[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of East Rutherford 12-15-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-19.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire Department — See Ch. 28.
Police Department — See Ch. 56.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 155.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 92,
Alarms, adopted 1-1-1982 as Sec. 3-32 of the 1982 Recodification,
as amended.
The Mayor and Council finds and declares that:
A.
There is increasing use of private emergency alarm systems by citizens
of this Borough;
B.
Most alarms generated by private alarm systems are listed as false
alarms by responding authorities;
C.
Police and Fire Department responses to false alarms provide an extra
public safety service that benefit only those individuals who own
alarm systems;
D.
Alarm users and the general public are harmed by excessive numbers
of false alarms, because excessive false alarms divert Public Safety
Officers from other potentially critical duties and constitute a nuisance
that must be abated;
E.
Fees to reimburse the Borough for the costs of responding to excessive
false alarms are justified because these false alarms divert limited
public safety resources;
F.
The Police and Fire Departments recognize the value of alarms and
will respond accordingly to investigate possible crime and other emergencies,
suppress fire propagation, address life safety issues, and provide
medical treatment to fulfill the needs of the public; however, these
services are not used effectively when Borough personnel must respond
to locations with excessive numbers of false alarms;
G.
Businesses with excessive false fire alarms are subject to reinspection
of their fire suppression, fire alarm system and facilities by the
Fire Marshal's Office;
H.
Certain records are necessary to locate the persons in control of
a property when the police have been notified by an alarm of an actual
burglary or other emergency and need access to the property or when
an audible alarm system is malfunctioning so as to cause a nuisance
to the neighbors and other persons in the proximity of the alarm;
A.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish criteria governing the
installation, use and maintenance of alarm systems within the Borough
of East Rutherford in order to reduce or eliminate the false alarms
that consume public safety resources. Nothing in this chapter is intended
to discourage proper use of alarm systems.
B.
This chapter governs systems that summon public safety agency response,
requires permitting, establishes fees, provides for penalties for
violations and establishes a system of administration.
As used in this chapter, the following definitions shall apply
unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
An employee of the Borough designated by the Mayor, with
the consent of the Council, to implement and enforce this chapter.
A single fixed commercial or private premises or location
served by an alarm system. Each tenancy, if served by a separate alarm
system in a multi-tenant building or complex, shall be considered
a separate alarm site.
Any mechanical, electrical or electronic device designed
to detect an unauthorized entry or emergency situation on real property
which emits sound off the premises or transmits an electronic signal
off the premises.
Any individual, partnership, corporation, agent, or other
entity engaged in leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering,
replacing, installing or inspecting any alarm system, or in causing
any alarm system to be leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered,
replaced, or installed in any building, structure, or facility. The
foregoing sentence includes, but is not limited to, any person or
entity that derives any pecuniary benefit from any contract for the
installation of any alarm system, including but not limited to any
person or entity that sells a contract for the installation or monitoring
of an alarm system.
Any person or entity that intercepts signals indicating the
activation of an alarm system and relays this information to the Police
or Fire Department.
Any person, firm, partnership, corporation or other entity
who uses or is in control of an alarm site. In the case of a rental
property, the renter is considered the alarm user.
A permit issued by the Borough of East Rutherford authorizing
the operation of an alarm system within the Borough.
Any electrical, electronic, mechanical or other device capable
of being programmed to send a prerecorded voice message, when activated,
over a telephone line, radio or other communication system, to a law
enforcement agency.
A reasonable investigation or inquiry into an individual's
previous history, including but not limited to his/her criminal record
and other information, that will at the minimum reveal whether the
person conducting the investigation has made a reasonable assessment
of the likelihood of danger to the alarm owner posed by the alarm
system installation and repair business personnel.
Any alarm system installation and repair business or alarm
system monitoring business that has received an annual alarm business
permit under this chapter.
The process by which an alarm system monitoring business
verifies that a false dispatch has occurred and that there is not
an existing situation at the alarm site requiring public safety response.
Person designated by the alarm user who has the ability and
the authority to allow access to the alarm site and the alarm system.
An alarm system designed to be activated by a person to indicate
an immediate life-threatening situation is present.
