The following definitions shall apply in the
interpretation and enforcement of this chapter:
ALARM SUPPLIER
The business, by any individual, partnership, corporation
or other entity, of selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing,
altering, replacing, moving or installing any alarm system, or causing
to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced,
moved or installed any alarm system, in or on any building, structure
or facility.
ALARM SYSTEM
Any assembly of equipment, mechanical, electrical or battery
operated, arranged to signal the occurrence of a holdup, burglary
or other activity requiring urgent attention and to which police units
are expected to respond.
ANSWERING SERVICE
A service whereby trained employees, in attendance at all
times, receive prerecorded voice messages from automatic dialing devices
reporting an emergency at a stated location and have the duty to relay
immediately by live voice any such emergency message over a trunkline
to the communications center of the Police Department.
AUDIBLE ALARM
Any device, bell, horn or siren which is attached to the
interior or exterior of a building, structure or facility and emits
a warning signal audible outside the building, structure or facility
and is designed to attract attention when activated by a criminal
act or other emergency requiring police to respond.
AUTOMATIC DIALING DEVICE
A device which is interconnected to a telephone line and
is programmed to transmit a signal by a voice or coded message that
indicates that an emergency condition exists and the need for an emergency
response is required.
CENTRAL STATION
A protective system or group of such systems operated privately
for customers by a person, firm or corporation which accepts recorded
messages from automatic dialing devices at a central station having
operators and guards in attendance at all times, who have the duty
to take appropriate action upon receipt of a signal or message, including
the relaying of messages by trunk line to the communications center
of the Police Department.
CHIEF OF POLICE
The administrative head of the West Goshen Township Police
Department.
FALSE ALARM
A.
An emergency alarm activated by inadvertence,
negligence or unintentional acts, including the malfunction of the
alarm system, to which the West Goshen Township Police Department
responds. The definition excludes alarms caused by malfunctions of
the indicator at the alarm board if such alarm is directly connected
to the alarm board; testing or repairing of telephone or electrical
lines or equipment outside the premises; acts of God, such as earthquake,
flood, windstorm, thunder or lightning; an attempted illegal entry
of which there is visible evidence; a robbery in progress; and in
the case of an emergency medical alarm, an actual medical emergency
requiring police and/or emergency medical personnel. If doubt exists
as to the cause of the false alarm, the Chief of Police or his designee
shall make a decision regarding the circumstances of the activations.
B.
Multiple alarms received by the Police Department
before the system can be deactivated within a reasonable period of
time shall be considered a single alarm.
C.
The definition of a false alarm also includes
the intentional activation of a holdup alarm for other than a holdup
in progress, the intentional activation of a burglary alarm for other
than a burglary and/or the intentional activation of a medical alarm
for other than a medical emergency.
INTERMEDIARY
A central station protective system or an answering service
as herein defined.
KEY
To use a telephone line and equipment for transmitting a
message, either directly or indirectly, by an automatic dialing device.
PERMIT
Written permission duly granted to an applicant by the Township
upon payment of the required fee.
POLICE COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
The police communications room and other rooms which house
communications equipment and the police radio dispatcher.
SECRETARY
The Secretary of the Township of West Goshen.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of West Goshen, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
TRUNK LINE
A telephone line leading into the communications center of
the Police Department that is for the purpose of handling calls on
a person-to-person basis and which is identified by a specific listing
among the white pages in the telephone directory issued by the telephone
company.
After the enactment of this chapter, owners
or users of audible alarms must equip such audible alarms with a timing
mechanism that will disengage the audible alarm after a maximum period
of 15 minutes. Audible alarms without such a timing mechanism shall
be unlawful in the Township and must be disconnected by the owner
or user within 60 days from the effective date of this chapter.
Alarm systems with audible alarms on location
may be installed in Township residences and business establishments
so long as they are registered and comply with the provisions of this
chapter.
No alarm system shall be installed without a
permit. Application for a permit to install an alarm system shall
be made to the Police Department of the Township. The Police Department
shall establish the information to be contained in such application
and may establish a form upon which applications are to be made. If
a form is established by the Police Department, then all applications
shall be made on that form. A separate permit shall be required for
each separate installation of an alarm system. Upon proper application
being made and upon payment of the fee required, the Police Department
shall issue a permit for the installation of an alarm system.
All locations in the Township of West Goshen equipped with alarm systems, except as stated in §
25-9 of this chapter, must secure and possess a valid permit for same and must register and maintain such registration with the Police Department as prescribed in this chapter.
