[Added 4-1-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-8]
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
ALARM SYSTEM
An assembly of equipment and devices or a single device such as a solid-state unit which plugs directly into a 110-volt alternating current line, arranged to signal the presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention and to which police are expected to respond.
ALARM SYSTEM USER or USER
Any person on whose premises an alarm system is maintained within the City, except for alarm systems on motor vehicles or proprietary systems.
ANSWERING SERVICE
Any privately owned or operated facility or terminal responsible for monitoring alarms and notifying police departments of alarm activation.
AUTOMATIC DIALING DEVICE
An alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal indicating the existence of the emergency situation that the alarm system is designed to detect.
AUTOMATIC SHUT-OFF DEVICE
A device that will shut off such alarm within 15 minutes after activation.
CENTRAL STATION
An office to which remote alarm and supervisory signaling devices are connected, where operators supervise circuits or where guards are maintained continuously to investigate signals.
CITY
The City of Fall River, Massachusetts.
COMMUNICATIONS CONSOLE
The instrumentation on an alarm console at the receiving terminal of a signal line which, through both visual and audible signals, indicates activation of an alarm system at a particular location, or which indicates line trouble.
DIRECT CONNECT
An alarm system which has the capability of transmitting system signals to and receiving them at the City's Police Department communication center.
FALSE ALARM
The activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation, or negligence of the user of an alarm system or of his employees or agents; or any signal or oral communication transmitted to the Police Department requesting, or requiring, or resulting in a response on the part of the Police Department when in fact there has been no unauthorized intrusion or attempted unauthorized intrusion into a premises and no attempted robbery or burglary at a premises. Excluded from this definition are activations of alarm systems caused by power outages, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and similar conditions. The Police Chief or his designee shall be responsible for the determination of whether an alarm is false.
HEARING OFFICER
The City's Police Chief or his designee.
INTERCONNECT
To connect an alarm system to a voice-grade telephone line, either directly or through a mechanical device that utilizes a standard telephone, for the purpose of using the telephone line to transmit an emergency message upon the activation of the alarm system.
PUBLIC NUISANCE
Anything which annoys, injures or endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of any person or of any community or neighborhood. Any false alarm which sounds three or more times within an eight-hour period or any alarm system emitting a continuous and uninterrupted signal which cannot be shut off or otherwise curtailed shall be considered a public nuisance.
A. 
No person shall install or cause to be installed, use, or maintain an alarm system on premises owned, rented, or leased without first registering such alarm system with the Chief of Police.
B. 
The owner of an alarm system shall be responsible for the proper installation and maintenance of such alarm system in order to prevent such alarm system from activating false alarms or from becoming a public nuisance.
[Amended 9-2-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-47]
The owner of a burglar alarm system under Division 1 of this article and/or the owner of a fire alarm system under Division 3 of this article which sounds a false alarm more than once in any one calendar year shall be fined $25; more than two times in any one calendar year, $50; more than three times in any one calendar year, $75; more than four times in any one calendar year, $100; and any subsequent false alarm, $100.
A. 
No automatic dialing device shall be interconnected to any telephone numbers at the Police Department after the effective date of the ordinance from which this article is derived.
B. 
Within six months after the effective date of the ordinance from which this article is derived, all automatic dialing devices interconnected to any telephone numbers at the Police Department shall be disconnected therefrom. The user of each such device shall be responsible for having the device disconnected upon notification by the Police Chief or his designee.
A. 
All alarms must be authorized by the Chief of Police prior to being connected to the City Police Department.
B. 
In accordance with the normal practices in effect in the City, the Chief of Police shall have the authority to request bids or proposals from alarm companies in order to furnish, at no cost to the City, a communications console and the necessary telephone lines which are compatible to the receipt of alarm signals from alarm systems whose lines are connected to the Police Department. Each of the bids shall set forth the annual fee each alarm user will be required to pay the alarm company for services rendered with respect to the communications console, except that no fee shall be assessed to the municipality for any alarms or connections to the console from properties owned by the municipality. Such services shall be set forth in the form of a written contract between the alarm company and each alarm user. The provisions of the subsection relate solely to the aforementioned communications console, connections to the console by alarm users, and fees and charges related to the installation and maintenance of the console. Any alarm user may contract with any alarm company of his choice for the sale, installation, maintenance, and/or servicing of the alarm system to be installed on his premises.
C. 