The activation of any alarm system resulting in notification
of the Police or Fire Department, for which the responding Public
Safety Officer finds no evidence of criminal activity, fire, smoke,
carbon monoxide, heat or other threat of emergency of the kind for
which the alarm system was designed to give notice.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following shall not be deemed
a false alarm:
Upon receipt of a notice of demand for hearing, the Borough
Clerk shall promptly schedule a hearing before the Mayor and Council,
or a Hearing Officer designated by the Mayor and Council who shall
hold a hearing within 30 days from the date of the receipt of the
notice of demand;
Activities caused by power or phone line when such interruptions
have been previously reported to both the East Rutherford Police Department
and the East Rutherford Bureau of Fire Safety; or
When the responding police officer finds evidence of a violation
of the New Jersey Criminal Code or calamity such as fire damage by
natural elements.
A false fire alarm resulting in notification of the East
Rutherford Fire Department of a fire emergency.
A person designated by the Mayor and Council to act as an
impartial adjudicator at hearings related to the enforcement of this
chapter.
An alarm system designed to detect a breach of the exterior
of or unauthorized movement in an alarm site.
An alarm system that results in sending a signal to an alarm
system monitoring business.
Any alarm user who has received an alarm user permit under
this chapter.
Members of the East Rutherford Police Department or East
Rutherford Fire Department.
An attempt by the alarm system monitoring business to contact
the alarm site by telephone before requesting public safety dispatch,
in order to avoid an unnecessary alarm dispatch.
A.
No alarm user shall operate, or cause to be operated, an alarm system
without a valid alarm user permit for the alarm site issued by the
Alarm Registration Officer.
B.
Possession of an alarm user permit is not intended to, nor will it,
create a contract, duty or obligation, either expressed or implied,
of response by a Public Safety Officer. Any and all liability and
consequential damage resulting from the failure to respond is hereby
disclaimed and governmental immunity as provided by law is retained.
Without limitation of the foregoing, by applying for an alarm user
permit, the alarm user acknowledges that public safety response may
be based on factors such as availability of public safety units, priority
of calls, weather conditions, traffic conditions, emergency conditions
or staffing levels.
C.
A fee of $50 shall be charged for the issuance of each alarm user
permit, provided that no such fee shall be charged until January 1,
2010, and provided further that no one- or two-family residential
use shall be subject to this fee. There shall be no fee for a renewal
of an alarm user permit.
D.
An alarm user permit must be renewed annually and cannot be transferred
to another person or alarm site.
E.
A separate alarm user permit is required for each alarm site.
F.
The initial alarm user permit application form and permit fee must
be submitted to the Alarm Registration Officer within 60 days after
installation of the alarm system. In lieu of a documented date of
installation, the first recorded activation of the alarm system shall
be considered the installation date. An alarm user who operates an
alarm system without an alarm user permit shall be subject to the
penalty provisions of this chapter.
G.
Each alarm user permit application must include the following information:
(1)
The name, address, home, work and cellular telephone numbers and
e-mail address if available of the person in control of the alarm
site.
(2)
The street address of the alarm site.
(3)
Classification of the alarm site as either residential or commercial.
(4)
Classification of the alarm site as either owner-occupied or leased.
If leased, identification of the owner of the alarm site, including
name, address and phone number. If the alarm site is an apartment,
the application shall also include the name and telephone number of
the apartment manager.
(5)
Any business name used for the alarm site.
(6)
The type of alarm system or systems and the purpose for which they
are designed (i.e., intrusion, hold-up, fire, or any category identified
by the false alarm reduction unit).
(7)
The names and telephone numbers of two contact persons who, if notified,
at any time will come to the alarm site within 30 minutes after receiving
a request from a member of the Police or Fire Department. These persons
shall grant access to the alarm site and deactivate the alarm system
if necessary.
(8)
Name and alarm business permit number of the alarm system monitoring
business, if applicable.
(9)
For the initial application following installation of a new alarm
system, name contractor of the licensed contractor that installed
the alarm system, if not installed by the homeowner.
H.
Whenever any information on the alarm user permit application changes,
a new alarm user permit application must be filed and a new permit
fee paid within 30 days of such change.
I.
To the extent required by law, the Borough shall treat all information
on such application as proprietary and confidential information; provided,
however, nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the use of such information
for legitimate public safety purposes and for enforcement of this
chapter.
J.
The Alarm Registration Officer shall assign an alarm permit for each
alarm site in a federal, state, county, public school and other political
subdivision facility for tracking purposes and to allow the Borough
of East Rutherford to cooperate with these agencies to address any
recurring false alarm problems. Neither permit fees, service fees
nor fines shall be required of such agencies.
A.
