For the purpose of this article, the following
terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ALARM DEVICE
Any type of alarm-actuating equipment, excluding motor vehicle
alarms, which provides warning of intrusion, fire, smoke, carbon monoxide,
burglary, floor or like perils, including direct alarms and any audible
alarms, and any device connected to the municipal alarm system.
ALARM SUPPLIER AND/OR INSTALLER AND/OR REPAIRER
Any person or party who installs or otherwise prepares for
use in the City of Schenectady. This shall not include the business
of selling parts or whole alarms only and not being involved in the
act of installing or repairing in any form.
ALARM SYSTEM
The installation in 1 or more buildings of 1 or more alarm
devices for the express purpose of giving visual or audible warning,
or both, of an emergency such as a burglary, intrusion, carbon monoxide,
fire, smoke, flood or like perils.
AUDIBLE ALARM
A device that emits an audible signal from the premises that
it is designed to protect.
CENTRAL DISPATCH STATION
A remote alarm monitoring station, other than the Bureau
of Signal Control or the Schenectady Municipal Central Dispatch Center,
away from the protected premises or building.
MUNICIPAL FIRE ALARM SYSTEM RECEIVER
That component installed in the Schenectady Central Dispatch
Center containing alarm indications and designations, capable of receiving
notification from activated fire alarm systems.
FALSE ALARM
An alarm signal necessitating response by the Police or Fire
Department where an emergency situation does not exist.
PERSISTENT FALSE ALARM
A false alarm in excess of more than four false alarms within
the last 12 months. "Persistent false alarms" shall not include those
false alarms caused by acts of God, natural disaster or other causes
not under the immediate control of the owner/lessee. Malfunctions
of alarm equipment or the conduct of tenants, residents, patients,
customers, students or other persons within a building shall be considered
and deemed as under the control of the owner/lessee.
PERSON
Any natural person, partnership, corporation, association
or other legal entity.
TAPE DIALER
Playback tape recorders that have prerecorded messages and
which dial predetermined numbers and deliver a taped voice message.
No alarm installer and/or repairer shall do
business in the City of Schenectady without being licensed to do so
by the State of New York, as such licensing is set forth in Article
6-D, § 69-1, of the General Business Law. Each person so
licensed by the state shall, prior to doing business in the City of
Schenectady, file a copy of said license with the Building Inspector's
office and thereafter within 30 days of the renewal thereof. Residents
or owners who install their own system upon their own premises are
not required to be licensed.
Tape voiced dialers shall not terminate at or
transmit to the Police Department, Fire Department or Public Safety
Dispatch Unit of the City of Schenectady over any emergency or business
line.
It shall be unlawful for any person to do or
perform any act to cause an alarm device to activate for the purpose
of causing a false alarm to be generated. If, in the performance of
any action that is otherwise unlawful, a false alarm shall be thereby
generated, it shall be no defense to a prosecution under this section
that such action was not done solely for the purpose of generating
an alarm, nor shall it be a defense to a prosecution under this section
that there was no actual knowledge that an alarm system would or could
have been activated by such action when it could have been reasonably
foreseen that an alarm might thereby have been generated.
No owner/lessee of a building shall have in
operation an audible alarm thereon unless such alarm shall be capable
of and shall automatically terminate its operation within 45 minutes
of its being activated and reset itself, except sprinkler alarms driven
by moving water.
No test of an alarm system or device shall be
conducted which causes a call or alarm to be made to emergency personnel
unless previously authorized by the Police Department, Fire Department
or Public Safety Dispatch Unit, as the case may be. The owner/lessee
or his agent must notify the Public Safely Dispatch Unit beforehand
of the request for testing of a system in person or in a writing,
signed by the owner/lessee.
The Schenectady Police Department and the City
of Schenectady shall take every reasonable precaution to assure that
emergency alarm signals received by the City are given appropriate
and immediate attention. Nevertheless, the City shall not be liable
for any defects in operation of emergency alarm systems, for any failure
to respond appropriately, for any errant response upon receipt of
any emergency alarm signal nor for the failure or defect of any licensee,
owner or installer pursuant to the sections of this chapter in respect
to installation, operation or maintenance of equipment, the transmission
of alarm signals or messages or the relaying of such signals or messages.
In the event that the City finds it necessary to disconnect or disregard
a defective or repetitively false alarm or signaling device, the City
shall incur no liability therefrom.
This article shall take effect immediately.
Alarm systems installed or in use at the effective date of this article
shall conform to the requirements of this article within 120 days
after the effective date hereof.
If any part or provision of this article or
the application thereof to any person or circumstance be adjudged
invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such judgment shall
be confined in its operation to the part, provision or application
directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall
have been rendered and shall not affect or impair the validity of
the remainder of this article or the application thereof to other
persons or circumstances, and the Council hereby declares that it
would have enacted this article or the remainder thereof had the invalidity
of such provision or application thereof been apparent.