[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the
Town of Rotterdam 4-10-1996 by L.L. No. 5-1996.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also repealed
former Ch. 71, Alarms, adopted 3-16-1983 by L.L. No. 4-1983, as amended.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
Any type of alarm-actuating equipment, excluding motor vehicle
alarms, which provides warning of intrusion, fire, smoke, carbon monoxide,
burglary, flood or like perils, including dial alarms (devices using
normal telephone lines transmitting notification by telephone directly
to police headquarters or any other central dispatch area), direct
alarms (devices using telephone lines terminating in an alarm panel
or similar device located in police headquarters or any other central
dispatch location) and any audible alarms or other type of alarm.
That component installed in police headquarters containing
alarm indications and designations.
Any person or party who manufactures, constructs, installs
or otherwise prepares alarm systems or devices for use in the Town
of Rotterdam. This shall not include businesses supplying alarms only
and not being involved in the act of installing or repairing in any
form.
The installation in one or more buildings of one or more
alarm devices for the express purpose of giving visual or audible
warning, or both, of an emergency, such as a burglary, intrusion,
carbon monoxide, fire, smoke, flood or like perils.
A device that emits an audible signal from the premises that
it is designed to protect.
A remote alarm-monitoring station, other than a police and/or
fire headquarters, away from the protected premises or building.
That component installed in police headquarters containing
alarm indications and designations capable of receiving notification
of activated alarm systems.
An alarm signal necessitating response by the Police or Fire
Department where an emergency situation does not exist.
Any natural person, partnership, corporation, association
or other legal entity.
Playback tape recorders that have prerecorded messages and
which dial predetermined numbers and deliver a taped voice message.
No alarm supplier and/or installer and/or repairer and/or central dispatch station shall be permitted to do business in the Town of Rotterdam without being licensed to do so by said town. The annual fee for such license is as set forth in Chapter 126, Fees. Each permit shall be subject to renewal annually on or before the 31st day of January. An exception to this licensing is residents who install their own system upon their own premises.
A.
Each alarm supplier and/or installer who sells or
leases an alarm or device must offer service, directly or through
an agent, on a twenty-four-hour basis seven days a week, to repair
such device so as to correct any malfunctions of same that may occur.
At the time of installation, each alarm equipment supplier shall furnish
to the purchaser, for whom the protective alarm device or system has
been installed, written information as to how service can be obtained
at any time, including telephone numbers to call for service, and
such person shall be responsible for having the device repaired within
a reasonable time after he learns, either from his own sources or
from notification by the Police Department, that the alarm system
or device is not working properly. It shall be the responsibility
of the alarm supplier and/or installer to inform the purchaser of
any alarm system or device of the need for a permit for the system,
and the alarm supplier and/or installer shall not complete the installation
of the device or system until such permit has been obtained. The supplier
and/or installer is responsible to notify the Town of Rotterdam Police
Department of any system or device that the supplier and/or installer
has removed in the Town of Rotterdam.
B.
Each central dispatch station which provides service,
directly or through an agent, must provide service on a twenty-four-hour
basis seven days a week. It shall be the responsibility of the central
dispatch station to inform the owner/lessee of any alarm system of
the need for a Town permit for the system. The central dispatch station
shall not service the system until such permit has been obtained.
Each central dispatch station is responsible to notify the Town of
Rotterdam Police Department of the installation and/or discontinuance
of any monitoring site in the Town of Rotterdam. Each central dispatch
station must furnish the Rotterdam Police Department with current
responsible party information as follows:
(1)
The name, residence address and telephone number of
the lessee/owner.
(2)
The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least
three persons to contact who are authorized to respond to an emergency
and open the place where the alarm system is installed to reset the
alarm.
(3)
In the case of a business location, the central dispatch
station shall provide the Rotterdam Police Department with the names,
addresses and telephone numbers of at least three persons to contact
who have access to the business.
(4)
Current responsible party information must be furnished
upon initial installation of the system and annually thereafter in
the month of January.
No emergency alarm, silent or audible, as defined in § 71-1 of this chapter, shall be installed in the Town of Rotterdam which terminates in the Rotterdam police headquarters without prior submission of an application to the Rotterdam Police Department and without prior approval of the Chief of Police of the Town of Rotterdam to have said emergency alarm installed.
Every owner/lessee of an alarm system or device
must register said alarm system or device with the Town of Rotterdam
Police Department and obtain a permit therefrom.
A.
Any type of alarm system or device terminating at
the police headquarters of the Town of Rotterdam shall be either a
direct-alarm type (devices using telephone lines terminating in an
alarm panel located in police headquarters) or the dial-alarm type
(devices using normal telephone lines transmitting notification by
telephone directly to the digital receiver at police headquarters).
B.
Tape-voiced dialers shall not terminate at or transmit
to the police headquarters of the Town of Rotterdam, over any emergency
or business line. Only those dialers that are licensed and approved
to transmit data to the Police Department's digital receiver or alarm
panel over a designated data line may transmit to or terminate at
police headquarters.
Any and all emergency alarm systems must be adequately maintained at all times. This maintenance will be carried out at the expense of the alarm permit holder, and, when this maintenance involves any equipment located at the police headquarters, the maintenance shall be carried out only by personnel licensed by the Town of Rotterdam pursuant to § 71-2 of this chapter and shall be at the expense of the alarm permit holder.
