[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Mount Pocono 3-17-1999 by Ord. No. 7-1999. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the “Borough
of Mount Pocono Alarm Ordinance.”
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any device designed or used for detection of intrusion into
a building, structure, or facility, or for alerting persons in the
attempt of commission of a crime or any emergency situation involving
potential death or serious injury and which is directly connected
to an audible alarm or the transmission of a related signal or message
which is used to evoke an emergency response to any address or separate
component of any system.
Any municipal agency including police, fire, and any other
duly constituted municipal authority.
The activation of an alarm system due to other than the said
purpose for which the alarm system is designed. Any activation of
an alarm system caused by any malfunction caused by violent natural
catastrophic condition including electrical storms or power outages
or conditions beyond the control of the permittee will not constitute
a nuisance alarm.
[Amended 4-19-2004 by Ord. No. 3-2004]
The Borough of Mount Pocono, by authority granted
to it as specified in the Pennsylvania or Borough Code, hereby enacts
the herein chapter.
The Borough Council of Mount Pocono finds and
declares that:
A.
The majority of emergency alarms to which Pocono Mountain
Regional Police and emergency personnel respond are false. False alarms
are herewith deemed to be nuisances resulting in a waste of municipal
manpower and creating the potential for serious injury to police officers,
Fire Department personnel, and other emergency personnel responding
to a false alarm; further, when the said personnel are responding
to false alarms, they are not available for the protection of residents
and the general public of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police territory.
B.
The danger created through emergency responses created
by nuisance alarm is unnecessary and hazardous.
C.
The unnecessary waste of public revenue through responses
to nuisance alarms must be eliminated.
D.
Nuisance alarms have created conditions causing danger
and annoyance to the general public.
A.
Every applicant for an alarm permit shall file, with
the Borough of Mount Pocono Zoning Officer, a written application
on forms provided by the Borough stating the name, address, and telephone
number of the applicant; a description of the property or properties
where the proposed alarm system shall be installed; the location,
road name of the development, and a name which is conspicuously displayed
on the property of the mailbox of the property; a description of the
type or types of alarm system to be used including name and model
number of the manufacturer; the name of the person or company who
will install the alarm system at the location; the name, address,
and telephone number of any person or company who will be available
to be contacted in the event of an alarm activation.
B.
In the case of more than one building site in which
the alarm systems shall be installed, the applicant must provide the
Borough with the necessary information concerning how the alarm for
each building shall be distinguishable from the alarms in other buildings.
All alarms should have a nine-minute cutoff time.
C.
In the event the name, mailing address, or telephone
number of the person to be contacted changes, the applicant shall
supply corrected information to the Borough within five days of the
change.
D.
If requested by the Borough, the persons listed shall
be required to be present at the alarm location within a reasonable
length of time after being notified that the police or other emergency
departments have received any signal or message of an alarm activation.
A.
Alarm permits shall be transferable from one permittee
to another, or from one location to another, without the express written
authorization from the Borough. In the event that the premises in
which the alarm system has been installed is to be leased, conveyed,
or transferred, it shall be the responsibility of the then-registered
permittee to notify the Borough of the name and telephone number of
the new owner or new lessee and the name of the person to be contacted
in case of the alarm activation.
B.
Any subsequent individual or other type of entity
that obtains title or occupies real property in which an alarm system
has been installed and a permit issued by the Borough shall notify
the Borough within five days of taking possession of said property
and make application for registration specifying all information necessary
for the Police Department or other emergency departments to respond
to the alarm activations.
A.
Every person or entity applying for an alarm permit
under the provisions of this chapter shall pay a fee established by
resolution of the Borough of Mount Pocono to obtain an alarm permit
prior to the installation of the new alarm system on the premises.
B.
Any individual or other entity who owns or obtains
title to or leases property in which an alarm system has already been
installed shall pay the fee established by resolution of the Borough
of Mount Pocono to register the name, address, telephone number, and
individual to be contacted in case of the activation of the alarm
system.
C.
All fees shall be payable to the Borough of Mount
Pocono.
[Amended 8-5-2002 by Ord. No. 6-2002]
A.
Any person or responsible entity that shall fail to
make application or register with the Borough prior to the installation
or transfer of an alarm system on the premises shall pay to the Borough
a fine in the amount of $50, plus costs of prosecution.
B.
Any person or other entity, after receiving written
notice from the regional police that an emergency department has responded
to two nuisance alarms as defined in this chapter during any three-month
period, shall thereafter pay a fine of $50 for the first nuisance
alarm, $100 for a second and $150 for each nuisance alarm thereafter,
plus the costs of prosecution. For the purpose of determining the
number of nuisance alarms, each alarm shall be deemed as one nuisance
alarm.
C.
All alarms should have a nine-minute cutoff time.
First-time violator’s fine shall be $50; second-time violator’s,
$100; third-time violator’s, $150; each time after the third
time, $150.
In the event that the applicant-permittee or
transferee shall receive written notice from the regional police that
three nuisance alarms have occurred on the premises within a term
of 30 days, the Borough, after giving 15 days’ written notice
to the applicant-permittee or transferee, shall conduct a hearing
to determine whether the permit shall be suspended until the applicant-permittee
or transferee shall produce satisfactory to the Borough that the alarm
system has been properly repaired so that no future nuisance alarms
will be activated. If, after notice and hearing, it is the judgment
of the Borough that such permit shall be suspended and if the alarm
has not been properly repaired, disconnected, or removed from the
premises, the applicant-permittee or the transferee shall then be
liable to pay a fine to the Borough in the sum of $300 per nuisance
alarm.
The information furnished and secured pursuant
to this chapter shall be confidential in character and shall not be
subject to public inspection and all records shall be so maintained
that the contents thereof shall not be divulged to anyone except to
the persons charged with the administration of this chapter.
The herein chapter shall be effective five days
from the date of its adoption. Owners of such alarm systems existing
at the time of the adoption of this chapter and who have not heretofore
filed the necessary permit application shall have a period of 60 days
to comply with all provisions of this chapter, and, in default or
failure to obtain said permit as herein mandated, the owner of said
alarm system shall be subject to a fine of $300 plus the costs of
prosecution for each day that said violation shall continue.
Enforcement of this chapter shall be supplemental
to enforcement under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code Section 7511 (18
Pa.C.S.A. § 7511) (1998).
