[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Briarcliff
Manor 9-23-1999 by L.L. No. 7-1999; amended
in its entirety 4-28-2005 by L.L. No. 4-2005.
Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to establish standards and control of
the various types of security, fire and other emergency signals from alarm
devices that require police response or fire response, investigation and/or
safeguarding of property. This chapter establishes procedures for regulation
and permitting of property owners and occupants who maintain such security
systems or fire alarm systems at their premises. All emergency medical monitoring
and medical alarm systems shall be exempt from this chapter.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The Board having responsibility for hearing administrative appeals
from determinations of the Chief of Police.
Any security system or fire alarm system or aggregation of same installed
on or within a single building or within more than one building or area located
on a common site.
Any signal actuated by an alarm installation to which the Police
or Fire Department respond, which is not the result of a crime, attempted
crime, fire or emergency.
Any alarm installation designed to be activated by a smoke or fire
emergency or individual at a specific location which produces an audible or
visual signal designed to give notification of such emergency, and which may,
when activated by an emergency requiring fire response, transmit by operator
or a prerecorded message or other signal by telephone, radio or other means
to a central alarm station.
Any action taken by the Fire Department to investigate, respond to
or dispatch emergency services to the location indicated by the security system
or fire alarm system.
Any entry into an area or building equipped with one or more security
systems which actuates a security system.
The Village of Briarcliff Manor acting through the Village Treasurer
or such other Village official or department as the Board of Trustees may
designate by resolution.
Any action taken by the Police Department to investigate, respond
to or dispatch emergency services to the location indicated by the security
system or fire alarm systems.
Any alarm device designed to be actuated by a criminal act or other
emergency at a specific location or by a potential victim or witness of such
criminal act or emergency which produces an audible or visual signal designed
to give notification of such event, and which may when actuated requiring
police response, transmit by operator or prerecorded message or other signal
by telephone, radio or other means to a central alarm station.
The Village of Briarcliff Manor.
A.
Operating, maintaining, installing, leasing or selling
a security system or fire alarm system without a license. It shall be unlawful
for any entity to operate, maintain, install, lease or sell a security system
or fire alarm system, as defined by the terms of this chapter, without first
obtaining a license from the State of New York pursuant to General Business
Law Article 6-D, as amended from time to time.
B.
The permitting authority is hereby authorized to grant
a revocable permit to any owner of property located within the Village of
Briarcliff Manor, or the lessee thereof, to operate, maintain, and modify
a security system or fire alarm system.
C.
Application for permits. Application for permits shall
be made as follows:
(1)
Any property owner or lessee of property in the Village
of Briarcliff Manor having, or desiring to have, on its premises one or more
security systems or fire alarm systems shall apply to the permitting authority
on a form to be supplied by the permitting authority for a permit to operate
such a system or systems on its premises.
(2)
No such system may he used or operated on the premises
of the owner or lessee prior to the permitting authority having issued a permit
to such owner or lessee, and no presently existing security system or fire
alarm system shall be substantially modified after the effective date of this
chapter prior to the permitting authority having issued a permit to such owner
or lessee.
(3)
A new permit shall be obtained each time a security system
or fire alarm system is to be substantially modified or a new security system
or fire alarm system is installed on the premises of the owner or lessee.
D.
Permits shall be renewed on an annual basis. Each recipient
of an alarm device registration permit shall, on forms to be provided by the
permitting authority, update registration information on an annual basis,
including material changes in submitted registration information and any change
in the identity of the person or persons owning, leasing or otherwise having
control over the premises where an alarm device is used or installed.
F.
Denial, suspension, or revocation of license or permit.
(1)
A permit issued under this chapter may be suspended or
revoked by the permitting authority after notice and hearing
by the permitting authority for the violation of any of the provisions of
this chapter or of any regulation or regulations promulgated by the permitting
authority pursuant to this chapter, and any permit identification card issued
hereunder shall be surrendered immediately to the permitting authority upon
such suspension or revocation.
(2)
No part of a permit fee shall be refunded when a permit
is suspended or revoked.
(3)
Any applicant whose application for a permit has been
denied or suspended or revoked by the permitting authority may appeal such
a denial, suspension or revocation in writing to the Alarm Appeals Board within
30 days after the date of the notice of denial, suspension or revocation and
may appear before the Alarm Appeals Board at a time and place to be determined
by the Alarm Appeals Board, in support of its contention that the permit should
not have been denied, suspended or revoked.
A.
Intentional false alarm. It shall be a violation of this
chapter to intentionally cause a false alarm, and any person who does intentionally
cause a false alarm shall be subject to the penalty provisions of this chapter,
in addition to other penalties and sanctions as provided by law.
B.
Charges for false alarms.
(1)
Any owner or lessee of property having a security system
or fire alarm system on its premises shall pay to the Village a charge for
each and every false alarm to which the Police or Fire Department respond
in each calendar year. There shall be a fee for each false alarm as set forth
by resolution of the Village Board of Trustees in the Master Fee Schedule,[1] which may be amended from time to time.
[1]
Editor's Note: Said schedule is available in the Village offices.
(2)
Notice of each false alarm recorded against a security
system or fire alarm system shall be given to the owner or lessee of the property
or permit holder. The charges shall be collected by the Village Treasurer
and shall be payable to the Village of Briarcliff Manor. Failure to pay such
charges shall subject such owner, lessee, or permit holder to the penalty
provisions of this chapter.
(3)
Notification and appeals.
