[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Media 4-16-1998 by Ord. No. 926. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ALARM
An emergency system or device designed to signal the occurrence of an illegal entry, panic, fire heat or smoke, or medical emergency to the Delaware County 911 advising of a medical situation, panic, fire and/or illegal intrusion.
[Added 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
ALARM USER
The person(s), corporation(s), business(es) and/or partnership(s) to whom a Media Borough alarm system license has been issued.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
FALSE ALARM
An emergency alarm activated by inadvertence, negligence or intentional acts to which the Borough Police or Fire Department responds, including a malfunction of the alarm system. This definition excludes: alarms caused by malfunctions of an indicator at the police station or fire station; acts of God, such as earthquake or flood; an attempted illegal entry of which there is visible evidence; or the user acting under a sincere belief that a need exists to call the Police or Fire Department. In the case of alarm systems primarily designed to notify the Police Department of an emergency condition, the Chief of Police shall be responsible for determining its cause. If the alarm system is primarily designed to notify the Fire Department of an emergency condition, the Fire Marshal shall be responsible for such a determination. [Note: Multiple alarms received by the Police of Fire Department before an alarm system can be deactivated within a thirty-minute period shall be considered a single alarm.]
FIRE ALARM SYSTEM
Any device or system, composed of sensory apparatus, related hardware and circuitry, which, when it detects a stimulus characteristic of fire, heat or smoke, automatically transmits an alarm or signal intended to result in an emergency response by the Fire Department. Such systems may signal the occurrence of an apparent emergency condition directly to an intermediary or by means of an audible alarm.
LICENSED ALARM INSTALLATION CONTRACTOR
A person, firm, association, partnership, group or corporation which has registered with and paid the established fee to the Borough of Media and been licensed to install fire alarm and/or police alarm systems within Media Borough. To acquire licensure, the applicant must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Media Borough Code Enforcement Officer a working knowledge of the National Fire Alarm Code (in the case of a fire alarm system) and the National Electrical Code.
PERSON
Any person(s), corporation(s), business(es), and/or partnership(s).
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
POLICE ALARM SYSTEM
Any system or device designed to signal the occurrence of an illegal entry or other activity requiring urgent attention and to which police personnel are expected to respond. Such systems may signal the occurrence of an apparent emergency condition directly to the Media Borough Police Department, to an intermediary or by means of local alarm.
PROTECTED PREMISES
A building located within Media Borough which has had installed a fire or police alarm system by a licensed alarm installation contractor.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance repealed former Ch. 103, Alarm Systems, adopted 6-16-1983 by Ord. No. 748, as amended.
It is the specific intent of this chapter that it shall apply to all alarm systems located within Media Borough, including but not restricted to alarm systems designed to signal a burglary, robbery, fire or medical emergency, irrespective of when any such system was installed.
Six months from the date of enactment of this chapter, it shall be illegal to install a fire alarm or police alarm system within Media Borough unless the installer shall first have obtained licensure as a licensed alarm installation contractor.
A person, firm, association, partnership, group or corporation who, six months after the date of enactment of this chapter, installs a fire alarm or police alarm system without having first obtained Media Borough licensure as a licensed alarm installation contractor shall be incur penalties as set forth in § 103-19.
Every person selling, leasing or furnishing to any user an alarm system which is installed on premises located within the Borough of Media shall furnish that user with instructions that provide information to enable the user to operate the alarm system properly and to locate and obtain service for the alarm system, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Prior to an alarm system being placed into service, each alarm user shall have provided by the licensed alarm installation contractor hands-on training of sufficient duration such that the user is able to operate all functions of the alarm system, including, but not limited to, disabling the system and restoring it to service.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
Every person selling, leasing or furnishing to any user an alarm system which is installed on premises located within Media Borough shall be required to equip any audible alarms with a timing mechanism which shall disengage the alarm after a maximum period of five minutes. Any alarms not meeting this requirement shall be unlawful and shall be disconnected by the owner or lessee.
After the enactment of this chapter, alarm users must equip existing audible alarms with a timing mechanism which shall disengage the alarm after a maximum period of five minutes. Audible alarms without such a timing mechanism shall be unlawful in the Borough of Media and shall be disconnected by the user within 60 days from the effective date of this chapter.
It shall be unlawful to utilize a voice dialer for the purpose of directly contacting the Delaware County 911 Center.
