deemed a violation of this section.

§ 62-5 Exempt systems.

The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any alarm system installed on property occupied by any Township office or to an independent smoke/fire detector as defined in § 62-1 nor to any medical alert system.

§ 62-6 Violations and penalties.

A. Any owner or user of an alarm system who fails to register the alarm system as required by the provisions of this chapter is subject to fine(s).

B. Any owner or user of an alarm system which experiences more than four false alarms within any twelve-month period shall be required to modify or improve the system in such a way as to prevent accidental activation. The owner or user of the system shall be subject to a minimum fine of $100 for each false alarm after four in any consecutive twelve-month period. Any owner or user of an alarm system which experiences more than 12 false alarms in any calendar year shall be required to disconnect the alarm system for a period of 90 days and provide a statement from those that service the alarm system that the malfunction has been corrected. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, any false alarms which occur during the first 60 days after an alarm system is initially installed shall not be counted toward the number of false alarms as provided for in this subsection.

C. Any owner or user of an alarm system who installs such a system not in compliance with this chapter is subject to a minimum fine of $50. Additionally, the owner or user may be required to remove such an alarm system.

D. Any owner or user of an alarm system shall be notified within 48 hours in writing by the Township Police Department once three false alarms have occurred with the system within the twelve-month period noted in Subsection B above.