[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township
of Liberty: Art. I, 4-2-1990 by Ord. No. 1-90; Art. II, 7-13-1992 by Ord. No.
19-92. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-2-1990 by Ord. No. 1-90]
No person shall willfully and maliciously ring or cause to be
rung any bell or alarm of any fire company, ambulance association
or police department, thereby giving or causing to be given a false
alarm of fire, ambulance or other emergency call or shall willfully
send any message of false alarm by telephone or by any other method
or means.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall willfully cause a
false alarm of any kind to be transmitted shall be subject to a fine
of not more than $250 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 30
days, or both, such imprisonment and/or fine to be solely at the discretion
of the Judge of the Warren County Municipal Court Special Civil Part.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall unintentionally cause
to be transmitted by mechanical failure, automatic alarm or such other
mechanical device a false alarm shall be subject to the following
provisions:
A.
The Fire Chief shall maintain a written log of all alarms received
and equipment and/or personnel dispatched in response to said alarm,
noting the date and time of each said alarm.
B.
During each consecutive twelve-month period, it shall not be unlawful
for any person, firm or corporation that maintains a fire alarm system
in the Township of Liberty to transmit not more than three false alarms
in connection with the maintenance and operation of said alarm system.
All such persons, firms or corporations shall diligently maintain
their fire alarm systems so as to avoid the transmission of such false
alarms.
C.
The following penalties shall be imposed for the transmission of
false automatic fire alarms in excess of three false alarms:
(1)
For all false alarms in excess of three but not in excess of six
within a consecutive twelve-month period, there shall be a fine of
$100 for each false alarm in excess of three during any such consecutive
twelve-month period.
(2)
For all false alarms in excess of six false alarms within a consecutive
twelve-month period, there shall be a fine of $250 for each false
alarm in excess of six during any such consecutive twelve-month period.
All fines payable under the terms of this Article shall be payable
to the Warren County Court, Special Civil Part.
The Township Committee may from time to time promulgate rules
and regulations supplementing this Article in order to provide for
recordkeeping of fire alarm systems.
The Township of Liberty shall not be deemed to be under any
duty or obligation with respect to the operation of any fire alarm
system operated in the Township of Liberty. Nothing contained in this
Article shall impose liability on the Township of Liberty, its employees
or agents or individual members of the Liberty Township Fire Department
concerning their response to alarms.
[Adopted 7-13-1992 by Ord. No. 19-92]
The purpose of this Article is to provide minimum standards
and regulations for the use of privately installed burglary, robbery
and fire alarm systems, to require registrations, to establish fines
and to create an administrative apparatus.
As used in this Article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any business, operated by a person for a profit, which engages
in the activity of altering, installing, leasing, maintaining, repairing,
replacing, selling, servicing, monitoring or responding to a fire,
burglar or holdup alarm system or which causes any of these activities
to take place. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Article,
the term "alarm business" shall not include a developer or homeowner
who sells an alarm system as part of a sale or transfer of a residential
dwelling unit.
Any type of alarm-activating equipment which provides warning
of burglary, intrusion, fire, flood or like peril.
An assembly of equipment and devices (or a single device such
as a solid-state unit which plugs directly into a one-hundred-ten-volt
AC line) arranged to signal the presence of a hazard, requiring urgent
attention and to which police and/or fire fighters are expected to
respond. In this Article, the term "alarm system" shall include but
not be limited to:
AUTOMATIC HOLDUP ALARM SYSTEMAn alarm system in which a signal transmission is initiated by the action of a robber.
BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMAn alarm system signaling a robbery or attempted robbery.
HOLDUP ALARM SYSTEMAn alarm system signaling a robbery or attempted robbery.
MANUAL HOLDUP ALARM SYSTEMAn alarm system in which the signal transmission is initiated by the direct action of the person attacked or by an observer of an attack.
FIRE ALARM SYSTEMSAlarm systems which monitor temperature, humidity or any other condition of a fire-hazard nature and not directly related to the detection of any unauthorized intrusion into a premises or an attempted robbery at a premises.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Article, the
term "alarm system" shall not include self-contained battery or electrically
powered smoke-detector units which give out an audible signal.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind in possession or control of any
building, structure or facility wherein an alarm device or system
is maintained.
