[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Manorhaven 6-7-2000 by L.L. No. 4-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Noise — See Ch. 97.
A. 
The unregulated transmission of automatic tape alarm systems in the village has, from time to time, resulted in the overtaxing of facilities and in the impairment of the ability of the Police and Fire Departments to respond to true emergencies. Additionally, the continued and unnecessarily prolonged emission of sound from audible alarm systems to the surrounding community and the difficulties and delays encountered in silencing such systems have disturbed the rest and repose of residents of the village and have caused police, fire and village personnel to spend excessive amounts of time both in the investigation of those alarms and in the attempted silencing of them, thereby preventing the devotion of time to the protection and general welfare of the inhabitants of the village.
B. 
It is necessary to the general welfare, peace and repose of the village to protect its residents through the establishment of controls of various types of fire, intrusion, holdup and other emergency signals from fire and police alarm devices which require Fire Department or Police Department response, investigation or safeguarding of property at the location of an event reported by a signal transmitted by telephone or radio or otherwise relayed to the Police Department or the Fire Department by an alarm device requiring investigation or other action by any person acting in response to a signal activated by any alarm device.
C. 
The purpose and intent of this chapter is to improve the availability of police and fire equipment and personnel for the handling of emergency situations and to reduce the number of false alarms. It is hereby declared that the noise emanating from audible alarms which continue to sound either without the existence of an emergency situation or after the emergency situation has ended constitutes a public nuisance.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ALARM SYSTEM
Any alarm device which automatically dials to a central station and uses a pretaped or prerecorded message to alert the police that an emergency exists or that the services of that department or of the Fire Department are needed. "Alarm system" shall also mean any alarm device which automatically emits an audible, visual or other response upon the occurrence of any hazard or emergency and is intended to alert persons outside the building to the existence of said hazard or emergency. The term shall also include the fire alarms for the purposes of this chapter, but does not include alarm signals transmitted to privately operated central stations.
CENTRAL STATION
Any company that is licensed and has submitted an application to the local police; has been approved to install emergency alarm devices and monitor pretaped or prerecorded messages; and who will notify the Fire or Police Department that an emergency exists at a specific location.
DIAL ALARM or DIALING DEVICE
Any fire or police alarm device which is a telephone device or telephone attachment which automatically or electronically selects a telephone line connected to a central station and reproduces a prerecorded message to report a criminal act or other emergency requiring Police or Fire Department response.
FALSE EMERGENCY ALARM
Any signal actuated by an emergency alarm to which the Police or Fire Department responds which is not the result of a fire, holdup, robbery or other crime or emergency.
POLICE EMERGENCY NUMBER
Any telephone number designated by the Police Department as a telephone number through which members of the public may report an emergency or request public assistance.
VILLAGE
The Incorporated Village of Manorhaven.
All dialing devices operated by automatic means shall transmit messages only to such numbers as may be designated for that purpose. After six months following the effective date of this chapter, no person shall use, operate or install any device which will, upon activation by automatic means, initiate the dialing, calling or other connection with any emergency number other than the designated alarm company central station.
No person shall use, operate or install any dialing device that will, upon activation, automatically dial, call or connect with the telephone number designated for the purpose of receiving such alarm messages, more than twice for any one incident. Any system installed on or after the effective date of this chapter must comply with this section. Preexisting installations must comply within six months of the effective date of this chapter.
Upon the activation of a burglary (break-in) alarm, there shall be a mandatory delay of at least 15 seconds before the transmission of a signal to the alarm company central station to enable the user to abort the signal in the event that it was triggered inadvertently. This delay shall not be applicable to a robbery (hold-up), fire or medical emergency alarm. Any system installed on or after the effective date of this chapter must comply with this section. Preexisting installations must comply within six months of the effective date of this chapter.
The user of every alarm system emitting an audible, visual or other response shall, at the time such system is installed, or within six months of the effective date of this chapter in the case of existing systems, install or cause to be installed an automatic timing device which shall deactivate such alarm so that it will be activated for no more than 20 minutes.
A. 
The user of every alarm system maintained in the village, except those installed in motor vehicles, shall, within 10 days of the installation thereof or within 60 days of the enactment of this chapter, file the following information with the Village Clerk:
(1) 
Type of alarm system.
(2) 
Street address and the nearest cross street of the building which houses the alarm.
(3) 
In the case of a commercial premises, the name, address and telephone number of an authorized representative and/or an alternative who will be able to respond when called by police to deactivate the alarm system, if necessary.
(4) 
In the case of a private residence, the name, address and telephone number of a person who is not a resident of the private residence in question and who will be able to deactivate the alarm system.
B. 
Such filing requirements are applicable to all alarm systems, whether the same are or are not directly connected to a designated alarm company central station or are merely audible alarms. Such filing must be made within the time period specified above, even though there shall have been previous notification of the existence of such alarm systems to the Village Clerk.
A. 
The Village Clerk is hereby authorized to grant a revocable permit to any owner, lessee or occupant of property located in the village to operate, maintain, install or modify a police or fire alarm device, and no such device shall be operated unless such permit shall have first been issued.
B. 
The Village Clerk shall charge a fee of $10 for the issuance of any such permit.
C. 
A permit issued pursuant to this chapter may be revoked at any time or from time to time by the Village Clerk upon the giving of 10 days' notice in writing, by registered or certified mail, to the permittee, sent to the address shown on the permit. The violation of this chapter, following conviction thereof, shall constitute grounds for the revocation of the permit; the failure of the Village Clerk to revoke the permit following a finding by the Village Court that there has been a violation of this chapter shall not be deemed a waiver of the rights to revoke the permit.
A. 
No person shall intentionally, negligently, carelessly or erroneously cause a false alarm. The user of the alarm system shall be solely and wholly responsible for any false alarms. Negligent or careless acts shall include improper maintenance and insufficient or inadequate instructions to tenants, employees, agents, children or others concerned with or having access to the operation of the alarm system.
B. 
Charges.
(1) 
Any owner or lessee of property having a fire or police alarm device or system of fire or police alarm devices on his or its premises on the effective date of this chapter and any user of services or equipment furnished by a licensee under this chapter shall pay to the village a charge for each and every false emergency alarm to which the Police or Fire Department responds, in each calendar year, as follows:
(a) 
First two false emergencies each calendar year: no charge.
(b) 
Third false emergency alarm each calendar year: $26.
(c) 
Fourth and fifth false emergency alarms each calendar year: $52 each occurrence.
(d) 
All false emergency alarms over five in each calendar year: $93 each occurrence.
(2) 
The above charges shall be paid to the Village Clerk. Failure to pay any such charges shall subject such owner, lessee or user to the penalty provisions of this chapter.
In the event that an alarm system emitting an audible, visual or other similar response shall fail to be deactivated within the time limitation specified in § 25-6 above, the village shall have the right to take such action as may be necessary in order to disconnect any such alarm.
Any person who violates the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction, shall be subject to such fines as may be imposed by the Village Justice in accordance with the provisions of the Code of the Village of Manorhaven.
If any part or parts of this chapter are for any reason held to be invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The Board of Trustees hereby declares that it would have passed the local law enacting this chapter and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases might be declared invalid.