(a)
The Village Treasurer shall notify the owner or lessee
of the property or the permit holder by prompt notice of a false-alarm charge
imposed. A copy of such notice shall also be sent, in the same manner, to
each other entity identified as a record owner of the premises at which the
false alarm has occurred.
(b)
Within 30 days after the mailing of such notice, the
owner or lessee of the property or the permit holder may contest the false-alarm
charge by filing with the Chief of Police information to show that a false
alarm did not occur or that there are extenuating circumstances that should
be considered in the mitigation of any charge imposed.
(c)
The Chief of Police shall consider all information submitted, shall afford each person contesting a charge an opportunity for a personal meeting, if so requested, and, after any such meeting has been held or waived, shall reaffirm, rescind or modify the false-alarm charge, notifying the owner or lessee of the property or the permit holder of his or her decision. Within 20 days after the mailing of such notice, the owner or lessee of the property or the permit holder may file with the Alarm Appeals Board an appeal, in writing, but such an appeal may not be taken if the false-alarm charge is not first contested with the Chief of Police as herein provided in § 69-4.
(4)
The responsible alarm user who fails to pay a false-alarm charge imposed under and in accordance with this section who does not appeal said charge in accordance with § 69-4B(3) above, or after a decision on said appeal imposing a charge does not pay said charge within 30 days thereafter, is no longer subject to administrative appeal to or review or decision by the Alarm Appeals Board, and said failure to pay the charge imposed shall constitute a violation of this chapter and shall subject a violator to the penalties described in § 69-7, without affecting the obligation of such person to pay the false-alarm charge imposed.
(5)
The owner or lessee of the property or the permit holder having an alarm installation, as defined herein, on its premises, which system in any one calendar year produces more than five false alarms, shall be subject to revocation of its permit by the permitting authority upon notice and after opportunity for a hearing as provided in § 69-6.
C.
Installation and maintenance. The owner or lessee shall
be responsible for the installation, maintenance and service of its security
system or fire alarm system and shall be responsible for all malfunctions
of its equipment.
A.
Requirement for automatic cutoff system. No entity shall
install, cause to be installed, maintain or cause to be maintained in a location
within the Village of Briarcliff Manor an external audible security system
or fire alarm system which does not also contain an automatic cutoff system
or feature automatically cutting off the source of power to the alarm device
after it has sounded for a period of no longer than 10 minutes.
B.
Exceptions. None of the provisions of this chapter shall
apply to a security system or fire alarm system installed in a motor vehicle
or trailer, nor to employees of a public utility company engaged in the business
of providing communication services or facilities.
C.
Confidential information. Information obtained by the
permitting authority under this chapter relating to particular alarm users
and alarm devices shall not be divulged without the written consent of the
alarm user concerned, except as necessary or appropriate to the enforcement
or administration of this chapter or to assist the Police Department or Fire
Department in responding to an alarm or as otherwise required by other federal
or state law.
D.
No alarm user permit shall be issued unless the following
requirements are met:
(1)
The premises shall display a building or house number
or name sufficiently sized or illuminated by streetlighting or other lighting
so as to be clearly visible from the street frontage.
(2)
All alarm devices shall be equipped with a standby power
source sufficient to maintain the device in an armed state for at least eight
hours in the event of a power failure.
A.
The Fire Chief, the Village Manager and the Village Clerk
shall comprise and serve as an Alarm Appeals Board having the powers and duties
granted to it under this chapter.
B.
The Alarm Appeals Board shall consider appeals from determinations
of the Chief of Police as herein provided. Upon receipt of a timely appeal
taken, the Alarm Appeals Board shall notify the appellant and the Chief of
Police of the date and time when a hearing will be held on the appeal, unless
the appellant shall waive his right to a hearing in which case the appeal
shall be considered on the basis of submitted information. Such notice shall
be given not less than 15 days in advance of the scheduled hearing. Notices
to an appellant shall be given by certified mail, return receipt requested.
The Alarm Appeals Board may adopt such rules and procedures for the prosecution
of appeals and conduct of hearings as shall be proper and appropriate.
C.
On the basis of all evidence and information properly
submitted or introduced, the Alarm Appeals Board shall either affirm the action
of the Chief of Police if it finds such action to have been properly taken
or it shall rescind or modify such action if it finds that it was not properly
taken or that the interests of justice so require. The Alarm Appeals Board
shall hear and decide any appeal within 30 days after the written notice of
appeal is filed with the Village Clerk. Decisions of the Alarm Appeals Board
shall be final. Failure to decide an appeal within the said thirty-day period
shall not result in a default approval.
D.
Whenever it has been determined by the permitting authority that unlawful equipment must be removed from any location, the owner shall have the right to appeal such determination and be heard before the Alarm Appeals Board pursuant to the same procedure set forth in § 69-6B. The Alarm Appeals Board shall hear and decide any appeal within 30 days after the written notice of appeal is filed with the Village Clerk. Failure to decide an appeal within the said thirty-day period shall not result in a default approval.
Any entity which violates any provisions of this chapter shall be subject
to a fine not in excess of $250 or imprisonment for 15 days, or both, for
each offense. A separate offense shall be deemed committed for each occurrence
during which a violation occurs or is committed.
The invalidity of any word, section, clause, paragraph, sentence, part
or provision of this chapter shall not affect the validity of any part of
this chapter which can be given effect without such valid part or parts.
This chapter shall take effect immediately upon filing in the office
of the Secretary of State of New York.
