[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of New Garden 7-9-2007 by Ord. No. 171. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Unsafe buildings — See Ch. 64.
Nuisances — See Ch. 121.
Property maintenance — See Ch. 136.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ALARM SYSTEM
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.
ALARM USER
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.
EMERGENCY PERSONNEL
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.
FALSE ALARMS
An alarm signal from an alarm system soliciting a response by emergency personnel when a situation requiring such response does not, in fact, exist.
TOWNSHIP
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.
(1) 
The maximum permissible number of false alarms from any one location or facility shall be as follows:
(a) 
Two alarms in any thirty-day period; or
(b) 
Three false alarms in any calendar year.
(2) 
False alarms in excess of these standards shall be considered in violation of this chapter.
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.
B. 
In addition to the penalties provided in Subsection A hereof, such user shall be liable in a civil proceeding for the cost to the Township or volunteer agency or emergency personnel of answering the false alarm.