[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of
the City of Passaic 4-21-1977 by Ord. No. 389-77. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Amended 9-27-1990 by Ord. No. 1107-90]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide standards
and regulations for intrusion, burglar, fire and other emergency alarm
devices, whether by direct line, radio, telephone or other means,
actuating a device at the police headquarters and/or by any means
received at the fire headquarters of the City of Passaic and requiring
response thereto by the Police Department, Fire Department or other
municipal agencies and to reduce the frequency of false alarms.
A.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person, firm or corporation who operates, maintains or owns any alarm device designed to summon the police, Fire Department or other municipal agencies to any location in response to any type of alarm signal. This chapter shall in no way prohibit any person from providing service to private facilities within the City of Passaic, so long as such activity is not connected to the alarm console at Passaic police or fire headquarters, except, however, that any person, firm or corporation having a premises protected by an alarm device shall still be responsible for the registration thereof in accordance with § 71-6A and B. Telephone dialers shall not be allowed to connect to the police or fire headquarters console or telephone switchboard.
B.
In the event that any person has a dial alarm device
in existence that reports to the code-a-phone in the Passaic Police
Department at the time of the passage of this subsection, he shall
have until January 1, 1982, in which to be connected directly into
the computerized burglar alarm system now in service. As of that date,
no telephone dialers will be permitted to connect to any code-a-phone
recorder for alarms. As of January 1, 1982, the code-a-phone recorder
for burglar alarms will be phased out of service.
[Amended 11-16-1981 by Ord. No. 655-81]
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any type of alarm system actuating equipment in the alarm
which provides warning of intrusion, fire, smoke, flood or other peril.
Any alarm device or combination of devices installed for
one or more buildings at a location other than the alarm monitoring
system.
The system of scanning alarm monitoring devices and displays
coupled with a programmed computer giving visual and audible signals
and printed response data to an alarm device.
Limited to a member of the Passaic Police Department.
That type of device using telephone lines transmitting an
alarm directly to the alarm monitoring system.
Any alarm actuated by inadvertence, negligence or 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, but shall not include alarms created by malfunction of
the alarm monitoring system.
The person obtaining the license to maintain the alarm monitoring
system as hereinafter set forth.
Any alarm or device which, when actuated, produces a signal
not connected to the alarm monitoring system, such as store burglar
alarms actuating bell devices or any type of audio noise.
Any person owning an alarm device or a local alarm within
the scope of this chapter.
Includes any natural person, partnership, corporation or
association.
A.
There is hereby established a police alarm monitoring license which shall be granted upon recommendation of the Chief of Police and Fire Department as set forth in § 71-5 of this chapter. Any such licensee shall have exclusive use and control of the alarm monitoring system except for use by the Police Department of the City of Passaic, and such licensee will be responsible, at no cost to the City of Passaic, for the establishment, construction, maintenance and management of said system containing equipment and being of a design approved by the Police Chief.
B.
All alarms existing as of the date of the adoption
of this chapter, except dial alarms, shall be connected hereunder
to the alarm monitoring system by the licensee.
C.
The licensee shall be permitted to charge subscribers
fees, which may be billed annually in advance of a maximum installation
fee of $50 and a maximum monthly connection or maintenance fee of
$10. No fee shall be charged to the City of Passaic for connection
to the console nor a connection maintenance fee for alarm devices
in the public buildings of the City of Passaic which are connected
to the alarm monitoring system.
[Amended 5-18-1978 by Ord. No. 481-78; 12-21-1978 by Ord. No.
520-78]
D.
Except as provided in § 71-7 of this chapter, any license issued hereunder shall be for a term of three years from date of approval. Such licensee shall post with the City Clerk a performance bond in the amount of $5,000, noncancelable without notification to the City of Passaic guaranteeing performance for three years of the obligation of the licensee and insuring maintenance of said monitoring system during the period when such license is in force.
A.
All persons desiring to bid for a license under this
chapter shall prequalify by making application to the Chief of Police,
which application shall disclose whatever information may be required
by the City of Passaic concerning the ability of the applicant to
comply with the requirements of this chapter and shall indicate, in
any event, that:
B.
Upon receipt by the Chief of Poke of a list of those persons who prequalified, the Chief of Police shall then designate the time and place for receiving sealed bids by those eligible to submit bids as set forth in Subsection A above, which bid shall be accompanied by the bond and other requirements of this chapter and shall state the maximum installation and monthly charges not to exceed those prescribed by this chapter. Upon the return of the sealed bids, the City of Passaic may award said license, pursuant to the Local Public Contracts Law, N.J.S.A. 40A:ll-l et seq., to the person whose bid taken as a whole is the most advantageous to both the subscribers to the system and to the City of Passaic and in conjunction therewith reserves the right to reject any and all bids.
[Amended 5-18-1978 by Ord. No. 481-78; 12-21-1978 by Ord. No.
