[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Ossining 8-19-2008 by L.L. No. 5-2008. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide regulations
and standards applicable to alarm devices and alarm users and to provide
a schedule of charges applicable for false alarms transmitted through
such devices. All emergency medical monitoring and medical alarm systems
shall be exempt from this chapter. Also excluded from the provisions
of this chapter are alarm devices installed in or on any motor vehicle.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any individual who is employed by any person licensed by
New York State to conduct the business of owning, operating, maintaining,
installing, leasing or selling 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 alarm device or system, as defined in this chapter,
within the Village of Ossining.
Any person engaged in the business of owning, operating,
maintaining, installing, leasing or selling an alarm device or devices
or system of alarm devices, which business is, as owner, operator,
provider of maintenance service, installer, lessor or seller of said
device, devices or system of devices, subject to the license requirements
of New York State.
Any device which, when activated by an unauthorized entry,
fire, smoke or other emergency requiring Police Department or Fire
Department response, transmits a recorded message or signal to police
headquarters or to a private control alarm station and/or produces
any audible or visual signal to which the Police Department or Fire
Department is expected to respond. Excluded from this definition and
from the provisions of this chapter are devices designed to alert
the occupants of a building of an emergency condition therein and
which do not produce any audible or visual signal which is perceptible
outside of such building.
The Village Manager, Village Clerk and Police Chief, or their
designee, shall comprise the Alarm Review Board, which will review
any complaints or problems arising out of the enforcement of any provision
of this chapter.
Any person or entity on whose premises an alarm device is
installed in the Village of Ossining.
Any alarm activation to which Police or Fire Department personnel
respond which is not the result of natural disaster, act of God, fire,
smoke, unauthorized entry or other emergency.
The Village Clerk of the Village of Ossining.
The Village of Ossining.
A.Â
Permitting authority. The permitting authority is
hereby authorized to grant a revocable permit, upon the approval of
the Chief of Police, to any alarm user as defined in this chapter.
B.Â
Application for alarm user permit.
(1)Â
Any property owner or lessee of property in the Village
of Ossining having on his or her premises an alarm device shall apply
to the permitting authority within 90 days of the effective date of
this chapter for an alarm user permit. Such alarm user permit is nontransferable.
(2)Â
Any property owner or lessee of property in the Village
of Ossining desirous of obtaining an alarm device shall apply to the
permitting authority for an alarm user permit on a form designated
by the permitting authority. Such alarm user permit is nontransferable.
(3)Â
Information contained in the application for a permit
shall be confidential and not subject to disclosure without the written
permission of the applicant.
(4)Â
A new permit shall be obtained each time a security
system or fire alarm system is substantially modified or a new security
system or fire alarm system is installed on the premises of the owner
or lessee.
C.Â
Renewal. Permits shall be renewed on an annual basis,
starting in January of each year and ending in December of the same
year.
E.Â
Denial, suspension or revocation of alarm user permit
and disconnection of alarm system.
(1)Â
A permit issued under this chapter may be suspended
or revoked by the permitting authority after notice and hearing by
the permitting authority for the violation of any of the provisions
of this chapter or of any regulation or regulations promulgated by
the permitting authority pursuant to this chapter. Upon such suspension/revocation,
any permit identification card issued hereunder shall be surrendered
immediately to the permitting authority and any alarm devices registered
under said permit shall be disconnected.
(2)Â
Any applicant whose application for a permit has been denied or any alarm user whose permit has been suspended or revoked by the permitting authority may appeal such a denial, suspension or revocation, in writing, to the Alarm Review Board within 30 days after the date of the notice of denial, suspension or revocation by filing a notice of appeal of same with the permitting authority. Said applicant or alarm user may appear before the Alarm Review Board as provided in § 66-7.
A.Â
Licensing to conduct alarm business. Any person engaged
in the business of owning, operating, maintaining, installing or leasing
or selling an alarm device or devices or system of alarm devices who
desires to conduct such business in the Village of Ossining must be
properly licensed by the State of New York pursuant to: Article 6-D
of the General Business Law and Title 19 of NYCRR, Parts 195 and 196.
