The purpose of this chapter is to:
A. Regulate alarm systems within the Town of Montville;
B. Reduce the incidence of false alarms in the Town thereby
enhancing public safety and eliminating unnecessary expense to the taxpayers;
and
C. Establish an Alarm Appeals Board.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
ALARM APPEAL BOARD
A board constituted of duly appointed citation hearing officers who
shall conduct a hearing upon receipt of an appeal from one who is aggrieved
by an assessment of fine(s) levied pursuant to this chapter.
ALARM OWNER OR USER
Any person, firm, corporation or other business entity who or which
owns, controls, operates, and maintains any alarm system as defined in Subsection
A of the definition of "alarm systems" in this section.
ALARM SYSTEMS
A.
ALARM SYSTEMAny device or equipment that is capable of automatically calling and relaying recorded emergency messages to any state police or municipal police or fire department telephone number, or that is capable of automatically calling and relaying recorded emergency messages or other forms of emergency signals to an intermediate third party that thereafter calls and relays such emergency message to a state police or municipal police or fire department telephone number.
B.
BURGLAR ALARMAny alarm system falling within the definition of Subsection
A above of this definition that is designed to transmit a signal in the event of intrusion, holdup or other type of emergency situation.
C.
FIRE ALARMAny system that falls within the definition of Subsection
A above of this definition that is designed to transmit an alarm relating to a fire.
AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE-DIALING SERVICE
Refers to an alarm system that automatically sends over regular telephone
lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message indicating
the existence of an emergency situation that the alarm system is designed
to detect.
CENTRAL STATION OPERATING COMPANY
Refers to a company equipped to receive burglar, fire, panic, intruder,
or holdup alarms from each of its customers and which then transmits to the
State Police, Montville Police or the Town of Montville Fire Departments the
location of any such alarm the central station operating company receives.
CHIEF OF POLICE
Refers to the Chief Executive Officer of the Town of Montville pursuant
to the Montville Town Charter until such time as the Town may organize an
independent Police Department and appoints a Chief of Police.
FALSE ALARM
The unintentional activation of an alarm system as hereinbefore defined
as a result of negligence, mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation,
improper operation, ignorance, inadvertence, or other cause excluding activation
caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other abnormal weather events
or other abnormal events generally referred to as an "act of God"; also excluded
is the intentional activation of a system with criminal, malicious or mischievous
intent that would be a violation under applicable criminal statutes.
FIRE MARSHAL
Refers to the duly appointed Fire Marshal of the Town of Montville.
HALF-YEAR PERIOD
January 1 through June 30, or July 1 through December 31, as the
case may be, of any calendar year.
MASTER BOX OWNER
A person, firm, corporation, or other business entity who owns, controls
or maintains on his or her business or residential premises a fire alarm system
equipped to send a fire alarm signal directly to the Montville Police or Town
of Montville Fire Departments by way of a master box.
Alarm systems shall be installed only by a licensed person, owner or
person meeting the requirements set forth in the building and electrical codes
of the State of Connecticut and the Connecticut Fire Safety Code. No alarm
system shall be installed unless an electric permit to install has been obtained
from the Town building official or his designated representative, as is required
by the building and electric codes of the State of Connecticut.
No person, firm, business or corporation shall install an automatic
telephone-dialing device that will transmit an alarm message within the Town
of Montville terminating at the Montville 911 Emergency Dispatch Center. If
at the passage of this chapter an alarm system is equipped with such automatic
telephone-dialing device, the alarm owner/user shall have 30 days to disconnect
such automatic telephone-dialing device.
All alarm systems, as defined in this chapter, which sound an audible
signal that may be heard outside the protected premises shall be equipped
with a device that will limit the duration of such audible signal to not more
than 10 minutes in accordance with Section 22a-69-5.1 of the Administrative
Regulations of the Department of Environmental Protection of the State of
Connecticut.
This chapter shall not apply to alarm systems owned or controlled by
the Town of Montville, the State of Connecticut, or the United States of America.