It is determined that the number of false alarms being made to the Police
and Fire Departments hinders the efficiency of those departments, lowers the
morale of Department personnel, constitutes a danger to the general public
in the streets during responses to false alarms and jeopardizes the response
of volunteers, and that the adoption of this chapter will reduce the number
of false alarms and promote the responsible use of alarm devices in the Village
of Port Chester.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
ALARM AGENT
Any person employed by any business, firm, corporation or other commercial
entity that is licensed hereunder to conduct the business of owning, operating,
maintaining, installing, leasing or selling fire or police alarm devices whose
duties include any of the following: selling, maintaining, leasing, servicing,
repairing, altering, replacing, moving or installing, in or on any building,
place or premises, any fire or police alarm device as defined in this chapter,
within the Village of Port Chester.
ALARM BUSINESS
Any business operated by a person or corporation for a profit that
engages in the selling, leasing, maintaining, installing, repairing, altering,
moving, replacing or servicing of an alarm device or system.
ALARM DEVICE
Any device which, when activated by a criminal act, fire or other
emergency calling for Police or Fire Department response, transmits a signal
to Police or Fire headquarters, transmits a signal to a person who relays
information to Police or Fire headquarters or produces an audible or visible
signal to which the Police or Fire Departments are expected to respond. Excluded
from this definition and the scope of this law are devices which are designed
to alert or signal only persons within the premises in which the device is
installed.
ALARM USER
The owner of any premises in which an alarm device is used, provided that an occupant who expressly accepts responsibility for an alarm device by registration pursuant to §
126-5 shall be deemed the "alarm user."
AUTOMATIC DIAL ALARM
A telephone device or attachment that mechanically or electronically
selects a telephone line to Police or Fire headquarters and reproduces a prerecorded
or synthesized voice message to report a criminal act, fire or other emergency
calling for Police or Fire Department response. Excluded from this definition
are devices which relay a digital-coded signal to Police or Fire headquarters.
CENTRAL STATION
An office to which remote alarm devices transmit signals where operators
monitor those signals and relay information to the appropriately designated
Police and/or Fire Departments.
FALSE ALARM
Any activation of an alarm device to which the Police or Fire Department
responds and which is not caused by a criminal act, fire or other emergency,
except an activation caused by malfunction of telephone equipment, as verified
by monitoring facilities at Police or Fire headquarters, a letter or other
evidence from the telephone company or other proof; or power failure as verified
by the administrator. A series of such activations attributable to the same
cause and occurring under circumstances beyond the control of the responsible
alarm user shall be deemed a single "false alarm."
The Village Clerk is hereby designated as administrator of this chapter.
He shall act under the direction and control of the Village Manager. The administrator
is authorized to adopt regulations for the administration of this chapter.
Each alarm user shall register his alarm device or devices with the
Administrator prior to use. Senior citizens will be exempt for the alarm that
is currently installed. Any newly installed alarms after the adoption of this
law will be subject to the new regulations.
Applications for licenses and permits shall be made as follows:
A. All businesses, firms, corporations or other commercial
entities which are in the business of owning, operating, maintaining, installing,
leasing or selling a fire or police alarm device or system of fire or police
alarm devices, who desire to conduct business in the Village of Port Chester,
shall apply to the licensing authority for a business license, on a form to
be supplied by the licensing authority. The application shall contain specific
provisions relating to the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the device
or system of devices owned or to be operated, maintained, installed, leased
or sold by the business licensee, testing procedures involved and any other
information the licensing authority shall determine to be reasonably necessary
to effectuate the purpose of this chapter. Such business license shall be
issued for a one-year period, on a calendar year basis or a part thereof,
and no license shall extend beyond December 31 of the year following the expiration
of his business license.
B. Any person who is to be an alarm agent in the Village
of Port Chester, before acting as such alarm agent, shall apply for and receive
a revocable alarm agent license. The application shall be made to the licensing
authority. The application shall contain specific provisions relating to the
fire or police alarm device or devices. Such license shall be issued for a
one-year period, on a calendar year basis or a part thereof and no license
shall extend beyond December 31 of each year. Notwithstanding this provision,
a person having an alarm agent license may act as such alarm agent through
January 31 of the year following expiration of his license.
C. Any property owner or lessee of property in the Village
of Port Chester having on its premises a fire or police alarm device or system
of fire or police alarm devices shall apply to the licensing authority, on
a form to be supplied by the licensing authority, for a permit to own or otherwise
have such a device on his or its premises. The application shall contain provisions
relating to the device or system of devices installed or to be installed on
the premises. Application for permits for fire or police alarm devices existing
in premises on the effective date of this chapter must be made to the licensing
authority by January 1, 1986. No such devices may be installed on the premises
of the owner or lessee after the effective date of this chapter prior to the
licensing authority having issued a permit to such owner or lessee, and no
presently existing fire or police alarm device shall be modified after the
effective date of this chapter prior to the licensing authority having issued
a permit to such owner or lessee. All such licenses shall be valid for the
calendar year and must be renewed on or before the first day of January of
each year, commencing with January 1, 1990.
[Amended 5-30-1990 by L.L. No. 5-1990]
No automatic dial alarm may be installed after the adoption of this
chapter.
[Amended 5-31-2000 by L.L. No. 6-2000]
Unless required by law, no alarm device which produces an exterior audible
signal shall be installed unless its operation is automatically restricted
to a maximum of 15 minutes.
[Amended 11-3-1997 by L.L. No. 17-1997]
When the administrator determines that the Police Department or Fire
Department has responded to a false alarm, the administrator shall impose
a charge on the responsible alarm user according to the following schedule:
A. For the first two false alarms within the same calendar
year: no charge.
B. For the third false alarm within the same calendar year: a fee as set forth in Chapter
175, Fees.
C. For the fourth and subsequent such alarms within the same calendar year: a fee as set forth in Chapter
175, Fees.
Each notice of a false alarm charge, the reaffirmation of such a charge
by the administrator or the suspension of a registration shall refer to and
provide instructions concerning the alarm user's right to further recourse
by filing information with the administrator or an appeal with the Alarm Review
Board, as the case may be.
All information in the possession of the administrator, the Alarm Review
Board, the Police Department or the Fire Department concerning particular
alarm users and particular alarm devices shall not be divulged without the
written consent of the alarm user or users concerned, except that information
as to the frequency of false alarms experienced by an individual alarm user
may be supplied to the contractor who installed or who currently has a contract
to service that user's alarm device.
The administrator, Police Department and Fire Department shall, with
respect to each and every false alarm, compile information concerning alarm
devices, contractors and sources of false alarms in a form such that the information
may be evaluated in terms of relative reliability of different sorts of alarm
devices and particular contractors and the frequency of false alarms attributable
to different categories of sources.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the village, its departments,
officers, agents and employees shall be under no obligation whatsoever concerning
the adequacy, operation or maintenance of any alarm device or of the alarm
monitoring facilities at Police and Fire headquarters. No liability whatsoever
is assumed for the failure of such alarm devices or monitoring facilities,
or for the failure to respond to alarms or for any other omission in connection
with such alarm devices. Each alarm user shall be deemed to hold and save
harmless the village, its departments, officers, agents and employees from
liability in connection with the alarm user's alarm device.
The village, upon authorization of the administrator, may institute
civil proceedings to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to alarm devices on premises
owned or controlled by the village, the State of New York or the government
of the United States nor to alarm devices installed in a licensed motor vehicle,
trailer or boat. It shall, however, apply to public and private schools except
that they shall not be subject to any monetary fines, fees or penalties.