[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Tinicum 7-15-1996 by Ord. No. 700; amended in its entirety 4-18-2011 by Ord. No. 845. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
Title. This chapter shall be known as the "Alarm and Warning System
Ordinance."
B.
Purpose and intent. The Township of Tinicum finds and declares that:
(1)
Many of the emergency alarms to which Tinicum Township Police, Tinicum
Township Fire Company and other emergency personnel respond are false.
False alarms are herewith deemed to be unacceptable events resulting
in a waste of municipal manpower and creating the potential for serious
injury to police officers, Fire Department personnel, and other emergency
personnel responding to a false alarm. Further, when said personnel
are responding to false alarms, they are not available for the genuine
protection of residents and the general public of Township of Tinicum.
(2)
The increased risk and danger created by emergency responses from
false alarms is unnecessary, hazardous and cannot be tolerated.
(3)
False alarms have created conditions causing danger and annoyance
to the general public.
(4)
The unnecessary waste of public revenue and the dangerous situations
created through responses to false alarms should be eliminated.
(5)
The registration of all alarm systems within the Township of Tinicum
will assist the members of the Tinicum Township Police Department,
and the Tinicum Township Fire Company with their understanding and
identification of the system during their responses in the event of
an emergency, and provide rapid alarm system contact information.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings provided:
A communication to a public safety agency indicating that
a crime, fire or other emergency warranting immediate action by that
public safety agency has occurred or is occurring.
A device designed to automatically transmit an alarm:
Any device, or group of devices, electrical or battery-operated,
designed or used for detection of intrusion into a building, structure
or facility or for alerting persons of the attempt or commission of
a crime or an emergency situation involving potential death or serious
injury and which is directly connected to an audible alarm or transmission,
by any technology, of a related signal or message which is used to
evoke an emergency response by any public safety agency to any address
or separate component of any system.
Any device including, but not limited to, a bell, horn or
siren which is attached to the interior or exterior of the 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,
emergency medical services (EMS) or fire department response.
A sudden unexpected happening, the occurrence or condition
requiring immediate action by police, fire, hazard or medical services
personnel to protect the health, safety and welfare of those affected
by the happening, occurrence or condition.
Any signal activated by manual or an automatic protection
device, any audible alarm or any other kind of direct or indirect
signal given, to which the police, the fire department or other public
safety agencies respond which is not the result of an attempted illegal
entry, burglary, intrusion, fire, medical or other similar emergency,
excluding weather extremes and utility interruptions, which activates
a protection device.
The definition of a false alarm also includes the malicious
or intentional activation of a burglar alarm when there is no burglary
in progress, the malicious or intentional activation of a fire alarm
when there is no fire or hazard condition, or the malicious or intentional
activation of a medical alarm for other than a medical emergency.
Multiple alarms received by the Police Department or any fire
department before the system can be deactivated within a reasonable
period of time shall be considered a single alarm, unless such multiple
alarms are caused by the act of any person.
Any activation of an alarm system caused by any malfunction
caused by violent natural catastrophic condition including electrical
storms or power outages or conditions beyond the control of the owner
will not constitute a false alarm.
Tinicum Township Fire Company of the Township of Tinicum,
Delaware County, Pennsylvania or any department operating within the
Township of Tinicum, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
An individual, corporation, partnership, association, firm,
syndicate, company trust, department bureau agency or other entity,
who actually operates, activates, deactivates, arms or disarms the
alarm system, and is accountable or responsible for the alarm system's
proper on-site operation and maintenance.
Tinicum Township Police Department, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Any municipal agency, including police, fire, and other duly
constituted municipal authority, including, but not limited to, the
Delaware County Communications (911) Center.
All alarm users with an alarm system using an audible alarm
shall equip such system with a timing mechanism that will disengage
the alarm after a maximum period of 15 minutes. Such audible alarm
must remain disconnected until it can be manually reset. It is the
specific intent of the section to prevent an audible alarm automatically
resetting.
A.
Registration.
