The following definitions shall apply in the interpretation and enforcement of this article:
ALARM ADMINISTRATOR The Police Department employee, assigned by the Village Manager, who is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the provisions of this article.
ALARM OCCURRENCE The activation of an alarm system for, or as a result of, any reason whatsoever that notifies the Police and/or Fire Departments to respond to the premises at which the alarm system exists.
ALARM SYSTEM Any assemblage of mechanical or electrical equipment or devices (or a single device such as a solid state unit which plugs directly into a one-hundred-ten-volt AC line and/or is battery powered) arranged to signal the presence of a fire, hazard, occurrence of an unauthorized intrusion or other activity requiring urgent and immediate attention. The term "alarm system" shall include, but shall not be limited to: "automatic holdup alarm systems," "burglar alarm systems," "holdup alarm systems," "fire alarm systems," "medical emergency alarm systems," and "outside ringers." The following alarm systems are specifically excluded from the provisions of this article: motor vehicle alarm systems; alarm systems which monitor temperature, humidity or any other condition not directly related to the detection of an unauthorized intrusion into a premises, an attempted robbery or burglary at a premises, a fire, fire alarm supervisory and trouble signals, or a medical emergency at a premises; and alarm systems that, upon activation, do not transmit or cause to be transmitted any message or signal to the Police or Fire Department.
ALARM USER The person, family, household, firm, entity, partnership, association, corporation, company, organization or state, or subdivision thereof, in possession or control of any building, structure, facility or property in the Village where an alarm system is currently being maintained or is hereafter maintained.
ALARM USER PERMIT A permit issued by the Village for the privilege and ability to operate an alarm system within the Village.
CENTRAL STATION FIRE ALARM SYSTEM A system or group of systems in which the operations of circuits and devices are transmitted automatically to, recorded in, maintained by, and supervised from a signal-gathering center that has competent and experienced servers and operators who, upon receipt of a signal, take such action as necessary. Such service is controlled and operated by a person, firm, or corporation whose business, at least in part, is furnishing, maintaining, or monitoring of supervised fire alarm systems.
DIRECT DIALER/AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE DIALER A feature of an alarm system that utilizes a telephone device or attachment to automatically select a telephone trunk line at the Police Department and reproduces a prerecorded message to report an alarm occurrence.
FALSE ALARM An alarm occurrence that was caused by human error or mechanical failure or malfunction to summon aid or to alert others, to which the Police or Fire Department responded and for which no emergency or other situation requiring an immediate response by the Police or Fire Department existed.
FALSE ALARM DISPATCH An alarm dispatch to the Police and/or Fire Department for which the responding officer finds no evidence of a criminal offense, or attempted criminal offense, or for which the responding firefighter finds no evidence of fire or smoke conditions which would have caused a fire alarm after having completed a timely investigation of the alarm site.
FALSE ALARM FEE The amount of money determined by the Board of Trustees to be reasonable compensation for the services assumed by the Village in responding to a false alarm dispatch.
FIRE ALARM SYSTEM A system or portion of a combination of systems that consists of components and circuits arranged to monitor and transmit the status of fire alarm or supervisory signal-initiating devices and to initiate the appropriate response to those signals.
LOCAL ALARMS Those alarms that create an audible sound on a premises when triggered and do not send a signal to any off-site location.
OUTSIDE RINGER/LOCAL ALARM A feature of an alarm system that, when activated, causes an audible and/or visual device to activate in, on or near the premises within which the alarm system is maintained.
RADIO ALARM SYSTEM A system in which signals are transmitted from a radio alarm transmitter located at a protected premises through a radio channel to two or more radio alarm repeater station receivers and that are transmitted by a radio alarm supervising station receiver located at the remote station.
REMOTE SUPERVISING STATION FIRE ALARM SYSTEM A system installed in accordance with this article to transmit alarm, supervisory, and trouble signals from one or more protected premises to the Fire Department dispatch center.