[Amended 12-13-2017 by L.L. No. 5-2017]
The following rules and regulations shall cover any type of
protective alarm system, whether audible or silent. The rules and
regulations pertain in any case where the Police Department or Fire
Department must respond to an alarm, whether the system terminates
at the Schenectady County Communications Center headquarters or not.
A.
Every
owner/lessee of an alarm system or device must furnish the Rotterdam
Police Department with a current list of information which states
the following:
(1)
The name, residence address and telephone number of the lessee/owner.
(2)
The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least three persons
to contact who are authorized to respond to an emergency and open
the place where the alarm system is installed to reset the alarm.
(3)
In the case of a business location, the owner/lessee shall provide
the Police Department with at least three persons to contact in case
of an emergency and who have access to the building.
B.
No
owner/lessee of a building shall have in operation an audible alarm
thereon unless such alarm shall be capable of and shall automatically
terminate its operation within 30 minutes of its being activated and
reset.
C.
False alarms (as defined in § 71-1 of this chapter):
(1)
Persistent false alarms are described as more than four false alarms
reported within each calendar year.
(2)
For every false alarm over the allowed four in a calendar year, the owner/lessee shall be charged a fee by the Town of Rotterdam as set forth in Chapter 126, Fees.
(3)
Persistent false alarms shall not include those false alarms caused
by acts of God, natural disaster or other causes not under the immediate
control of the owner/lessee. Malfunctions of alarm equipment shall
be considered as under the control of the owner/lessee.
D.
Testing
of the system or device shall be conducted in the following manner:
(1)
No more than one test shall be conducted per calendar month unless
otherwise authorized by the Police Department or, in case of the Fire
Department, by the Fire Department.
(2)
The owner/lessee or his agent must notify the Schenectady County
Communications Center beforehand of the testing of the system, in
person or by phone. When notifying the Schenectady County Communications
Center of the test, the person making the notification must indicate
his permit number to the person notified, for purposes of security.
If the person making the notification fails to give the permit number,
it shall be a sign that this is an active alarm to the Police Department.
The person notified shall, in turn, stamp the appropriate police complaint
sheet and indicate the time of alarm, the person who contacted the
Schenectady County Communications Center and the permit number.
E.
The
Police Department shall maintain records indicating that it has responded
to a false alarm, including a summary of the date, time, and other
relevant data relating to such response. After the fourth false alarm,
a notice shall be issued to the owner/lessee indicating that all subsequent
false alarms within that calendar shall constitute a violation.
F.
All emergency alarm systems that terminate at the Police Department digital alarm receiver/alarm panel shall be subject to an annual service fee as set forth in Chapter 126, Fees.
G.
All emergency alarm systems that are outside audible only and do not terminate at either a central dispatch station or the Police Department digital alarm receiver/alarm panel shall be subject to an annual service fee as set forth in Chapter 126, Fees.
H.
All emergency alarm systems that terminate at a central dispatch station shall be subject to an annual service fee as set forth in Chapter 126, Fees.
I.
Any unpaid fees shall be assessed as a lien against the subject property
and added to the owner's property taxes.
The Rotterdam Police Department and the Town of Rotterdam shall take every reasonable precaution to assure that emergency alarm signals received by the Town are given appropriate and immediate attention. Nevertheless, the Town shall not be liable for any defects in operation of emergency alarm systems, for any failure to respond appropriately or any errant response, upon receipt of any emergency alarm signal, nor for the failure or defect of any licensee pursuant to § 71-2 of this chapter, in respect to installation, operation or maintenance of equipment, the transmission of alarm signals or messages or the relaying of such signals or messages. In the event that the Town finds it necessary to disconnect a defective automatic or signaling device, the Town shall incur no liability therefrom.
A.
Any owner/lessee of an alarm device or system operating
such device or system without a valid permit issued by the Town shall
be guilty of a violation and shall be subject to a fine of not more
than $250. Each week that the violation shall continue shall constitute
a separate offense.
B.
Any alarm supplier and/or installer and/or repairer
and/or central dispatch station which manufactures, constructs, installs,
repairs or otherwise monitors alarm systems or devices for use in
the Town of Rotterdam without a valid license issued by the Town shall
be guilty of a violation and shall be subject to a fine of not more
than $500.
C.
Any owner/lessee who is charged a fee by this chapter
shall pay said fee, within 30 days after notice, to the Rotterdam
Police Department. If said fee is not paid within the thirty-day period
after notice, the owner/lessee shall be in violation of this chapter
and shall be subject to a fine of not more than $250.
E.
A civil penalty of $100 per week is hereby imposed
for each week's violation of this chapter, which penalty may be collected
in any judgment rendered in a proceeding or civil action.
F.
Duly recognized nonprofit, public service and governmental
entities are considered exempt from the fee schedules, as outlined,
that pertain to this chapter. They are, however, required to comply
with all of the other provisions and requirements stated herein.
Every violation of this chapter shall constitute
a violation and shall be punishable as prescribed by law.
This chapter shall take effect upon filing in
the office of the Secretary of State and State Comptroller. Alarm
systems installed or in use at the effective date of this chapter
shall conform to the requirements of this chapter within 120 days
after the effective date hereof.
