Signals from an alarm system which are false alarms are declared to be a public nuisance. A user may have an allowance of four false alarms occurring within any calendar year. The fifth false alarm within that period shall be subject to a fee of $50.00 charged to the user of the alarm system. Subsequent false alarms shall be charged and be subject to additional penalties accelerating at an additional $50.00 for each false alarm, i.e., $50.00 first, $100.00 second, $150.00 third and so on.
(S.G.C. 10.90.010; Ord. 90-954 § 4, 1990)
“Alarm system”
means a device or system of interconnected devices, including hardware and related appurtenances, designed to give warning of activities indicative of fire, criminal conduct, or unauthorized entry upon the protected premises.
“False alarm”
means any activation of an alarm system not resulting from fire, criminal activity, or unauthorized entry, upon or following which, communication is made to the responding agency that an alarm has been triggered. If the alarm, when communicated, is clearly identified to the receiver as resulting from authorized entry, authorized system test, or other nonemergency cause, it shall not be considered a false alarm. If police or fire units, as applicable, respond to an alarm, check the protected premises according to standard operating procedures, and are unable to discover any evidence of fire, unauthorized entry or criminal activity, the alarm shall be deemed false, absent a preponderance of evidence to the contrary.
(S.G.C. 10.90.020; Ord. 90-954 § 4, 1990)
A false alarm may be excused in the discretion of the responding agency or investigator upon being satisfied that:
A. 
The alarm has been responsibly and regularly inspected by experienced and well-trained technicians familiar with its design, operations, and the environment in which it is installed;
B. 
All repairs, replacements or preventive maintenance recommended by service personnel who inspected the system have been performed;
C. 
The cause of the particular false alarm has been either positively identified and corrected or has not been determined to be the result of neglect, misuse or maintenance of the system, and cannot be more precisely identified despite thorough inspection, testing and analysis by technicians described in subsection A of this section;
D. 
Technicians, as described in subsection A of this section, have provided a written opinion that the system is unlikely to produce another false alarm from the same cause;
E. 
The false alarm was not the result of user error or neglect. “User” includes owners, employees, residents, family members and guests of the protected premises;
F. 
The premises is a premises open to the public with manually operated alarms which were obviously activated wrongfully by persons other than the users as defined above.
(S.G.C. 10.90.030; Ord. 90-954 § 4, 1990)