An
alarm user, whether at a business or residence, shall be responsible
for:
(1)
Complying with all permit and other requirements specified in this
chapter, as well as other applicable Code and state and federal laws;
(2)
Instructing all persons who are authorized to place the device or
system into operation in the appropriate method of operation, advising
them of the provisions of this chapter, and emphasizing the importance
of avoiding false alarms. The absence of instruction does not provide
a defense to any person or entity;
(3)
Maintaining the alarm site and the alarm system in a manner that
will reasonably eliminate false alarms;
(4)
Responding or causing a representative to respond within 30 minutes
when requested by Borough officials to provide access to an alarm
site where an alarm signal is being emitted, to deactivate a malfunctioning
alarm system or to provide alternative security for the alarm site;
(5)
Providing that no person shall manually activate an alarm for any
reason other than the emergency that the alarm system is intended
to report other than testing of the alarm system.
(6)
Notifying the alarm system monitoring business prior to activation
of an alarm for maintenance, test or instruction purposes;
(7)
Adjusting the mechanism or causing the mechanism to be adjusted so
that an intrusion alarm signal audible on the exterior of an alarm
site will sound for no longer than 15 minutes after being activated,
but may be reactivated by a reset.
(8)
Paying all fees and fines under this chapter within 90 days of the
date assessed.
B.
Dial
alarms.
(1)
No new dial alarm shall be installed or used after the effective
date of this chapter.
(2)
Within 90 days from the effective date of this chapter, all existing
dial alarms programmed to send a telephone message to the telephone
communication center of the Police Department shall be disconnected
or reprogrammed to discontinue the sending of such message to the
Police Department telephone communication center.
The East Rutherford Police and Fire Departments shall respond
to alarm notifications according to department protocol.
A.
The Alarm Registration Officer shall:
(1)
Be the primary agency responsible for implementation and enforcement
of this chapter;
(2)
Develop such forms, notifications, and systems as are necessary to
implement this chapter;
(3)
Send the initial billing for all permits and annual renewals of same,
as well as false alarm service fees and applicable fines.
(4)
Send a notice of each false alarm to the address of the alarm site.
(5)
Provide a copy of all false alarm notices to the Municipal Court
upon request of the Municipal Prosecutor.
(6)
Coordinate between the alarm system industry, East Rutherford Police
Department, East Rutherford Fire Department and Bureau of Fire Safety
to reduce the number of false alarms and improve responses to true
emergencies;
B.
If there is reason to believe that an alarm system is not being used
or maintained in a manner that ensures proper operation and suppresses
false alarms, the Borough may require a conference with an alarm user
and the alarm system business responsible for the repair of the alarm
system to review the circumstances of each false alarm.
C.
If the Alarm Registration Officer identifies an alarm system installation
and repair business that is operating in East Rutherford without a
required license from the State of New Jersey, the Alarm Registration
Officer shall report that business to the authorized state or local
enforcement authority.
No person shall intentionally activate an alarm system for any
purpose other than an emergency or threat of emergency of the kind
for which the alarm system was designed to give notice. Activation
of an alarm system for maintenance, testing, and instruction purposes
is exempted from this provision, provided that the alarm user notifies
the alarm system monitoring business of the test immediately prior
to testing. Any violation of this section shall result in a violation
of $500.
A.
False fire alarms.
(2)
In addition to any fine, the alarm user of any location from which
occurs a false fire alarm may be required to provide to the Alarm
Registration Officer an advisory letter (dated within 30 days following
the date on which the complaint is issued) from an alarm system installation
and repair business stating that the system is operating properly.
Failure to provide such advisory letter will constitute a separate
offense.
B.
During any twelve-month period, an alarm user shall be assessed the
following penalties for activation of a false alarm other than a false
fire alarm.
C.
If cancellation of a burglar alarm from the alarm system monitoring
business occurs prior to Public Safety Officers arriving at the alarm
site, no false alarm offense will be imposed.
D.
The alarm user shall be given written notice of any fees and fines chargeable under this section. Such fees and fines shall be paid to the Borough of East Rutherford within 30 calendar days of the date of the notice of fees and fines due. If an alarm user fails to pay such fines within that time, the Alarm Registration Officer shall sign and file a complaint in the Municipal Court based upon the alleged violations of Chapter 92 which formed the basis for the notice, and any other violations of which the Alarm Registration Officer is aware. In that event, the payment of the fines or penalties shall be suspended pending the decision of the Municipal Court. If the Municipal Court finds the alarm user guilty of violating this chapter, the court shall impose the fines and penalties set forth in this § 92-9.
[Amended 4-20-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-10]
Nothing in this penalty section shall preclude the Borough from
seeking any equitable relief including but not limited to an injunction.
