[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Putnam Valley 1-16-1985
by L.L. No. 1-1985 (Ch. 2 of the 1974 Code). Amendments noted
where applicable.]
This chapter shall be known as the "Alarm Systems Law" and is intended
to foster and render more effective the installation of alarm systems having
the capability of calling or signaling law enforcement authorities or emergency
personnel. It is the intent of this chapter to reduce the number of false
alarms and to encourage the use of reliable emergency alarms.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any device, group of devices or system which, when activated by a criminal
act or by smoke, fire or other emergency requiring Fire Department or other
enforcement agency response, transmits a signal to the monitoring facility
at Fire Department or other current enforcement agency or to a private central
alarm station and/or produces an audible or visible signal to which the Fire
Department, or other current enforcement agency, is expected to respond.
Excluded from this definition and from the coverage of this chapter
are alarm devices which are not intended to alert persons outside the premises,
but are designed to alert or signal persons within the premises in which the
alarm is installed of an attempted unauthorized intrusion, holdup, fire or
other emergency.
Any emergency message or signal which is transmitted directly or indirectly
to the Town Fire Department or other current enforcement agency to which emergency
personnel respond and which signal is not the result of a robbery, burglary,
other crime, fire or other emergency.[1]
An activated alarm signal which is promptly followed by a call to the
current enforcement agency properly notifying them that the signal is to be
disregarded shall not constitute a false alarm.
Town of Putnam Valley.
On or after the effective date of this chapter, no owner, tenant, resident
or occupant (hereinafter collectively referred to as "resident") of any building
or structure within the town shall install or cause to be installed or maintain
in any premises in the town any alarm system calling device or apparatus connected
or capable of being connected directly or indirectly to the Fire Department
or current enforcement agency headquarters or telephone line without a valid
permit issued by the town.
B.
Permits shall be issued by the Fire Inspector or any
other person authorized by the Town Board.
C.
No permit shall be issued unless the applicant demonstrates
that the alarm system to be installed meets the standards set forth in this
chapter.
D.
A permit shall be valid three years from the date of
issuance or until the premises owned or leased by a permit holder is transferred
to another owner or lessee, whichever comes first.
E.
An application for a permit shall constitute an authorization
that the town may, on reasonable notice to the resident, inspect the alarm
system for the purpose of determining whether the system continues to comply
with the standards hereinafter set forth in this chapter.
F.
The permit holder shall hold the town and its emergency
personnel harmless should the current enforcement agency or other emergency
personnel enter the premises of the permit holder in response to an alarm
transmitted directly or indirectly to the central alarm monitoring facility.
It will be the responsibility of the permit holder to secure said premises
after any such entry.
All alarm systems referred to in this chapter shall, at the time of
installation and at all times that such alarm systems shall be connected directly
or indirectly to the current enforcement agency office, by telephone, meet
the following standards:
A.
Every alarm system capable of signaling as a burglar
alarm and/or a fire alarm shall be equipped with separate distinguishing signals,
as reasonably required by the current enforcement agency, to the end that
the appropriate authorities, upon receipt of a signal, may immediately ascertain
the nature and cause of the signal.
B.
Alarm systems equipped with automatic calling devices
shall be designed, installed or maintained to call only the number or numbers
designated for that purpose by the current enforcement agency and shall be
equipped so that a message will be repeated not more than three times.
C.
All alarm systems capable of emitting audible signals
shall be equipped with an operating device which will automatically, by mechanical,
electrical or other means, shut off such audible signal after 15 minutes of
continuous sound audible beyond the boundaries of the premises in which the
alarm system is located.
Alarm systems installed or in use on the effective date of this chapter
shall conform to the requirements of this chapter within 120 days after the
effective date hereof. Residents or property owners shall apply for permits
for such systems within 90 days of the effective date of this chapter. In
the event of a failure of any system to comply with the provisions of this
section or of this chapter, the town may, without further notice to the resident
or property owner, disconnect the alarm system from the current enforcement
agency or telephone line.
A.
A resident or property owner shall not suffer or permit
any alarm system installed upon his or her premises to emit a sound audible
beyond the boundaries of said premises for a continuous period in excess of
15 minutes or for a period more than 15 minutes in any thirty-minute period.
B.
In any case where the alarm system emits sound in violation
of the foregoing subsection, the operation or maintenance of the alarm system
shall be deemed to constitute the grant of permission by the owners and occupants
of the premises for law enforcement or fire officials to enter said premises
and investigate and to disconnect the alarm system.
A.
Any person having an alarm system subject to any of the
provisions of this chapter shall pay to the Town of Putnam Valley for each
and every false alarm in any calendar year a civil penalty imposed by the
current enforcement agency as follows:
(1)
First or second alarm in the first month after issuance
of a required permit pursuant to this chapter: no charge.
(2)
First false alarm of each calendar year thereafter: no
charge.
(3)
Second false alarm of each calendar year thereafter:
$10.
(4)
Third through the fifth false alarms of each calendar
year thereafter: $25 each.
(5)
Each additional false alarm in each calendar year thereafter:
$50.
B.
A person upon whom a penalty has been imposed pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall be notified in writing by the current enforcement agency that the penalty has been imposed.
C.
Failure of any person to pay any penalty imposed by this
section within 30 days after receipt of written notice of the same shall be
a violation and shall subject the resident to a fine not to exceed $250 for
each such violation.
D.
A person who wishes to appeal a penalty imposed pursuant to Subsection A of this section may do so in writing to the Town Board within 30 days of the notification by the current enforcement agency of the imposition of this penalty. The Town Board, upon appeal, shall have the authority to waive, amend or modify the civil penalty imposed by the current enforcement agency.
Any person violating the provisions of this chapter, except the provisions of § 43-8 thereof, shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $250 for each violation or imprisonment for not more than 15 days or both such fine and imprisonment. Each day a violation occurs or continues to occur shall be a separate violation of this chapter.