Prior to conducting any test upon or demonstration of an alarm system located within Media Borough, the tester/demonstrator will first obtain permission from the Media Borough Fire Marshal or Media Borough Chief of Police, whichever appropriate to the type of alarm, and notify the Delaware County 911 Dispatch Center.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
If any test or demonstration of an alarm system results in a false alarm due to the failure of the person conducting such test or demonstration to obtain permission of the Media Borough Fire Marshal or Media Borough Chief of Police, whichever appropriate to the type of alarm, and/or notify the Delaware County 911 Dispatch Center, that person shall be considered to have violated the provisions of this chapter and shall be subject to the penalties for violations of this chapter as detailed in § 103-19.
It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally cause false emergency information to be received by the Media Borough Police Department and/or Media Borough Fire Department and/or Delaware County 911 Center.
A false alarm shall be deemed to have occurred pursuant to the definition of false alarm in 103-1, regardless of whether the Police and/or Fire Departments are notified of such unnecessary activation of the alarm prior to their arrival at the premises.
[Amended 7-19-2001 by Ord. No. 952; 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
A. 
Upon generation of a false alarm from a protected premises, the Borough Police Department and/or the Borough Fire Marshal or any Deputy Fire Marshal (hereinafter referred to as the Borough Fire Department) whichever is appropriate for the type of alarm, shall notify the alarm user by certified mail of such fact and direct that the user submit a written report to him/her within seven days of receipt of the notice describing the actions taken or to be taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarm.
B. 
If the alarm user submits a report as directed and the Borough Police Department and/or the Borough Fire Department determines that the action taken or to be taken is in good faith and may reasonably be expected to reduce the likelihood of false alarms, the Borough Police Department and/or the Borough Fire Department may suspend any process for the violation of this chapter for penalty(ies) for violations provided for in § 103-19.
C. 
If the Borough Police Department and/or Borough Fire Department determines that the action taken or to be taken will not substantially reduce the likelihood of false alarms or that there has not been a good-faith effort upon the part of the alarm uses, the persons shall be considered to have violated this chapter and the Borough Police Department and/or the Borough Fire Department shall follow the procedures outlined for violations as detailed in § 103-19.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
The following details measures to suppress false alarms:
A. 
The sensory apparatus of the alarm system shall be maintained and adjusted so as to suppress false indications of fire and so the system will not generate alarm signals from normal pressure fluctuations in water pressure, variations in voltage due to storms, voltage drop, or power failures, or any other force not related to stimulus not characteristic of fire or smoke conditions; and/or
B. 
The sensory apparatus of the alarm system shall be maintained and adjusted so as to suppress false indications of intrusion and so the system will not generate alarm signals from short flashes of light, rattling or vibrating of doors and/or windows, vibration to the premises caused by the passing of vehicles, variations in voltage due to storms, voltage drop, or power failures, or any other force not related to genuine alarms.
Every alarm system which receives its primary power from the building's 110 volt electrical system, whether directly or through a transformer, shall be equipped with a battery backup of sufficient power to maintain the system in a state of readiness for 72 hours and to prevent generation of an alarm signal due to low voltage in the event of an interruption of the 110 volt power supply. Systems existing upon the effective date of this chapter without battery backup shall have one year from the date of enactment of this chapter to equip the system with battery backup or be guilty of operating an unlicensed alarm system.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
In as much as a properly maintained and functioning system will differentiate between a trouble condition and an alarm condition, it shall be illegal six months after the effective date of this chapter for an alarm system to transmit a trouble signal to the 911 dispatch center. The alarm user must make provisions for his/her alarm system to make notification of a responsible party to respond to trouble conditions. If a false alarm results from the transmission of a trouble signal, the alarm user shall be considered to have violated the provisions of this chapter and be subject to the penalties as provided in § 103-19.
[Amended 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
Any person who violates a provision of this chapter or fails to comply with any of the requirement(s) thereof, or who installs, alters or repairs any alarm system within the Borough of Media in violation of this chapter, shall, upon being served with a citation for a summary offense by the Borough Police Department and/or the Borough Fire Department and upon being found liable therefor in enforcement as a summary offense proceeding commenced by the municipality, pay a judgment of not more than $300 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the Borough of Media. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation, unless the District Justice determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating the chapter to have believed that there was not such a violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until the fifth day following the date of the determination of a violation by the District Justice and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation. All judgments, costs and reasonable attorney's fees collected for the violation of this chapter shall be paid over to the municipality.
[Added 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
All components comprising such an alarm system for fire and/or police shall be maintained in good repair by the owner or lessee to assure maximum reliability of operation. Alarm equipment suppliers shall conform to the requirements of the electrical, building and fire codes of the Borough of Media as they pertain to permits, licenses, inspection and tests by the Inspectors/Code Enforcement Officer and/or Fire Marshal.
[Added 2-15-2007 by Ord. No. 1019]
No person shall misuse, purposely, knowingly or recklessly, activate falsely, or continually activate accidentally, any alarm system.