This chapter shall be known as the "Willistown Township Automatic Protection
Device Ordinance."
The following definitions shall apply to the interpretation and enforcement
of this chapter:
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 criminal act or other emergency requiring Police
or Fire Department response.
AUTOMATIC PROTECTION DEVICE
An electrically or battery-operated instrument composed of sensory
apparatus and related hardware which automatically transmits any form of alarm
or signal, including but not limited to a prerecorded voice alarm, from the
premises to the Chester County Department of Emergency Services (DES) upon
receipt of a stimulus from a sensory apparatus that has detected a physical
force or condition inherently characteristic of intrusion, fire, hazard or
medical emergency requiring urgent attention and to which police or fire units
should respond.
AUTOMATIC PROTECTION DEVICE SUPPLIER
Any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity engaged
in the business of selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering,
replacing, moving or installing any automatic protection device to be sold,
leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or installed
in or on any building, structure or facility.
CHIEF OF POLICE
The head or acting head of the Police Department of Willistown Township.
FALSE ALARM
A.
An alarm activated in the absence of an emergency, whether willfully
or by inadvertent negligence or unintentional act, including the malfunction
of the automatic protection device to which the Willistown Township Police
Department or Fire Department responds. The definition excludes alarms caused
by malfunctions of the Chester County DES receiving equipment 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 crime in progress or, in the case of
an emergency medical alarm, an actual medical emergency requiring police,
fire and/or 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 activation.
B.
Multiple alarms received by the Police Department or a Fire 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, the intentional activation
of a medical alarm for other than a medical emergency or the intentional activation
of a fire alarm for other than a fire or hazard.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Goshen Fire Company, the Malvern Fire Company, the Newtown Square
Fire Company or the Paoli Fire Company.
KEY
To use a telephone or recording equipment to transmit a message either
directly or indirectly by an automatic protection device.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Willistown, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Automatic protection devices that transmit messages directly to police
must be keyed to the Chester County DES.
Automatic protection devices may be keyed to a telephone which is available
to the owner or lessee of the device or to a private agency so long as the
devices are registered with the Chief of Police and comply with the provisions
of this chapter.
The fee for an automatic protection device permit shall be $25. The
fee shall be nonrefundable.
Automatic protection devices installed in the township that are keyed
to the Chester County DES shall meet the following requirements:
A. The type and content of recorded messages must be intelligible
and in a format approved prior to the installation by the Chief of Police.
B. No more than one call shall be made to the Chester County
DES as a result of a single activation of the automatic protection device.
C. The time for transmitting each recorded message shall
not exceed 15 seconds, and it may not be repeated more than once.
D. Recorded messages repeated during the one call shall
have an interval between them of no more than five seconds.
E. The sensory mechanism used in connection with an automatic
protection device must be adjusted to suppress false indications of intrusion
so that the device will not be activated by impulses due to fleeting pressure
changes in water pipes, short flashes of light, the rattling or vibrations
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
by the owner or lessee in good repair to assure maximum reliability of operation.
Each automatic protection device supplier who sells or leases an automatic
protection device in the township after the effective date of this chapter
shall furnish operating instructions and a maintenance manual to the buyer
or lessee.
The public safety requires that the incidence of false alarms and malfunctioning
automatic protection devices be kept to a minimum so as to reduce unnecessary
calls to the Police Department and Fire Department and to increase the effectiveness
of properly functioning automatic protection devices. In order to enforce
this chapter and to reduce the incidence of false alarms and malfunctioning
automatic protection devices, it is necessary that appropriate township officials
have the right to inspect the installation and operation of an automatic protection
device, and subsequent installation of such a device pursuant to a permit
issued or the continuance of the installation of any automatic protection
device already installed at the effective date of this chapter shall constitute
consent by the owner or lessee thereof and authorization for the inspection
of any such installation and/or operation of any such automatic protection
device by the Chief of Police, Township Building Official or any other designated
agent of the township. All such entries upon the premises upon which an automatic
protection device is installed and all such inspections of the installation
and operation of automatic protection devices shall be at reasonable times
and upon reasonable notice, except in emergency situations.
Automatic protection devices, suppliers and installers must conform
to the requirements contained in the National Electrical Code as they pertain
to installations, inspections and testing of such devices.
When messages evidencing failure to comply with the operational requirements
as set forth in this chapter are received by the township or the Chester County
DES and the township concludes that the automatic protection device sending
such messages should be disconnected in order to relieve the Police Department
or Fire 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.
No person shall conduct any test or demonstration of an automatic protection
device without first notifying the shift supervisor of the Chester County
DES, unless the device 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, Fire Department or Chester County DES.
Automatic protection 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.