[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of East
Aurora 3-22-2004 by L.L. No. 3-2004 (Chapter
39 of the 1972 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
This chapter of the East Aurora Village Code shall be known as the "Village
of East Aurora Alarm Code."
The intent of this chapter is to protect and promote the health, safety
and general welfare of the residents of the Village of East Aurora by reducing
the number of false alarms, via proprietary alarm systems of fire, intrusion,
holdup, emergency medical systems or other emergencies which contribute to
the ineffective utilization of police and fire and emergency response agencies.
Such emergency responses are susceptible to high accident rates, interfere
with genuine emergencies (responses) and produce unnecessary alarm noise to
the surrounding community.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall
have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
A device or an assembly of equipment which is designed to detect
smoke, abnormal rise in temperature, fire, water flow, medical emergency or
an entry into or exit from a building, structure or facility or a holdup alarm
and by reason thereof emits an audible response intended to alert persons
outside of the premises and/or transmit a signal or message to an emergency
agency either directly or through a private or commercial relay facility.
A device that automatically dials and relays a prerecorded message
to an emergency agency or to a commercial relay facility.
The Police Department or Fire Department, Central Fire Alarm Office,
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or other emergency dispatch center.
An activation of an alarm system where either an emergency situation
does not exist or the activator does not have a reasonable basis to believe
that an emergency situation does not exist.
A.
No person shall install or maintain an external alarm
system that does not contain an operational automatic cutoff system that turns
off the external audible alarm once activated after a period not to exceed
10 minutes.
B.
An automatic dialer connected directly to an emergency
agency shall automatically disconnect and/or terminate its message after the
message has been transmitted a maximum of two times. Notwithstanding the foregoing,
however, the total transmission time of all messages shall not exceed five
minutes.
There shall be no automatic alarm system with direct communication of
any type to an emergency agency without prior written authorization from the
emergency agency where the alarms terminate.
[Amended 3-14-2006 by L.L. No. 1-2006]
A.
B.
Unpaid false alarm fees, permit fees or other charges
shall become a lien upon the property from which the alarm originated in a
call to police headquarters, resulting in such fee or charge, and will be
collected in the same manner as real estate taxes.
[Amended 3-14-2006 by L.L. No. 1-2006]
The owner or lessee of real property that received an emergency response by reason of a false alarm shall be notified in writing by means of first class mail of all false alarms, including police alarms, fire alarms and/or EMS alarms, in a fiscal year. The letter shall inform the owner or lessee of the times and types of emergency responses provided to the address location and, where applicable, contain a copy of the Alarm Code and notify the owner or lessee of any charges due pursuant to § 100-7 of this chapter.
The Chief of Police of the Village of East Aurora or his designee, and the Code Enforcement Officer of the Village of East Aurora or his designee, shall establish a policy and procedure, which need not be written, whereby an owner of real property or lessee thereof on which an alarm system has been installed and who has been notified of a false alarm may present evidence as to why any such alarm should not be classified as a false alarm. The Chief of Police or his designee and the Code Enforcement Officer or his designee shall designate one or more members of their departments, which may include themselves, not to exceed three in total to receive such evidence and make recommendations and findings of fact concerning such classification. The Chief of Police or his designee and the Code Enforcement Office or his designee shall make the final determination concerning a classification which determination shall be reviewed only pursuant to procedures under Article 78 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. To challenge the classification of an alarm as a false alarm, the real property owner or lessee thereof shall, in writing, notify the Chief of Police and/or the Code Enforcement officer within 10 days after receipt of notice of the alarm, which will be presumed to have been received three days after mailing pursuant to § 100-8 of this chapter. The failure to give such timely notice shall be deemed a waiver of the right to review any such determination.
Charges for false alarms shall be paid to the Village Clerk of the Village of East Aurora within 30 days of the mailing date of any notice provided pursuant to § 100-8 of this chapter.
Failure of a real property owner or lessee of property on which an alarm system is installed to pay any false alarm charges, as defined in § 100-7 of this chapter, within 30 days of the mailing date of a notice of the amount due provided pursuant to § 100-8 of this chapter shall be deemed a violation of this chapter and may result in said real property owner or lessee, as the case may be, being served with a summons.
The Chief of Police shall enforce this chapter for alarm systems that
detect intrusions or holdup alarms at a building, structure or facility. The
Code Enforcement Officer shall enforce this chapter for alarm systems that
detect smoke, fire, water flow or abnormal rate of rise in temperature or
emergency medical systems. If both Police Department and Fire Department alarms
are activated, the Code Enforcement Officer will enforce this chapter.
[Amended 3-14-2006 by L.L. No. 1-2006]
Any person, business, firm, corporation, partnership, association or
other entity that does not pay the charges established in this chapter or
who violates any other provisions of this chapter shall be punishable by a
fine of not more than $250 or by imprisonment for not more than 15 days, or
both. Each day's continuance of a violation after notice shall be deemed
a separate and distinct violation and shall be punishable accordingly.