The alarm user, or the alarm business contracting for servicing the alarm user's alarm system, shall be responsible for obtaining the leased telephone line between the alarm user's premises and the alarm-receiving equipment at the Police Department and for furnishing the appropriate interface equipment, if required, in order to provide an input signal which is compatible with the receiving equipment used to operate the communications console.
D. 
The provisions of this chapter concerning false alarms shall apply to all alarm users or persons having direct-connect systems, except municipal, county and state agencies and religious organizations.
A. 
All alarm systems directly connected to the police station may be equipped with a test device which will give a ten-second delay or longer prior to alarm system activation in order to warn the alarm user of an open alarm circuit.
B. 
Any alarm system emitting a continuous and uninterrupted signal for more than 15 minutes which cannot be shut off or otherwise curtailed due to the absence or unavailability of the alarm user and which disturbs the peace, comfort or repose of a community, or a neighborhood or the area where the alarm system is located shall constitute a public nuisance. Upon receiving complaints regarding such a continuous and uninterrupted signal, the Police Chief or his designee shall endeavor to contact the alarm user, or members of the alarm user's family, in an effort to abate the nuisance. The Police Chief shall cause to be recorded the names and addresses of all complainants and the time each complaint was made.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions).
No alarm system designated to transmit emergency messages directly to the Police Department shall be worked on, tested or demonstrated without obtaining permission from the Police Chief or his designee. Permission is not required to test or demonstrate alarm devices not transmitting emergency messages directly to the Police Department. An unauthorized test constitutes a false alarm.
A. 
When emergency messages are received by the Police Department through the police communications console, a central station, answering service, or other means that evidence false alarms, the Police Chief shall take such action as may be appropriate under Subsections B, C, D and E of this section, and, when so required by the terms of the aforementioned subsections, order that use of an alarm system be discontinued.
B. 
After the Police Department has recorded one false alarm within the calendar year from an alarm system, the police shall notify the alarm user, in person, by telephone, or by mail of such fact and require the user to submit, within 15 days after receipt of such notice, a report describing efforts to discover and eliminate the cause or causes of the false alarms. If the user, on the basis of absence from the City, or on any other reasonable basis, requests an extension of time for filing the report, the Police Chief may extend the fifteen-day period for a reasonable period. If the user fails to submit such a report within 15 days or within any such extended period, the Police Chief may order that use of the alarm system be discontinued. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Police Chief's order.
C. 
In the event that the Police Chief determines that a report submitted in accordance with Subsection B of this section is unsatisfactory, or that the alarm user has failed to show by the report that he has taken or will take reasonable steps to eliminate or reduce false alarms, then the Police Chief may order that use of the alarm system be discontinued. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Police Chief's order.
D. 
In the event that the Police Department records five false alarms within the calendar year from an alarm system, the Police Chief may order that the user of the alarm system discontinue use of the alarm system for the calendar year, but for not less than six months from the date the alarm was disconnected.
E. 
Any user of an alarm system which transmits false alarms shall be assessed a fine in accordance with § 22-33 for each false alarm in excess of one or more occurring within the calendar year. All fines assessed hereunder shall be paid to the Police Department for deposit in the general fund. Upon failure of the user of an alarm system to pay two consecutive fines assessed hereunder within 60 days of assessment, the Police Chief may order that the user discontinue use of the alarm system. Any such discontinuance shall be effectuated within 15 days from the date of receipt of the Police Chief's order.
F. 
Any user of an alarm system who has been assessed a fine for failure to properly maintain said alarm may, within 30 days, request in writing, a hearing before the Police Chief. The Police Chief or his designee shall notify the alarm user of the date, time and place of said hearing. The hearing officer shall consider the merits of the appeal and following same shall affirm, vacate or modify said order for payment, due within 15 days of said hearing. Failure to request an appeal within 30 days shall terminate the right to appeal.
The provisions of this article shall not apply to:
A. 
Fire alarm systems and alarm systems which monitor temperature, smoke, humidity or any other condition not directly related to the detection of an unauthorized intrusion into a premises or an attempted robbery.
B. 
Central station personnel and persons who use alarm systems to alert or signal persons within the premises in which the alarm system is located of an attempted unauthorized intrusion or holdup attempt. If such a system, however, employs an audible signal emitting sounds or a flashing light or beacon designed to signal persons outside the premises, such system shall be within the definition of "alarm system" and shall be subject to this chapter.