[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Franklin Lakes 2-14-1990 by Ord. No. 893 as Sec. 4-4 of the 1988
Code; amended in its entirety 4-21-2015 by Ord. No. 1623. Subsequent amendments
noted where applicable.]
A.
Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to provide
standards and regulations in the Borough for various types of local
alarms, intrusion, burglar, fire and other emergency alarm devices,
whether by direct line, radio, telephone or other means, requiring
response thereto by the Police Department, Fire Department or other
municipal agencies.
B.
Scope. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person who operates, maintains or owns any alarm device or local alarm designed to summon the Police or Fire Department or other municipal agencies to any location in response to any type of alarm signal. The terms of this chapter shall in no way prohibit alarm companies from providing service by private source to other offices within or without the Borough; except, however, that any person having a premises protected by an alarm device shall still be responsible for the registration thereof in accordance with § 140-3.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any type of alarm system providing warning of intrusion,
fire, smoke, flood or other peril.
Any alarm device or combination of devices installed for
one or more buildings.
Shall be limited to a member of the Police Department of
the Borough.
Any alarm actuated by inadvertence, negligence or the unintentional
act of someone other than an intruder and shall include, as well,
alarms caused by malfunctioning of the alarm device or other relevant
equipment.
Any alarm or device which, when actuated, produces a signal,
such as store burglar alarms actuating bell devices.
Any person owning an alarm device or local alarm within the
scope of this chapter.
A.
Any person who owns or operates an alarm device or
a local alarm shall register the alarm annually with the Police Department
to allow continuance thereof. The application shall contain at least
the location of the device, the name of the installer of the device,
the name of the person responsible for maintenance of the device,
the type of the device, provisions relating to false alarms and testing
procedures, a list of persons to be contacted in the event of an alarm,
and other information as may be required by the Chief of Police.
B.
Local alarms and alarm devices: on or before January
15 of each year or within 15 days from the installation of said alarm.
A.
All audible alarms shall be equipped with a time relay
or battery to limit the sounding of an alarm to 15 minutes or less
with an automatic reset mechanism.
B.
A code designation system shall be instituted by the
Chief of Police for each alarm user in order that he may have the
opportunity of canceling police response in the event that his device
transmits an inadvertent alarm. Such cancellation must be received
at police headquarters within one minute after the receipt of the
alarm to avoid a false alarm being credited to the alarm user.
A.
In the case of a false alarm, any person having knowledge thereof shall immediately notify the Police Department in a manner to be prescribed by rules and regulations in accordance with § 140-6. In addition, in the case of false alarms, the Chief of Police shall cause an investigation to be made and shall keep a record of the alarms on file.
B.
For false alarms, the Mayor and Council prescribe
the following penalties:
(1)
For
the first and second false alarm in any given calendar year, a warning
shall be issued.
(2)
For
the third false alarm in the same calendar year, a fine of $50 shall
be paid to the Borough.
(3)
For
the fourth false alarm, a fine of $100 shall be paid to the Borough.
(4)
For
the fifth false alarm and thereafter, a fine of $200 each shall be
paid to the Borough.
(5)
In
the event that an audible alarm fails to shut off after 15 minutes
and it becomes necessary for the Police Department, Fire Department
or any other individual acting on behalf of the Borough to shut off
said alarm, there shall be a fine in the amount of $150.
The Chief of Police may promulgate written rules
and regulations supplementing this chapter in order to provide for
recordkeeping and efficient management of the system, provided that
the Borough Council shall first approve the rules or any changes thereto
by appropriate resolution.
Any person, firm or corporation found guilty in the Municipal
Court of the Borough for violation of the terms of this chapter shall
be subject to a fine of not more than $200 or imprisonment for a period
not exceeding 90 days, or both.
