[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Eatontown 8-27-1986 by Ord. No. 8-86. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
That component installed in the console at police headquarters
containing alarm indicators and designations.
Any device, such as a bell, siren, whistle, horn, gong or
Klaxson, employed to call attention to or provide warning of intrusion
by any person or by fire, smoke, flood or other peril, whether the
same provides a visual or audio response, alarm or warning, if such
warning is capable of being heard or received at any point beyond
the interior walls of the house, apartment, office, store, industrial
building or other structure in or on which the alarm system has been
placed.
Any and all forms of mercantile, commercial or industrial
activity, including activities carried on in a professional building
not part of a residence.
That type of automatic telephone dialing service using the
telephone system to transmit an alarm of intrusion, fire, smoke, flood
or other peril to the Police Department or any third party.
The activation of an alarm system by causes other than those
to which the alarm system was designed or intended to respond. Activation
by a storm or other unusual atmospheric condition shall not be deemed
a "false alarm."
Any alarm device which, when actuated, produces an audible
signal to give a warning of intrusion, fire, smoke, flood or other
peril.
Any individual, person, firm, association, partnership, corporation,
joint venture, society, club, trustee, trust or incorporated activity.
Any person owning, operating, leasing or maintaining an alarm
system within the scope of this chapter who has been issued a registration
certificate to operate and maintain such alarm system.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to
any person who owns, operates, leases or maintains any alarm system
situated in the Borough of Eatontown if the alarm system has an audible
signaling device or a device which requires a response by the Police
Department, Fire Department, First Aid Squad or other Borough agency.
The provisions of this chapter shall in no way prohibit service by
private source to persons within or without the Borough, so long as
such activity is not in violation of this chapter, and provided further
that any person owning, operating, leasing or maintaining a premises
protected by an alarm system shall be responsible for the registration
thereof in accordance with this chapter.
A.
All components of an alarm system shall be maintained
in good repair and shall operate in a proper manner.
B.
When evidence exists that there has been a failure
to comply with the maintenance and operation requirements of this
chapter, the Police Department shall then be authorized to demand
that residential fire alarms and burglar alarms be disconnected until
such time as compliance with the provisions of this chapter has been
established. The Police Department shall have the right to disconnect
any residential and burglar alarms malfunctioning until such time
as the malfunction has been corrected and the alarm system is operating
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
All audible signaling devices shall be equipped
with a timing device to limit the sounding of the signaling device
to 30 minutes or less.
The Police Department shall have the authority
to promulgate written rules and regulations and incorporate recommendations
proposed by the Fire Department, First Aid Squad or other Borough
agencies, subject to approval by a resolution adopted by the Mayor
and Council of the Borough of Eatontown, which rules and regulations
shall supplement this chapter and provide for recordkeeping and the
efficient operation and management of alarm systems in the Borough
of Eatontown.
A.
In the event that an alarm user sustains a false alarm
at a single site, the Fire Official shall send a violation notice
to the alarm user or proprietor advising that all subsequent false
alarms shall be a violation of this code subject to an administrative
citation, infraction citation, and/or excessive false alarm fine.
Multiple false alarms during a twenty-four-hour period will be considered
one false alarm for the purposes of this section. An alarm user, at
a single site, will receive one free false alarm per year. If the
alarm user changes (e.g., sale of business or residence) the new alarm
user will receive one free false alarm during the current year.
[Amended 5-25-2022 by Ord. No. 09-2022]
(1)
If it becomes necessary to issue a citation or assess
an excessive false alarm fine, the Fire Official shall serve upon
the user in person or send a penalty notice to the alarm user by mail.
The notice shall include:
(2)
Payment of the false alarm fee must be received within
14 calendar days from the date of delivery as listed on the certified
mail return receipt.
(3)
Penalties for false alarms transmitted from a multifamily
residential complex, business, commercial, or industrial premises
shall be as follows:
|
Number of Alarms Within a Calendar Year
|
Penalties
|
|---|---|
|
1st and 2nd
|
Warning only
|
|
3rd
|
Up to $500
|
|
4th or more
|
Up to $1,000
|
B.
Where the investigation of the Police Department discloses
a continued disregard by the owner for taking remedial steps for avoiding
false alarms or for continued failure to maintain or operate an alarm
system, the Police Department shall have the right to require disconnection
of the alarm system for a limited or permanent time, giving the owner
an opportunity to show cause to the Police Department why such action
should not be taken. A person aggrieved by the decision of the Police
Department shall have the right to appeal said decision to the Mayor
and Council within 10 days of the decision.
C.
Any unauthorized equipment pertaining to an alarm
system may be ordered to be disconnected by the Police Department
for noncompliance with this chapter. Any placing, installing or maintaining
unauthorized equipment or failing to file a required registration
application or amendment thereto shall be a violation of this chapter
and shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $50, which shall be paid
to the Borough. Each and every day that such equipment is installed
or maintained shall be considered a separate violation. Any person
placing, installing or maintaining any alarm system shall be deemed
as having consented to inspection of the premises on which said alarm
system is installed or maintained at reasonable hours by the Police
Department.
D.
Any act of God (i.e., flood, hurricane, earthquake,
etc.) which affects the operation and performance of an approved alarm
system shall, after such determination by the Police Department, not
subject to the owner, operator, leasee or maintainer to any fine or
penalty as herein prescribed by this chapter.
In the case of false alarms which summon the
Fire Department or Police Department to investigate, the Police Chief
shall cause an investigation to be made and shall keep a record of
such false alarms in what the investigation revealed on file in his
office.
A.
No burglar or intrusion alarm system shall be installed
without prior approval of the type of alarm by the Police Chief or
his designee on the basis of a submission to him of specifications
of said alarm system. This section shall not prohibit the installation
of alarms complying with any regulation promulgated by any authorized
state agencies or by the BOCA Code, but said specifications must be
registered and approved by the Police Chief in accordance with this
chapter.
B.
No fire or smoke alarm system audible outside the
protected premises or connected to any device that would automatically
summon aid from the municipality may be installed without prior approval
of the Fire Chief via the Fire Prevention Bureau, Building Department
and in accordance with the BOCA Building Code or other appropriate
agency in the case of site plan approval, building permit or certificate
of occupancy as the case may be. This section should not prohibit
the installation of those devices approved by a duly constituted state
agency but said device shall be approved as set forth in this chapter
prior to said installation.
A.
All alarm systems installed under this chapter shall
provide a secondary battery-powered backup system which shall automatically
take over operation of said device in case of public power failure.
B.
All auto-telephone activating alarm systems shall
be coded to dial a number provided by the Chief of Police.
C.
All auto-telephone activating alarm systems shall
be capable of being disconnected by the owner or user to permit a
call to the police switchboard in the event of a false alarm occurring.
D.
The contents of any recorded messages from an auto-telephone
activating alarm system must be intelligible and in a format approved
by the Chief of Police. No such message shall be transmitted more
than three times as a result of signal stimulus of the mechanism.
Messages shall not exceed 15 seconds, and the time gap between delivery
shall approximate 10 seconds.
[Amended 5-25-2022 by Ord. No. 09-2022]
Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to penalties set forth in § 78-6 of this chapter, with the discretion of the Judge and the Municipal Court, or for violations whose penalties are not specifically set forth, to a fine not to exceed $2,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed 90 days.
Nothing in this chapter shall subject the Police
Department or Fire Department or any member thereof or any other municipal
agency or employee responding to the summons of an alarm device to
liability for damages caused by the use of reasonable force made necessary
to force entry or to dismantle an alarm device which fails to shut
off as required.