520-78; 4-17-1986 by Ord. No. 928-86]
A.
Any person who owns or maintains an alarm device shall
obtain a permit upon making application in writing to the Chief of
Police, which application shall contain at least the location of the
device, the name of the installer of said device, the type of 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.
All persons obtaining a permit shall pay to the City
of Passaic the initial sum of $50 for a business or industrial alarm
and $35 for a residential alarm permit. In the event that the fees
set forth above shall be returned prior to the completion of any installation,
the City of Passaic shall retain 10% of the fee actually paid.
[Amended 4-10-2012 by Ord. No. 1898-12]
C.
Waiver of charges. No charge shall be required for
the installation of alarm equipment either in the headquarters of
the Passaic Police Department or the headquarters of the Passaic Fire
Department if the applicant shall be a municipal, county, state or
federal agency. In addition thereto, no permit fee shall be required
to be posted by senior citizens, and no permit fee will be required
to be posted for automobile alarms and residential smoke detectors.
[Amended 4-10-2012 by Ord. No. 1898-12]
D.
Any permit qranted hereunder shall be accepted upon
express condition that the permittee shall indemnify and hold the
City of Passaic harmless from and account of any and all damages arising
out of the activities of the permittee, its alarm contractor or the
alarm monitoring system licensee.
E.
False alarms.
[Amended 6-6-1991 by Ord. No. 1141-91; 4-10-2012 by Ord. No.
1898-12]
(1)
In case of a false alarm, any persons having knowledge
shall immediately notify the Police Department and/or Fire Department
in a manner prescribed in this section. In addition, in the case of
a false alarm, the Chief of Police and/or Chief of the Fire Department,
or his agent, shall cause an investigation to be made and shall keep
a record of said alarms on file.
(2)
A penalty of $50 per alarm will be charged to the
registrant for each residential type alarm after the first four false
alarms in each calendar year. The following penalties shall be charged
to the registrant for each commercial or industrial type alarm: $100
per alarm after the first four false alarms in each calendar year;
$200 per alarm after the first eight false alarms in each calendar
year and $300 per alarm after the first 12 false alarms in each calendar
year. The Chief of Police or, in the case of a fire alarm, the Chief
of the Fire Department, upon proper investigation, shall have the
authority to order the discontinuation of alarm privileges, when deemed
necessary, for repeated false alarms.
F.
A code designation system shall be instituted by the
commanding officer of the Bureau of Communications for each alarm
user in order that he may have the opportunity of confirming police
response in the event that his device transmits an inadvertent alarm.
Such confirmation must be received at police headquarters within one
minute after the receipt of the alarm to avoid a false alarm being
charged to the alarm user.
The City of Passaic shall be under no duty or
obligation to any permittee hereunder or to any alarm monitoring system
licensee hereunder, the alarm monitoring system and allied equipment
being maintained at will and subject to termination at any time by
cancellation of the system by resolution duly adopted by the City
of Passaic, and a permit or license hereunder may be revoked at any
time by the City of Passaic upon recommendation of the Chief of Police,
provided that 90 days' notice is given in writing to said permittee
or licensee by registered mail.
A.
All fire alarm devices shall be installed in accordance
with the requirements of the Fire Chief or his designee and the consent
of the Police Chief.
B.
Any licensee for the alarm monitoring system and any
permittee utilizing the services of any other alarm company connected
to said system shall provide for a representative to be on call at
all times to repair any malfunction of any equipment.
C.
Any unauthorized equipment may be disconnected by
the Chief of Police or his designated representative for noncompliance
with this chapter; and any person installing or maintaining unauthorized
equipment shall be prosecuted for violation of this chapter; and each
and every day said equipment is in operation shall be considered a
separate violation. Any permittee shall, by acceptance of the permit,
be deemed as having consented to inspection of the premises on which
said alarm devices are installed at reasonable hours by the Chief
of Police or his designated representative.
D.
It shall be unlawful to connect or maintain any alarm
installation to a bell, siren or similar device which sounds beyond
the property fine of the premises in which such alarm installation
is maintained.
The Chief of Police may from time to time promulgate
rules and regulations supplementing this chapter in order to provide
for recordkeeping and efficient management of said system.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Original Section XI, Penalty,
which followed this section, was deleted 7-11-1985 by Ord. No. 865-85.
[Added 2-7-1991 by Ord. No. 1128-91]
In the event that any person subject to the provisions of Chapter 71 of the Code of the City of Passaic fails to obtain a permit for an alarm device and/or fails to pay a penalty for false alarms within 30 days after receiving a written bill for such penalty, such person shall be in violation of the Code of the City of Passaic. Any such person may be charged accordingly in the Municipal Court of the City of Passaic and shall be subject to the general penalty provisions contained in the Code of the City of Passaic.[1]