An alarm signal eliciting a response by police and/or fire
fighters when a situation requiring a response by police and/or fire
fighters does not in fact exist.
A.
Registration shall be required for each alarm system within the Township
of Liberty on the effective date of this Article. Users of systems
in place on that date shall complete the registration form within
30 days after this Article takes effect.
B.
Registration form. Any person utilizing an alarm system shall complete
and file with the Clerk a registration form, which may be obtained
from the Clerk, correctly containing the following information:
(1)
The full name of the applicant and address, including an address
description which will permit the appropriate municipal department
to respond to the alarm.
(2)
The common name of the alarm premises.
(3)
The name and address of the person installing, maintaining and/or
owning the system.
(4)
A description of system operation, including, not by way of limitation,
activation points of the system and the mechanism or mechanisms by
which the system becomes activated.
(5)
The name and address of the person or business entity monitoring
and initially responding to an activation of the alarm system and
the telephone number for such person or business entity.
(6)
The names and addresses and telephone numbers of three persons to
be contacted in case of alarm and/or malfunction.
(7)
Any additional relevant information specifically requested by the
Police Chief.
C.
A registration fee of $10 shall be due and payable to the Township
Clerk for each dwelling unit at the time the registration form is
completed. Twenty-five dollars shall be due and payable for all applicants
other than dwelling unit applicants. If two separate systems or a
single system with two separate functions is involved, then separate
fees shall be required for each such system or function, but in no
instance shall this registration fee exceed $50.
D.
If there has occurred any material change in the information previously
submitted with respect to any alarm system by the alarm user, it shall
be the duty of the alarm user, within 10 days of such material change,
to file a supplemental or revised registration containing accurate
current information.
E.
Failure to register an alarm system in accordance with the requirements
of this section shall result in a penalty of $50.
A.
All alarm systems in commercial buildings shall be equipped with
batteries.
B.
Every burglar alarm must be provided with a device which will automatically
set or shut off the alarm within 15 minutes after the term of activation.
C.
Every burglar alarm system in a private dwelling shall be equipped
with a time delay of at least 20 seconds.
D.
If the alarm system is tied into, monitored by, responded to and/or
serviced by a central station or answering service, upon activation
of said alarm system, the central station or answering system shall
verify the validity of the alarm prior to notifying the Fire Department
of the same unless the alarm pertains to fire, in which case the Fire
Department shall be notified immediately without verification.
E.
No police, fire or other public department or official shall be responsible
in any way for the resetting or maintenance of any alarm system.
F.
A new homeowner, occupant or user possessing or using an alarm system
shall be responsible for notifying and recompleting the application
form relative to the system with the Clerk within 30 days of his,
her or its purchase and/or transfer of title of the property.
G.
The acceptance of any registration form by the municipality does
not constitute the municipality's acceptance or approval of the
alarm system involved and shall in no manner place upon the fire divisions,
Township of Liberty or any other agency of the municipality any additional
liabilities other than those statutorily incurred.
H.
The provisions of this Article shall not apply to any alarm system
installed on the property occupied by any township, county, state
or federal government agency or office.
I.
It shall be the responsibility of each and every alarm user to complete
the registration form in detail, and it shall be the alarm user's
responsibility to obtain the necessary information in order to satisfactorily
and substantively provide the information required.
In case of false alarms which summon the Police or Fire Department
to investigate, the Clerk shall cause an investigation to be made
and shall keep a record of such false alarms on file. Such records
shall be prima facie evidence of the contents thereof.
A.
Investigation and record of alarms. In the case of a false alarm,
any person having knowledge thereof shall immediately notify the Fire
Department.
B.
Penalties. For such false alarms, the following penalties shall be
applied:
(1)
For the first and second false alarm in any given twelve-month period,
a warning shall be issued.
(2)
For the third false alarm in the same twelve-month period, a fine
of $50 shall be paid to the township.
(3)
For the fourth and subsequent false alarms in the same twelve-month
period, a fine of $100 shall be paid to the township.
