[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.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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]
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.
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.
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.
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.