(1)
With the effective date of this chapter, every owner of an alarm
system, whether newly installed or existing at the time of the effective
date of this chapter, must provide the required information for their
system or systems to be registered with the Township of Tinicum; a
copy of said registration will be maintained in a file with the Township
of Tinicum. The required information must be recorded on a registration
form provided by the Township of Tinicum, stating the name, address,
and telephone number of the owner/applicant; a description of the
property or properties where the proposed alarm system is installed
or shall be installed; the location, and a name and/or number which
is conspicuously displayed on the property or mailbox of the property;
a description of the type or types of alarm system or systems being
used or to be used, including name and model number of the manufacturer;
the name of the person or company who has installed or will install
the alarm system at the location. The business information and telephone
numbers of any monitoring service contracted to monitor the system
or systems; the name, and the address and telephone number of any
person or company who will be available to be contacted in the event
of an alarm activation.
(2)
In the case of more than one building site in which the alarm system
components are installed or are to be installed, the owner/registrant
must provide the Township of Tinicum with the necessary information
concerning how the alarm system for each building shall be distinguishable
from the alarms in any of the other buildings, in the event of an
alarm condition occurrence.
(3)
In the event the name, mailing address or telephone number of the
person to be contacted changes, the owner/registrant shall supply
corrected information to the Township of Tinicum within five days
of any changes. If requested by Township of Tinicum, the person listed
shall be required to be present at the alarm location within a reasonable
length of time (not more than 90 minutes) after being notified that
the Tinicum Township Police Department, Tinicum Township Fire Company
or other emergency department have received any signal or message
of an alarm activation.
B.
Alarm registration transfer.
(1)
Alarms system registration shall not be transferable from one owner/registrant
to another or from one location to another, without express written
authorization from Township of Tinicum. In the event that the premises
in which the alarm system will be installed or has been installed
is to be leased, conveyed, or transferred, it shall be the responsibility
of the then-owner/registrant to notify Township of Tinicum of the
name and telephone number of the new owner or lessees and the name
of the person to be contacted in case of the alarm activation.
(2)
Any subsequent individual or other type of entity that obtains title
or occupies real property in which an alarm system has been installed
and registered by Township of Tinicum shall notify Township of Tinicum
within five days of taking possession of said property and make application
for registration specifying all information necessary for the police
department or other emergency departments to respond to any alarm
activation.
C.
Alarm system registration fees.
(1)
In order to promote full compliance with the registration process
of all alarm systems in the Township of Tinicum, the Board of Commissioners
hereby declares the registration of all and every alarm system within
the Township of Tinicum to be a service of the Township of Tinicum
that will be provide at a cost, in such amount as set from time to
time by the Board of Commissioners, to the system owner/registrants.[1]
A.
Failure to register.
(1)
Any person who shall fail to register any alarm system with Township
of Tinicum prior to the installation or transfer of an alarm system
on any premises shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay
a fine of not more than $100, plus cost of prosecution.
(2)
Owners of alarm systems existing at the time of the adoption of this
chapter, who have not heretofore filed the necessary registration,
shall have a period of 90 days to comply with all provisions of this
chapter. Should said owners default or fail to obtain said registration
as herein mandated, the owner of said alarm system shall be in violation
of this chapter, and upon conviction thereof shall be subjected to
a fine of not less than $100, plus the costs or prosecution, not to
exceed $300, for each day the said violation shall continue.
B.
False alarm fee schedule.
(1)
As a courtesy to all Township alarm owners, the first offense during
any consecutive twelve-month period by each alarm owner shall be considered
a warning and shall not be chargeable.
(2)
For the second false alarm during any consecutive twelve-month period,
an alarm service fee, in such amount as set from time to time by the
Board of Commissioners, shall be charged to said alarm owner.[1]
C.
Alarm system registration revocation. Following the third false alarm,
the Tinicum Township Fire Marshal shall have the authority to temporarily
revoke the registration of any alarm system within the Township. The
owner or entity to whom the alarm system is registered shall be notified
by both certified and regular mail of such action and be provided
with the effective date of the revocation. On such notification, the
owner or entity to whom the alarm system was registered shall provide
a certification from a licensed alarm supplier certifying that the
system is in good operating order and free of defect. If no report
or certification is received within 30 days from the effective date
of revocation, it shall be deemed a violation of this chapter.
Any alarm owner who violates any provision of this chapter and
does not timely pay to the Township of Tinicum the alarm service fees
assessed as required herein within 30 days after receipt of an invoice
from the Township, shall be guilty of a separate violation of this
chapter and shall, upon conviction thereof by the Magisterial District
Judge, be subject to a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000,
plus the cost of prosecution.
