The Township Council does hereby find and declare that:
A. The occupants of numerous residential, commercial and industrial
establishments in the Township of East Brunswick have found it desirable
to make provision for the installation, upon their premises at their
own cost and expense, of alarm systems for emergencies such as burglar,
fire and like alarms.
B. There is a growing number of alarm companies that sell or lease such
alarm systems entering into contracts with such occupants for the
installation, operation and maintenance of such alarm systems and
providing for the connection to the individual alarm system so installed
by them to a central location.
C. The number of private enterprises engaged in the alarm business,
each with its own system and equipment, has resulted in conditions
that, if not remedied, will lead to an unnecessary drain on the manpower,
time, space facilities and finances of the Township of East Brunswick
and its Public Safety Department and the deterioration of the quality
of service to persons subscribing to the alarm services and inequities
among the alarm businesses in the Township of East Brunswick.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them, except where the context
clearly indicates a different meaning:
A. ALARM ADMINISTRATOR — A person or persons designated by the
Township to administer, control and review false alarm reduction efforts
and administer the provisions of this chapter.
B. ALARM COMPANY — A person subject to the licensing requirements
and/or a company engaged in selling, leasing, installing, servicing
or monitoring alarm systems; this person shall be licensed in compliance
with Township ordinances and state laws and regulations.
C. ALARM PERMIT — A permit issued by the Township allowing the
operation of an alarm system within the Township.
D. ALARM SIGNAL — A detectable signal, audible or visible, generated
by an alarm system, to which law enforcement is requested to respond.
E. ALARM SITE (also "security alarm site") — A structure or portion
thereof served by a single security alarm system (a "fixed" alarm
site). In a multi-tenant building or complex, each portion of the
structure or complex having its own security alarm system is considered
a separate alarm site.
F. ALARM SYSTEM — Any single device or assembly of equipment designed
to signal the occurrence of an illegal or unauthorized entry or other
activity requiring immediate attention and to which law enforcement
is requested to respond such as burglary, intrusion, fire or smoke.
The following are exempt from this chapter: motor vehicle alarms,
boat alarms, domestic violence alarms and alarms designed to elicit
a medical response.
G. ALARM USER — Any person, corporation, limited-liability company,
partnership, proprietorship, governmental or educational entity or
any other entity owning, leasing or operating an alarm system, or
who (which) controls a security alarm system at an alarm site; is
named on the registration; and is financially responsible for the
operation of an alarm system. Alarm user may mean more than one person,
if more than one person is listed on the registration and has accepted
financial responsibility for the operation of the alarm system.
I. ANSI/SIA CONTROL PANEL STANDARD CP-01 — The American National
Standard Institute (ANSI) approved Security Industry Association (SIA)
CP-01 Control Panel Standard, as may be updated from time to time,
that details recommended design features for security system control
panels and their associated arming and disarming devices to reduce
false alarms. Control panels built and tested to this standard by
a nationally recognized testing organization will be marked to state:
"Design evaluated in accordance with SIA CP-01 Control Panel Standard
Features for False Alarm Reduction."
J. AUTOMATIC DIAL PROTECTION DEVICE — An automatic dialing device
or an automatic telephone dialing alarm system and shall include any
system which, upon being activated, automatically initiates to the
East Brunswick Police Department a recorded message or code signal
indicating a need for law enforcement response.
K. BURGLARY ALARM (also "property/intrusion alarm") — An alarm
system that is used to detect and report an unauthorized entry or
an attempted unauthorized entry upon real property.
L. CANCELLATION — The process where response is terminated when
the alarm company (designated by the alarm user) notifies the East
Brunswick Police Department that there is not an existing situation
at the alarm site requiring police response after an alarm dispatch
request. If cancellation occurs prior to police arriving at the scene,
this is not a false alarm for the purpose of civil penalty, and no
penalty will be assessed.
M. CENTRAL OFFICE ALARM — Any alarm which when activated transmits
a signal to a remote location indicating an alarm condition.
N. CHIEF — The Chief of Police of the Township of East Brunswick
or his designee.
O. ENHANCED CALL VERIFICATION (ECV) — An attempt by the monitoring
company, or its representative, to contact the alarm site and/or alarm
user by telephone and/or other electronic means, whether or not actual
contact with a person is made, to attempt to determine whether an
alarm signal is valid before requesting law enforcement dispatch,
in an attempt to avoid an unnecessary alarm dispatch request. For
the purpose of this chapter, telephone verification shall require,
as a minimum that a second call be made to a different number if the
first attempt fails to reach an alarm user who can properly identify
himself or herself to attempt to determine whether an alarm signal
is valid before requesting law enforcement dispatch.
P.
FALSE ALARM RESPONSE — The
activation of an alarm system through mechanical or electronic failure,
malfunction, improper installation or the negligence of the alarm
user, his/her employees or agents, and signals activated to summon
law enforcement personnel, unless law enforcement response was canceled
by the alarm user or his/her agent before law enforcement personnel
arrive at the alarm location.
This also means a police department response to an alarm dispatch
request by a commissioned officer of the department where, in the
opinion of that officer, no evidence of the commission or attempted
commission of a crime is present that can be reasonably attributed
to have caused the alarm activation.
A false alarm response is also deemed to have occurred when
the responding officer is unable to determine if evidence of a criminal
offense or attempted criminal offense is present because the alarm
site is inaccessible (e.g., where the alarm site is located:
1) Within a locked structure, such as an apartment building or business
complex with a common entry; or
2) Behind a locked gate and no person is present to provide access to
the officer; or
3) Contains a dog and no person is present to remove the dog so the
officer can inspect the site; or
4) Contains any type of "protective/reactive" device or contrivance).
A false alarm shall not include an alarm which can reasonably
be determined to have been caused or activated by unusually violent
conditions of nature nor does it include other extraordinary circumstances
not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user.
Q. GRACE PERIOD — No violation shall be assessed to any owner
or person that maintains an alarm system as provided for and defined
herein during the first 30 days of installation.
R. LOCAL ALARM — An alarm system that emits a signal at an alarm
site that is audible or visible from the exterior of a structure and
is not monitored by a remote monitoring facility, whether installed
by an alarm company or user.
S. PERMIT YEAR — A twelve-month period beginning on the day and
month on which an alarm permit is issued.
T. PERMITTEE — Any person owning or leasing an alarm device of
any type within the Township of East Brunswick.
U. PERSON — Includes any natural person, partnership, corporation
or association, or any other legal entity.
V. ROBBERY ALARM (also "duress alarm", "hold-up alarm" or "panic alarm")
— An alarm signal generated by the manual or automatic activation
of a device, or any system, device or mechanism, on or near the premises
intended to signal that a robbery or other crime is in progress, and
that one or more persons are in need of immediate police assistance
in order to avoid injury, serious bodily harm or death at the hands
of the perpetrator of the robbery or other crime.
W. RUNAWAY ALARM — An alarm system that produces repeated alarm
signals that do not appear to be caused by separate human action.
The East Brunswick Police Department may in its discretion discontinue
police responses to alarm signals from what appears to be a runaway
alarm.
X. SUSPEND ("suspension") — For the purposes of this chapter,
means the temporary loss for an alarm user of the privileges associated
specifically with the registration of a security alarm system in the
Township of East Brunswick.
Y. TOWNSHIP — The Township of East Brunswick or its agent(s).