A. 
Registration required. No person shall use an alarm system without first registering such alarm system with the Manalapan Township Police Department contracted alarm service provider. The registration period shall be one year. A fee is required for the registration and for each annual renewal. Each alarm system requires a separate registration. Each alarm shall be assigned a unique registration number, and the user may be required to provide the registration number along with the address to facilitate law enforcement dispatch.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
B. 
Registration fee and penalty; exemption. The fee for an alarm registration and each annual alarm renewal is set forth below and shall be paid by the alarm user. No refund of a fee or renewal fee will be made. The initial alarm fee must be submitted to the Alarm Administrator within 20 days after the alarm system installation or alarm system takeover.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
(1) 
Initial registration fee: $40.
(2) 
Annual registration renewal fee: $25.
(3) 
New residents registering within six months of closing (initial registration fee): $25.
(4) 
New residents registering more than six months after closing (initial registration fee): $40.
(5) 
There shall be assessed a civil penalty of $100 to any alarm user who fails to renew an alarm registration within 45 days of notice to do so.
(6) 
Alarms on properties owned by the Township or a board of education shall be exempt from registration fees and civil penalties. Alarms on board of education properties shall be subject to the false alarm penalties herein.
C. 
Application. The registration shall be requested on an application form available on-line at www.manalapanpolice.org and submitted to the contracted alarm service provider. An alarm user has the duty to obtain an application from the Police Department website.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
D. 
Transfer of possession. When the possession of the premises at which an alarm system is maintained is transferred, the person (user) obtaining possession of the property shall file an application for an alarm within 30 days of obtaining possession of the property. Alarm permits are not transferable.
E. 
Reporting updated information. Whenever the information provided on the alarm application changes, the alarm user shall provide corrected information to the contracted alarm service provider within 30 days of the change. The alarm user or registered owner shall update this information when any of the requested information has changed; failure to comply will constitute a violation and will result in a civil penalty for not being registered.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
F. 
Multiple alarm systems. If an alarm user has one or more alarm systems protecting two or more separate structures having different addresses and/or tenants, a separate registration shall be required for each structure and/or tenant.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
An alarm user shall:
A. 
Maintain the premises and the alarm system in a manner that will reduce or eliminate false alarms.
B. 
Provide the alarm company the alarm password in order to facilitate dispatch.
C. 
Respond or cause a representative to respond to the alarm system’s location within a reasonable amount of time when notified by the alarm monitoring company or Monmouth County Communications.
D. 
Not manually activate an alarm for any reason other than an occurrence of an event that the alarm system was intended to report.
E. 
Obtain and file a new registration form and pay any associated fees if there is a change in address or ownership of a business or residence.
A. 
Any alarm company in the alarm business in Manalapan Township, shall comply with the following:
(1) 
Obtain and maintain all required state, county and municipal license(s).
(2) 
Provide the name, address, and telephone number of each alarm user or a designee, who can be called in an emergency, 24 hours a day and contact a key holder or other emergency contact who will respond immediately.
(3) 
Provide the most current contact information for each alarm user.
(4) 
Provide the above information to the alarm administrator within 90 days of the enactment of this chapter and update this information within 30 days for any new or discontinued alarm system.
B. 
Ninety days after enactment of this chapter, any alarm companies shall, on all new and upgraded installations, use only alarm control panel(s) which meet SIA Control Panel Standard CP-01.
C. 
Prior to activation of an alarm system, the alarm company shall provide instructions explaining the proper operation of the alarm system to the alarm user.
D. 
Provide written information to the alarm user of how to obtain service from the alarm company for the alarm system.
E. 
An alarm company performing monitoring services shall:
(1) 
Attempt to verify, by calling the alarm site and/or alarm user by telephone, whether an alarm signal is valid before requesting dispatch. Telephone verification shall require, as a minimum, that a second call be made to a different number, if the first attempt fails to reach an alarm user who can properly identify themselves to attempt to determine whether an alarm signal is valid, except in the case of a panic or robbery-in-progress alarm, or in cases where a crime-in-progress has been verified by video and/or audible means.
(2) 
Provide address and alarm user registration number, when available, to the communications center to facilitate dispatch and/or cancellations.
