[Adopted by the City Council of the City of Lake Mills 10-17-1995 by Ord. No. 722A (Title 5, Ch. 3, of the 2009 Code of Ordinances). Amendments noted
where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "City of Lake Mills Alarm
Systems Code." This chapter shall be applicable to all alarm systems
and users within the City that fall under the jurisdiction of the
City emergency services. Alarm systems that fall under the jurisdiction
of the City are those alarms to which responses by public emergency
services are requested. This chapter does not apply to alarms or alarm
systems installed for the sole purpose of alerting occupants of a
given building or structure to a potential hazard.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide minimum standards
and regulations applicable to burglar, fire and holdup alarm systems,
alarm businesses and alarm users. Both society in general and public
safety in particular will be aided by providing a useful and usable
system of private security which properly balances quick response
by law enforcement and fire protection personnel with minimization
of time spent on alarms which are false or otherwise not the intended
function of private security systems. The intent of this chapter is
to minimize the amount of unwarranted time and effort expended by
the various departments by responding to false alarms and to provide
for a more efficient operation of emergency service by the City.
Within this chapter, the following terms, phrases and words
and their derivations have the meanings given herein.
Any assembly of equipment or devices which, by means of its
design, is intended to warn of a hazardous or criminal incident to
which public emergency services are expected to respond. The term
"alarm system" shall include, but is not limited to, burglar alarm
systems, holdup alarm systems, and fire alarm systems. If the system
emits an audible signal or a signal by means of a lighting device,
it shall be within the definition of an alarm system and shall be
subject to this chapter. The system shall be of the type that shall
not cause false alarms to be emitted due to power failure.
A telephone answering service providing among its services
the service of receiving on a continuous basis through trained employees
emergency signals from alarm systems, and thereafter immediately relaying
the message by live voice to the dispatch center of the Police, Fire
or Ambulance Departments.
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.
An alarm system which has the capability of transmitting
system signals to the Police Department or Fire Department.
Any alarm signal, whether transmitted or relayed to the Police
Department, when an actual emergency does not exist.
The activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure,
malfunction, improper installation or the negligence of the owner
or lessee of an alarm system or of his employees or agents or other
undetermined cause when an actual emergency does not exist. "False
alarm" does not include alarms caused by tornadoes or other violent
climatic conditions.
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.
Any assembly of equipment or devices which, by means of its
design, is intended to warn of any variations in temperature, humidity,
water systems, electrical systems, sewage systems, or communications
systems.
The Police Chief and Fire Chief may recommend to the City Council
such rules as may be necessary for the implementation of this chapter.
The Council may, by resolution, adopt such rules from time to time.
No person shall interconnect or permit the interconnecting of
any automatic telephone dialing device to the telephone lines of the
Police Department or Fire Department. Such devices may be connected
to an answering service. Relaying of messages shall be done on a person-to-person
basis.
Direct connections to the Police Department and Fire Department
are prohibited, unless such installation is approved by the Chief
of Police or Fire Chief, respectively. All direct connections permitted
shall be in compliance with the standards of this chapter and any
related rules adopted by the City Council.
A.
No alarm business or alarm system designed to transmit emergency
messages to the Police Department or Fire Department shall be tested
or demonstrated without prior notification and approval of the Police
Department or Fire Department dispatcher. Alarm businesses or alarm
system owners or lessors will be advised on proper test procedure.
B.
No alarm system relayed through intermediate services to the Police
Department or Fire Department will be tested to determine the Police
Department's or Fire Department's response without first
notifying the appropriate authority. However, the Police Department
may inspect or test on-site alarm systems authorized under this chapter.
C.
Alarm systems shall be in compliance with all pertinent response
policies of the Police Department or Fire Department.
A.
Generally. Each false alarm requires response of public safety personnel,
involves unnecessary expense to the City, increases the risk of injury
to persons or damage to property and diminishes the overall public
safety protection to the City. Such false alarms constitute a public
nuisance.
B.
Intentional. No person shall intentionally cause the activation of
an alarm device knowing that no criminal activity, fire or other emergency
exists.
C.
False alarms; administrative charges. Any person, business, corporation
or other entity possessing an alarm system with alarm device(s) at
one or more locations within the City shall pay to the City a charge
for false alarms responded to at each location by the Police or Fire
Departments according to the following schedule for each calendar
year. Separate accounts shall be kept for false alarms relating to
criminal activity and false alarms for fire or other emergencies:
(1)
The City shall not charge for one false alarm activated during a
one-year period, such period of time to be from the date of the first
or initial alarm, and terminate 365 days later.
(2)
Fees.
(a)
A fee shall be charged for each false alarm in excess of one
per each three-hundred-sixty-five-day period according to the following
schedule:
(b)
This subsection in intended to impose a strict liability on
the person, business, corporation, property owner or other entity
to whose premises the Police or Fire Departments has responded and
the fee shall be charged regardless of the cause of the false alarm,
excepting those alarms excluded from the definition of "false alarm."
Failure to pay within 30 days an administrative charge imposed under
this chapter shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
D.
Police Department or Fire Department responses to supervisor alarms
constitute a nuisance and constitute a false alarm.
E.
Owning, leasing, or otherwise controlling an alarm system which has
produced three or more false alarms in the previous 12 months to which
the Police or Fire Department has responded shall be presumed to be
a violation of this chapter, and such presumption may be overcome
only upon a showing that reasonable steps have been taken to eliminate
the future occurrence of false alarms generated by the alarm system.
F.
Penalty. Any person, corporation or other entity violating this chapter shall be subject to forfeiture as provided in § 1-19 of this Code. When any premises located in the City is owned, leased or occupied by two or more persons or entities, each person or entity may be subject to a penalty upon violation of this chapter.
The City of Lake Mills shall be under no duty or obligation
to a subscriber or to any other person concerning any provision of
this chapter, including, but not limited to, any defects in an alarm
system or any delays in transmission or response to any alarm.