Automatic dialing devices installed in the Township
that are keyed to a trunk line shall meet the following requirements:
A. The type and content of recorded messages must be
intelligible and in a format approved by the Chief of Police as appropriate
for the type of emergency, said approval to be obtained prior to installation.
B. No more than one call shall be made over a trunk line
to the Police Department as a result of a single activation of the
automatic dialing device.
C. The time for transmitting each recorded message shall
not exceed 15 seconds.
D. Recorded messages may be repeated during one call,
but the interval between each recorded message shall be no less than
four seconds.
E. The sensory mechanism used in connection with an automatic
dialing device must be adjusted to suppress false indications of intrusion
so that the device will not be actuated by impulses due to fleeting
pressure changes in water pipes, short flashes of light, the rattling
or vibrating of doors and windows, vibrations to the premises caused
by the passing of vehicles or any other force not related to genuine
alarms.
F. All components comprising such a device must be maintained
in good repair by the owner or user to assure maximum reliability
of operation.
Each alarm supplier who, after the effective
date of this chapter, sells or leases in the Township an automatic
dialing device which is keyed to a trunk line shall furnish operating
instructions, a circuit diagram and a maintenance manual to the buyer
or lessee.
When messages evidencing failure to comply with
the operational requirements as set forth in this chapter are received
by the Township and the Township concludes that the automatic dialing
device sending such messages should be disconnected in order to relieve,
the Township Police Department of the burden of responding to false
alarms, the Township may require that the owner or lessee of the device,
or his representative, disconnect the device until it is made to comply
with said operational requirements. If disconnection of the defective
device is not accomplished promptly and the Township determines that
the malfunctioning device is repeatedly sending false alarms without
any intermittent valid alarms, the Township may then take any action
necessary to terminate the receiving of alarms.
Every alarm supplier selling, leasing or furnishing
to any user, or a user who privately installs, an alarm system, except
those covered in § 24-9, which is located on premises within
the Township shall:
A. Be required to notify the communications center of
alarm activations on the proper trunk line only.
B. Be permitted to install only equipment that is listed
by Underwriter's Laboratories, Inc., as being electrically safe and
which will meet the Township requirements for the alarm system. Wiring
for the alarm system must conform with all applicable Township codes.
C. Be required to cause each alarm system installed to
be provided with standby battery power which shall automatically and
immediately take over in the event of a power failure.
D. Be required to install equipment in such a way as
to neutralize electrical surges on the alarm system.
E. Be required to provide an automatic audible alarm
cutoff within 15 minutes of initial activation of any audible alarms
installed to any and all alarm systems and, further, be required to
disable the audible signal if the alarm is in a runaway condition,
that is, if the audible alarm activates and resets at continuing and
unspecified periods.
F. Be required to deactivate any alarm system within
a reasonable period of time when multiple false alarms are received.
No person shall conduct any test or demonstration
of any automatic dialing device or other alarm system without first
notifying the shift supervisor of the Township police radio network,
unless the system is keyed through an intermediary, in which case
no such notification is necessary unless the alarm or signal is to
be relayed to the Police Department.
Automatic protective device suppliers and installers
shall furnish at their own expense, at or prior to the time of contracting,
a copy of this chapter to owners, lessees or users of the equipment
or services to be supplied.
[Amended 10-11-1988 by Ord. No. 8-1988; 7-24-1996 by Ord. No. 7-1996]
A. Any person who violates or permits the violation of
any provision of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefor
in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township before
a District Justice, pay a fine for each such violation in an amount
not less than $100 and not more than $600 plus all court costs, including
reasonable attorneys fees, incurred by the Township. No judgment shall
be imposed until the date of the determination of a violation by the
District Justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals
the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the
applicable rules of civil procedure.
B. Any person found liable of misuse, false activation
or continual activation of an alarm system shall, upon being found
liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the
Township before a District Justice, pay a fine for each such violation
in an amount not less than $100 and not more than $600, plus all court
costs, including reasonable attorneys fees, incurred by the Township.
No judgment shall be imposed until the date of the determination of
a violation by the District Justice. If the defendant neither pays
nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment
pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure.
Should any section or provision of this chapter
be declared by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such
decision shall not affect the validity of this chapter as a whole
or of any other part.
This chapter shall become effective five days
after adoption as prescribed by law.
Ordinance No. 4-1975, adopted by the Board of Supervisors of West Goshen Township on June 10, 1975, and now Chapter
25 of the Code of the Township of West Goshen, is repealed in its entirety on the effective date of this chapter.