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.
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.
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.
C. A violation of this section shall be punishable as set forth in §
1-6 of this Code.
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.