[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Geneseo 3-16-2000 by L.L. No. 2-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
It is the purpose of this chapter to protect and promote the
public health, safety and general welfare by eliminating avoidable
false fire and burglar alarms and thereby ensuring that fire and law
enforcement facilities and personnel will be available for actual
emergencies. False alarms unnecessarily drain resources and require
emergency responses which contribute to increased accident rates and
which delay responses to real emergencies.
This chapter applies to all installed fire and burglar alarms
which are directly connected to a law enforcement or fire agency,
or to a private agency which, in turn, makes a connection to a law
enforcement or fire agency, or to no agency but merely sounds an alarm
on the premises, each installed alarm having the purpose of notifying
police and/or fire agencies that an emergency exists at the site of
such installed alarm requiring an immediate response from such law
enforcement or fire agency. This chapter does not apply to state,
county, Town and village buildings, nor to internal or local smoke
detector devices which only sound alarms to occupants of the premises
on which such devices are installed.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any false alarm received by a law enforcement or fire agency
from an installed alarm which is caused by improper installation of
the system, by a mechanical failure or malfunction of the system,
or is due to negligence on the part of the owner, user, custodian
or other person responsible for the installed alarm. An avoidable
false alarm does not include an alarm activated by a natural phenomenon
such as a tornado, earthquake or the like, or by acts of third parties
which are beyond control of the person responsible for the installed
alarm.
Any mechanical or electrical device installed in a building
for the purpose of notifying, directly or indirectly, fire or law
enforcement agencies when a break-in or fire occurs and used for the
purpose of summoning help from fire or law enforcement agencies.
Any person who is responsible for an installed alarm which renders
more than one avoidable false alarm within a twelve-month period shall
be liable for a civil penalty of $50 for the second false alarm, $100
for the third false alarm and $200 for the fourth false alarm. Any
additional false alarms in such twelve-month period shall subject
the user to a civil penalty of $300 for each subsequent false alarm.
A.
After an avoidable false alarm, the local alarm system shall become
deactivated and silenced automatically, or by the landowner or his
or her agent, after a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
B.
Law enforcement and/or Fire Department officials may disable an audible
alarm signal that has not been silenced at any time (including prior
to the expiration of the fifteen-minute period), and shall not be
liable for any damage that may result.