Alarm systems shall meet the following requirements:
(A) Delay mechanism required. Every burglar alarm system shall be equipped with an alarm delay mechanism on all ingress and egress doorways that allows at least a fifteen-second delay before activation of an audible alarm, or the transmitting of a message or signal to the Police and/or Fire Department. No delay mechanism shall be required for any fire or medical emergency alarm component of an alarm system.
(B) Current information required. The alarm system user/owner shall be responsible to update information on the alarm permit application within 10 days after any of the information required and contained therein becomes outdated and inaccurate.
(C) Fire alarm system required. Fire alarm systems shall be installed when and as required by the currently adopted building and fire codes The fire alarm system shall be connected to the Fire Department dispatch center by radio connection.
(D) Fire
alarm system maintained. Fire
alarm systems shall be inspected and maintained as required pursuant to the building and fire regulations pursuant to Chapter
14 of this Code.
(E) Radio connection for remote station alarms. All alarm systems that transmit a signal to the Village Police Department by a dedicated telephone line must be upgraded to become, or be replaced by, a radio alarm system by December 31, 2012.
(F) Radio connection for central station
alarms. Notwithstanding Section
5-2-4(E) of this Code, all existing central station fire
alarm systems may be maintained without an upgrade or replacement until one of the following events occurs:
(1) A central station fire alarm system is substantially improved. Such substantial improvements include, but are not limited to, replacing or improving a central station fire alarm's panel or smoke and/or burglar detectors;
(2) The property or building at issue is reclassified as a higher-risk occupancy class pursuant to provisions of the International Fire Code, as adopted by Chapter
14 of this Code ; or
(3) In the opinion of the Fire Chief, or his or her designees, such connection is necessary due to an increased life safety hazard.
Direct burglar or fire alarm connection to the Police Department shall be authorized, provided that the following conditions are met and that all necessary fees and charges are paid:
(A) Local alarm tone. If an alarm rings on the premises, it shall not make a sound similar to that of sirens on emergency vehicles or of civil defense warning systems.
(B) Alarm user fee paid. The applicant has applied for, met the requisite conditions and paid an
alarm user fee as provided for in Section
5-2-3(A) of this Code.
(C) Initial connection fee paid. An initial connection fee, as determined by the current agreement, shall be paid at the time of the application to the vendor contracted with by the Village to cover the costs of alarm connection to the Police Department alarm board.
(D) Monthly maintenance fee paid. A monthly maintenance fee, as determined by the current agreement, shall be paid to the current vendor contracted with by the Village to cover maintenance on the equipment housed at the Police Department.
No person, firm, or corporation shall use or permit to be used, or engage in the business of providing any telephone device or telephone attachment that automatically selects a public trunk line of the Police or Fire Department of the Village and then reproduces any prerecorded message to report any robbery, burglary, fire or other emergency. Automatic telephone alarms not so removed shall be subject to abatement as a nuisance and is in direct violation of this article.
All local alarms that emit a sound that is audible beyond the lot lines of the property on which the alarm is located shall be equipped with an automatic shutoff which will deactivate within five minutes of the alarm. It shall be unlawful to cause or permit any alarm system to be audible from any location in the Village, other than the property on which the alarm is located, in excess of five minutes. Local alarms shall not make a sound similar to that of sirens on emergency vehicles or of civil defense warning systems.
All owners of any of the alarm systems described above will be responsible for making arrangements with neighbors or other responsible parties to ensure that the alarm system can be accessed for maintenance and turned off in case of malfunction or false alarms which would result in prolonged operation, thereby creating a disturbance for neighboring property owners.
The Village assumes no liability for any defects in the operation of any alarm system, for any actions or failure to act of any alarm business, alarm contractor, alarm user, or other person in connection with the transmission or receipt of alarm signals, or any action or failure to act upon receipt of an alarm from any source. It is not the intention of the Village to create or assume any special duty or any other duty other than that owed to the general public by virtue of this article or any actions taken or failure to act thereunder.
In addition to any fees, fines or other penalties established in this article, any person, firm or corporation convicted of a violation of any of the provisions of this article shall be fined for each offense in an amount set forth in the Annual Fee Resolution. Each day such violation continues shall be considered a separate offense.