(3) 
Communicate any available information about the location of the alarm.
(4) 
Communicate a cancellation to the law enforcement communications center as soon as possible following a determination that response is unnecessary.
A. 
It shall be unlawful to activate an alarm system for the purpose of summoning law enforcement when no burglary, robbery, or other crime dangerous to life or property is being committed or attempted on the premises, or otherwise to cause a false alarm.
B. 
It shall be unlawful to install, maintain, or use an audible alarm system which can sound continually for more than 15 minutes.
C. 
It shall be unlawful to install, maintain, or use an automatic dial protection device that reports, or causes to be reported, any recorded message to the Manalapan Township Police Department, its agents and contractors or to Monmouth County Communications.
A. 
Excessive false alarms/failure to register. An alarm user shall be subject to service fees, depending on the number of false alarms within any twelve-month period based upon the following schedule:
(1) 
First or second false alarm: no service fee and a warning notice to be issued after the second false alarm.
(2) 
Third false alarm: $40; this fee may be waived upon satisfactory completion of an alarm user online awareness class, provided by the alarm contractor.
(3) 
Fourth false alarm: $80.
(4) 
Fifth false alarm: $130.
(5) 
Sixth false alarm: $180.
(6) 
Seventh or more false alarm(s): $250 for each alarm.
(7) 
Robbery, panic and burglary crime in progress false alarm service fees:
(a) 
First or second false alarm: No service fee and a warning notice to be issued after the second false alarm.
(b) 
Third false alarm: $150; this fee may be waived upon satisfactory completion of an alarm user online awareness class provided by the alarm contractor.
(c) 
Fourth false alarm: $150 for each false alarm beginning with the fourth false alarm.
B. 
Service fee.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
(1) 
The first alarm received from an unregistered alarm system will result in the issuance of a warning notification providing that the alarm owner must register within 45 days in order to avoid a service fee of $100 for each alarm while unregistered.
(2) 
Any alarm received from an unregistered alarm system shall also be considered a “false alarm” under Subsection A hereof.
(3) 
A violation shall be issued in the amount of $100 for a second or subsequent alarm received from an unregistered alarm system.
C. 
An alarm user may have the option of completing an alarm user online awareness class in lieu of paying the first prescribed service fee (third false alarm) under this section. This option is available only once during the one-year registration period. The option to have the first service fee waived shall be offered for each consecutive alarm user renewal period. The alarm user must complete the offered online alarm class within 30 days of the third false alarm. The false alarm count will not be changed.
D. 
If cancellation of an alarm dispatch request occurs prior to a police officer arriving at the scene, no false alarm will be assessed.
E. 
If any fee or fine assessed on this section is not paid within 30 days after a notice or invoice is mailed, a late fee in the amount of 30% of the value of the fee or fine shall be imposed.
F. 
Violations will be enforced through the assessment of civil penalty(ies) in the amount of $100 per violation.
G. 
Civil penalty(ies) shall be paid within 30 days from the date of invoice. Late fees shall apply after 30 days. Unpaid fees after 90 days may also be transferred to collections with the addition of collection costs to the extent permitted by law.
The Manalapan Township alarm contractor shall create and implement an online alarm user awareness class. The class shall inform alarm users of the problems created by false alarms and instruct alarm users how to help reduce false alarms.
[Amended 4-24-2024 by Ord. No. 2024-06]
A. 
In the interest of public safety, all information contained in and gathered through the alarm registration applications, no-response records and any other alarm records shall be held in confidence by all employees and/or representatives of Manalapan Township.
B. 
Notices or other communications sent by the Alarm Administrator or the Manalapan Township Police Department to the owner of an alarm system shall not include the account number or password of the alarm system.
Alarm registration is not intended to, nor will it, create a contract, duty or obligation, either expressed or implied, of response. Any and all liability and consequential damage resulting from the failure to respond to a notification is hereby disclaimed and governmental immunity as provided by law is retained. By applying for an alarm registration, the alarm user acknowledges that the Manalapan Township Police Department response may be influenced by factors such as the availability of police units; priority of calls; weather conditions; traffic conditions; emergency conditions; staffing; and prior response history.