No person, firm or corporation, either as principal officer,
agent, servant or employee, shall possess or operate an alarm system
designed with the intent of eliciting a police response without first
obtaining a permit for such alarm system. Provided, the provisions
of this section are not applicable to local alarm systems affixed
to motor vehicles.
Every alarm user shall obtain an alarm user's permit from the
Chief of Police within 30 days after the effective date of this ordinance
or prior to use of an alarm system. Alarm permits are non-transferable.
Each building, structure or facility maintaining one or more alarm
systems must obtain an alarm user's permit. Each permit shall bear
the signature of the Chief of Police and shall be physically upon
the premises using the alarm system and shall be available for inspection
by the Chief of Police, his designate or any officer. An alarm user
which is a governmental political unit shall be subject to this Ordinance;
but such governmental unit shall not be subject to any fees or the
imposition of any penalty as provided herein.
It shall be unlawful for any person or business to own or operate
any burglary, robbery, fire, medical, or panic alarm system deemed
to be a nuisance. Nuisance alarm systems shall be defined as follows:
(a) False Alarms. Any alarm which elicits a response from the Police
and/or Fire Departments more than six times in any twelve-month period
when no emergency exists. Exempt from this definition are newly installed
systems, which shall receive a grace period of 30 days or four false
alarms, whichever occurs first; alarm signals caused by violent conditions
of nature or other extraordinary circumstances beyond control of the
owner or operator; alarm systems owned or operated by any governmental
political unit.
(b) Direct Telephone Alarms. Any alarm which is programmed to automatically
dial any telephone number, listed or unlisted, directly into any City
building for the purpose of transmitting a voice recording of an emergency
message.
(c) Disturbing Alarms. Any alarm which emits an audible signal which
is not automatically discontinued within 15 minutes of activation.
It shall be unlawful for any alarm user to fail to disconnect any direct telephone alarm as defined in Section
10-504 within 72 hours of receipt of written notice from the Police Department that such a programmed connection exists.
It shall be unlawful for any alarm user to fail to disconnect or modify any disturbing alarms as defined in Section
10-504 within 72 hours of receipt of written notice from the Police Department that such a condition exists.
At the time of the sixth false alarm in any twelve-month period, the City shall notify the responsible party by first class mail of such occurrence and that additional false alarms shall require the payment of fees as per Section
10-509 of this ordinance. Such written notification shall be assumed to have been delivered three days after mailing.
The responsible party shall be the resident for a residential
alarm system and the business owner or manager for a business alarm
system, regardless of whether such system is owned, leased, rented
or otherwise controlled.
An alarm user who desires to appeal a fee imposed by Section
10-509 shall submit a written request for a hearing to the Chief of Police, who shall notify the Governing Body. The Governing Body shall meet at a regularly scheduled Council meeting and consider the appeal.
There is hereby established the position of Alarm Coordinator.
The Alarm Coordinator shall:
(a) Maintain records necessary to carry out the terms of this ordinance;
such records shall be confidential.
(b) Make notifications as outlined In Section
10-507.
(c) Establish, distribute and enforce such rules and regulations as may
be necessary for implementation of this ordinance, and make same available
upon request.
(d) Determine which alarms constitute false alarms as defined in Section
10-504.
As used in this ordinance, "Chief of Police" shall mean the
official designated by the City Council as the Chief of Police for
the City at the Council meeting in May of each year and, if not so
designated, such term shall mean the person having the superintending
control over the law enforcement authority employed by the City for
the year,
Any person convicted of a violation of any provisions of or
failing to comply with any of the mandatory requirements of this ordinance
shall be guilty of a public offense and punished by a fine of not
more than $500 or by imprisonment not to exceed 30 days or by both
such fine and imprisonment. Each person shall be guilty of a separate
offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation
of any provision of the City ordinances is committed, continued or
permitted by any such person.