[HISTORY: Adopted by the City of Rochester 6-6-1995 as Ch. 33 of the 1995 Code; amended 6-6-2006. Subsequent amendments noted
where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fires and fire safety — See Ch. 75.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide minimum standards
for operation and regulations applicable to burglar alarm systems,
alarm businesses and alarm users.
Within 60 days after the effective date of this chapter, every
alarm user shall obtain an alarm user permit for each alarm system
he/she operates within the City of Rochester. This permit shall be
obtained through the Communications Center which is located in the
Police Department.
A.
The alarm user applying for the permit required in § 16-2 of this chapter shall state on the permit application prescribed by the Chief of the Police Department his/her name, the address of the residence or business or businesses where the alarm system has been installed, his/her telephone number, and at least two persons who can be reached any time day or night and who are authorized to respond to an alarm signal and who can open the premises in which the system is installed.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
B.
Any false statement or misrepresentation of a material fact made
by an applicant for the purpose of obtaining a user's permit or renewal,
or while making a change thereto, shall be sufficient cause for refusal
to grant or revocation of a permit.
A.
Fee. There will be a permit fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.) for
the installation of a new alarm system. For each year after the initial
installation, the renewal fee shall be ten dollars ($10.). All permits
shall be renewed each year by April 1. Any renewal fee not paid within
30 days of April 1 shall be subject to a late fee of ten dollars ($10.)
in addition to the renewal fee.
B.
Fee exceptions. If a residential alarm user is over 65 years of age
and is the primary resident of the dwelling and if no business is
conducted in the residence, a user's permit may be obtained without
the payment of a fee. Federal, state, county or local government agencies
that operate an alarm system shall be exempt from payment of a fee.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
The information contained in the alarm user permit application required by § 16-3 and other information received by the Chief of the Police Department, through correspondence or communications with the alarm user, shall be securely maintained and restricted to inspection by the Chief of the Police Department or certain police, or City employees specifically assigned the responsibility for handling and processing alarm user permits in the course of their duties. If one of those persons is found to have purposely or knowingly revealed the information contained in an alarm user permit application or in correspondence or communications with an alarm user to any person for any purpose not related to this chapter or official law enforcement matters, or without the express written consent of the alarm user supplying such information, he/she shall be guilty of a violation.
Any alarm system user who operates or permits to be operated
any alarm system without first obtaining a permit as required by this
chapter, or who operates or permits to be operated an alarm system
when such permit has expired, shall be guilty of a violation and,
upon conviction, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars
($100.).
Any alarm system user who, after having a permit revoked or
suspended and after exhausting his/her right to a hearing, fails to
disconnect his/her alarm system, or reconnects his/her system prior
to the restoration of his/her permit, shall be guilty of a violation
and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars
($100.).
A.
For the purpose of this chapter, a false alarm shall be defined as
an alarm signal eliciting a response by police or fire personnel when
a situation requiring a response by police or fire personnel does
not exist, but does not include an alarm signal caused by violent
conditions of nature.
B.
Any case where a false alarm is received in excess of six alarms
in any calendar year from an alarm system for which an alarm user
permit has been obtained, a service charge of one hundred dollars
($100.) shall be levied.
C.
If the false alarm is due to an alarm system malfunction that is
in the process of being repaired or where immediate steps are taken
to identify or correct the problem and notification has been made
to the dispatch center as applicable, the Chief of the Police Department
may waive the civil assessment. Refusal to pay the civil assessment
within 30 days of the assessment shall be punishable as a violation
and may be cause for revocation of the alarm user's permit.
[Amended 3-5-2019; 11-10-2020]
A.
If the Police Department, in the case of a burglar alarm, has recorded false alarms in excess of limits stated in § 16-8, the Chief of the Police Department shall notify the permit holder in writing and request the permit holder to submit a report within 15 days describing efforts to discover and eliminate the cause(s) of the false alarms. If the alarm user reasonably requests an extension of time to file said report based upon some extraordinary circumstances, the Chief of the Police Department may extend the 15 days for a reasonable time. If the permit holder fails to submit his/her report within the specified period, the Chief of the Police Department shall notify the alarm user that his/her permit to operate an alarm system has been revoked, and under such circumstances the user shall not be entitled to a hearing as hereinafter provided.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
B.
If the alarm user submits a report as required by Subsection A of this section but the Chief of the Police Department finds the report unsatisfactory, then the Chief of the Police Department may issue a written notice of his/her intent to revoke the alarm user's permit.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
C.
If after submission of a report required by Subsection A of this section which is satisfactory to the Chief of the Police Department the alarm system of the permit holder incurs two or more false alarms during the same calendar year, the Chief of the Police Department may issue a written notice of his/her intent to revoke the alarm user's permit.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
D.
Upon receipt of a notice of intent to revoke an alarm user's permit,
the permit holder may, within 10 days of such receipt, submit a written
request for a hearing before the Licensing Board setting forth the
reasons that his/her permit should not be revoked. Written notice
of the time, date and place of the hearing shall be served to the
permit holder at least five days prior to the date set for the hearing.
E.
At the hearing before the Licensing Board, the holder of the permit
or his/her authorized representative shall have the right to be made
aware of the circumstances leading to revocation of the alarm permit
and to present evidence on his/her own behalf. After the hearing,
the Licensing Board may either issue an order of revocation, withdraw
the notice of revocation or allow a reasonable time, not to exceed
15 days, in which the alarm user must take action to eliminate the
cause(s) of the false alarms.
A.
An alarm user whose permit has been revoked may apply for a revoked user permit as provided in § 16-9 of this chapter. The Chief of the Police Department shall not be required to issue a revoked user permit unless he/she is satisfied that the user's system has been properly serviced and its deficiencies corrected. The Chief of the Police Department may also impose reasonable restrictions and/or conditions that shall appear on the permit and shall provide for automatic revocation on the occurrence of four false alarms in the remaining permit year.
[Amended 11-10-2020]
B.
In situations where a user permit is revoked under the conditions in Subsection A of this section, there shall be no appeal to the Licensing Board and said revocation shall remain in effect for the remainder of the calendar year.
C.
The fee for reissuance of a user permit shall be seventy-five dollars
($75.).
Unless otherwise provided, any person, firm or corporation within
the boundaries of the City of Rochester who or which violates any
provision of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation and, upon
conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred
dollars ($500.). Each day during which a violation continues shall
be considered a separate offense.
The provisions of this chapter shall take effect upon its passage.