B.Â
Alarm agent license. Any person engaged in the business
of maintaining, repairing, servicing, altering, removing or installing
an alarm device or alarm system shall carry on his or her person at
all times while so engaged a valid license and identification card
and shall display such license and identification card to any Village
official upon request.
C.Â
Registration of license. A copy of the alarm agent's
New York State license must be filed with the permitting authority.
Alarm devices shall be equipped with an automatic
cutoff device which limits the audible time of the exterior alarm
to 15 minutes.
The Village assumes no responsibility for alarm
devices. Notwithstanding the payment of any fee and/or the issuance
of any permit as herein required, the Police Department, Fire Department
and the Village of Ossining shall be under no obligation whatsoever
concerning the adequacy, operation or maintenance of the alarm device
so installed. The Village of Ossining and its authorized agents hereby
assume no liability whatsoever for any failure of any such alarm device
or for failure to respond to any such alarms or for any act of omission
or commission as a result of any such alarm device.
A.Â
Any owner or lessee of property having an alarm device
or system of devices on its premises and any user of any services
or equipment furnished pursuant to this chapter shall pay to the Village
of Ossining, upon written demand, a charge for each and every false
alarm to which Police or Fire Department personnel respond. There
shall be a fee for each charge as set forth by resolution of the Board
of Trustees in the Fee Schedule.[1] The permitting authority shall notify the permit holder
by prompt written notice of a false alarm charge imposed. A copy of
such notice shall also be sent, in the same manner, to each other
entity identified as a record owner of the premises at which the false
alarm has occurred. Any alarm user charged with a false alarm penalty
may appeal such charge or penalty by filing a notice of appeal of
same with the permitting authority, in writing, within 30 days after
receipt of the notice of such penalty and may appear before the Alarm
Review Board at a place and time selected by the Board.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Schedule of Fees is on
file in the Village offices.
B.Â
It shall be a violation of this chapter to intentionally
cause a false alarm, and any person who does intentionally cause a
false alarm shall be subject to the penalty provisions of this chapter,
in addition to other penalties and sanctions as provided by law.
A.Â
The Village Manager, Village Clerk and Police Chief,
or their designee, shall comprise and serve as an Alarm Review Board
having the powers and duties granted to it under this chapter.
B.Â
The Alarm Review Board shall consider appeals from
determinations of the permitting authority. Upon receipt of a timely
appeal taken, the Alarm Review Board shall notify the appellant of
the date and time when a hearing will be held on the appeal, unless
the appellant shall waive his right to a hearing, in which case the
appeal shall be considered on the basis of submitted information.
Such notice shall be given not less than 10 days in advance of the
scheduled hearing. Notices to an appellant shall be given by certified
mail, return receipt requested. The Alarm Review Board may adopt such
rules and procedures for the prosecution of appeals and conduct of
hearings as shall be proper and appropriate.
C.Â
On the basis of all evidence and information properly
submitted or introduced, the Alarm Review Board shall either affirm
the action of the permitting authority, if it finds such action to
have been properly taken, or it shall rescind or modify such action,
if it finds that it was not properly taken or that the interests of
justice so require. The Alarm Review Board shall hear and decide any
appeal within 30 days after the written notice of appeal is filed
with the permitting authority. Decisions of the Alarm Review Board
shall be final, subject to review by an Article 78 proceeding in the
Supreme Court. Failure of the Alarm Review Board to decide an appeal
within the said thirty-day period shall not result in default approval.
Unpaid false alarm fees, permit fees or other charges shall become a lien upon the property from which the alarm originated in a call to police headquarters, resulting in such fee or charge, and will be collected in the same manner as real estate taxes after the provisions of § 66-8 are exhausted if initiated by the owner or lessee.
Any entity which violates any provisions of
this chapter not otherwise provided for shall be subject to a fine
not in excess of $250 or imprisonment for 15 days, or both, for each
offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed for each occurrence
during which a violation occurs or is committed.
