[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of New Garden 7-9-2007 by Ord. No. 171. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged
to signal the occurrence of any emergency requiring the response of
emergency personnel and to which they are expected to respond.
Any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
company or organization of any kind, as well as the partners, officers,
managers, trustees and directors of any of the foregoing, in control
of any building, structure or facility within which an alarm system
is maintained.
Any Township employee, state police officer, police officer
of any other local municipality, special police, fire police, personnel
of a volunteer fire company, whether or not compensated, ambulance
drivers and medical personnel and any other persons, be they Township,
municipal or governmental employees or volunteers or paid personnel
associated with volunteer groups which respond to emergencies.
An alarm signal from an alarm system soliciting a response
by emergency personnel when a situation requiring such response does
not, in fact, exist.
The Township of New Garden, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
The Board of Supervisors of New Garden Township
has declared and does hereby declare that a false alarm, as hereinbefore
described, from the misuse or malfunction of automatic protection
devices, is a public nuisance.
If, at the time of arrival of emergency personnel
or while they are upon the premises in response to a call requested
by an alarm system, it shall become apparent upon investigation that
there does not then exist a condition upon the premises for which
such response by emergency personnel would be required and there are
no signs upon the premises such as signs of forcible entry or attempt
thereof or signs of fire or such cause, which are the types of emergencies
or conditions for which the alarm system is designed to call for such
assistance, then and in such event there shall be a presumption that
the alarm was a false alarm, and the burden shall be upon the alarm
user to provide that the alarm was not a false alarm, as herein defined.
A.
It shall be a violation of this chapter for any alarm
user to cause or permit a false alarm to occur upon any premises owned
or controlled by such alarm user.
B.
It shall be the responsibility of all persons, entities,
firms and corporations installing such systems within the Township
to prevent the transmission of false alarms through a program of training
and periodic inspection and maintenance of the system.
A.
Violation of any provision of this chapter shall
constitute an offense punishable by a fine of not less than $100 or
more than $1,000, plus cost of prosecution. Such fine and costs shall
be collectable before any District Justice as like fines and penalties
are now by law collectable. Each twenty-four-hour period during which
failure to comply continues shall constitute a separate offense.
