[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village
of Mineola by L.L. No. 3-1988 (Ch. 68 of the 1994 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Alarm Systems
Law of the Incorporated Village of Mineola."
The Board of Trustees has become aware of an extraordinary number
of false burglar and fire alarms emanating from automated devices.
These signals require that police and other emergency services respond
to the false alarm, exposing them to unnecessary hazards and risks,
wasting taxpayer funds and depriving other citizens, who may need
emergency services, of those services. Such systems also produce lengthy
neighborhood disturbances. This chapter is intended to remedy this
waste and to limit these disturbances by regulating alarm systems
and reducing the number of false alarms.
A.
ALARM DEVICE
ALARM INSTALLER
ALARM USER
CENTRAL ALARM STATION
DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT
DIALER ALARM
FALSE ALARM
PERSON
VILLAGE
The following definitions shall apply to terms used in this chapter
unless the context otherwise requires:
Any device which, when activated, transmits a signal to police
headquarters or to a private central alarm station or produces any
audible or visual or telephone signal to which the Police Department
and/or Fire Department is expected to respond.
Any person who installs alarms on any premises (except automobiles)
located within the Village of Mineola.
Any person, business or entity on whose premises an alarm
device is located within the Village of Mineola.
Any private or commercial entity which receives signals from
alarm devices within the Village of Mineola and relays information
pertaining to said alarm devices to police headquarters or to the
Fire Department.
The Department of Building and Code Enforcement of the Incorporated
Village of Mineola.
A telephone-interfaced device that automatically connects
to police headquarters or the Fire Department and transmits any signal
or impulse indicating that an alarm system has been activated or an
emergency condition exists within the Village of Mineola.
The activation of an alarm system which is determined by
responding Police and/or Fire Department personnel not to have been
caused by or as the result of a crime or emergency condition.
Any natural person, firm, business or organization of any
kind.
The Incorporated Village of Mineola.
B.
Word usage. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular
number shall include the plural number. Further, a masculine pronoun
shall include the feminine. The word "shall" is always mandatory and
not merely directory.
Excluded from the provisions of this chapter is any alarm device
installed in or on a motor vehicle. Also excluded from the provisions
of this chapter is any device designed to alert the occupants of any
building of an emergency condition therein and which does not produce
any audible or visual external signal or internal signal perceptible
from outside the building in question.
A.
Every alarm user shall obtain an alarm user permit for each alarm
system he or she owns, controls or operates within the Village of
Mineola.
B.
Applications for alarm user permits shall be filed with the Department
of Building and Code Enforcement and shall include the following information:
(1)
Applicant's name.
(2)
Address of protected premises.
(3)
Applicant's home and business telephone numbers.
(4)
The type of emergency the alarm system is designed to detect.
(5)
The person that sold, installed, responds to and/or maintains the
alarm system.
(6)
The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least two persons
who can be reached at any time to disconnect the system.
C.
The alarm user shall notify the Department of Building and Code Enforcement
of the Incorporated Village of Mineola of any changes in the above
information at least two days prior to the change taking effect. Failure
to do so shall provide grounds for revocation or suspension of the
permit.
D.
The information contained in the alarm user permit shall be maintained
by the Department of Building and Code Enforcement and its inspection
restricted to those Department of Building and Code Enforcement employees
specifically assigned to alarm-system-related duties.
E.
Any alarm system user who operates an alarm system without first
having obtained an alarm user permit as required herein or after having
had a permit suspended or revoked shall be guilty of a violation of
this chapter.
A.
More than four false alarms in any twelve-month period from any alarm
system for which an alarm user permit has been obtained shall constitute
grounds for suspension of the permit.
B.
The holder of any alarm user permit charged with a false alarm as
described herein may appeal the charge in writing to the Board of
Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Mineola within seven days
of notification of the charge. False alarm charges may be waived by
the Board of Trustees after consideration of the appeal.
In the event that an alarm user permit has been suspended or
revoked, the alarm user may have the user permit reinstated by forwarding
to the Department of Building and Code Enforcement, in writing, verification
that the conditions causing such false alarms have been repaired,
corrected or otherwise eliminated. Reinstatement shall not affect
the false alarm count charged to any alarm user permit during each
calendar year.
Each alarm system within the Village of Mineola must be equipped
as follows before an alarm user permit can be issued:
A.
The alarm system shall contain an automatic audible signal cutoff
device so that the maximum time any alarm shall cause an externally
audible signal to be emanated does not exceed 20 minutes per activation.
B.
The alarm system shall be equipped with a standby power source sufficient
to maintain the system in a state of readiness for at least six hours
in the event of a power failure.
C.
Automatic dialer devices, upon a single stimulus, shall not exceed
two separate calls to the Police Department, and no such call shall
exceed one minute in duration. There must be at least a two-minute
interval between calls, with the second call clearly identified as
such.
[Amended 1-5-2000 by L.L. No. 14-2000]
A.
No person shall install an alarm (unless said installation is for
his or her personal use) without first registering with the Department
of Building and Code Enforcement.
B.
Such registration shall be on forms provided by the Department of
Building and Code Enforcement and shall include the person's
name, firm name, address, telephone number, criminal record (if any)
and Nassau County Consumer Protection Board license number. If such
person is a corporation, the information required shall be set forth
for the principals of the corporation.
Within 120 days of the effective date of the local law from
which this chapter is derived, every alarm user shall obtain an alarm
user permit and bring every alarm system into compliance with the
requirements of this chapter.
The Department of Building and Code Enforcement of the Village
of Mineola shall be the agency responsible for the enforcement and
administration of this chapter.
[Amended 10-11-2006 by L.L. No. 2-2006]
In addition to the suspension or revocation of a license or
permit, a violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to
the following fines and penalties:
A.
Alarm users:
(1)
Operating or maintaining an alarm system without an alarm user permit:
a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $100.
(2)
Operating or maintaining an alarm system after an alarm user permit
has been suspended or revoked: not less than $50 nor more than $100.
(3)
An alarm user shall pay to the Village a fine for each and every
false alarm to which the Police and/or Fire Department responds as
follows:
(a)
First false alarm during a continuous twelve-month period: warning
notice.
(b)
Second false alarm during a continuous twelve-month period:
warning notice.
(c)
Third false alarm during a continuous twelve-month period: $100.
(d)
Fourth false alarm and all thereafter during a continuous twelve-month
period: $250.
B.
A violation of any other section of this chapter for which no penalty
has been prescribed shall subject the violator to a fine of not more
than $100.
