[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of Green Lake County 4-17-1984 by Ord. No. 288-84; amended in its entirety 9-21-2006 by Ord. No.
876-06. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
It is the purpose of this chapter to set minimum
standards and regulations pertaining to emergency alarms of which
Green Lake County takes cognizance, the intent of this chapter being
to minimize the amount of time spent on responding to false alarms
and to provide for a more efficient operation of emergency services
provided by the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department.
This chapter shall be applicable to all alarm
systems and users within Green Lake County that fall under the jurisdiction
of the Green Lake County Sheriff's Department.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any assembly of equipment, devices or services which by means
of its design is intended to warn of a hazardous incident to which
emergency services are expected to respond. The term "alarm system"
shall include but is not limited to burglar alarm systems, holdup
alarm systems, fire alarm systems, and supervisor alarm systems, which
are used to monitor temperature, humidity, or other conditions. If
the system emits an audible signal or a signal by means of a lighting
device, it shall be within the definition of "alarm system" and shall
be subject to this chapter.
An alarm system that has been approved by Underwriters Laboratories,
Inc. The system shall be of the type that shall not cause false alarms
to be emitted due to power failure.
Any law enforcement, fire or EMS units.
Any alarm signal, whether transmitted or relayed to the Green
Lake County Sheriff's Department, and canceled by the owner or his/her
representative, including the initiating caller, prior to emergency
services arriving at the scene.
[Amended 3-18-2008 by Ord. No. 921-08; 6-21-2011 by Ord. No.
996-2011]
Except for calls made from elevators or from
the Green Lake County Nurse's vaccine refrigerators, no person shall
interconnect or permit the interconnection of any automatic telephone
dialing device with the telephone lines of the Green Lake County Sheriff’s
Office. Such devices may be connected to an answering service. The
relaying of messages must be done on a person-to-person basis.
A.Â
A fee shall be charged for each alarm to which emergency
services arrived at the site of the call. Fees shall be assessed as
approved by the Judicial and Law Enforcement Committee and posted
at the Green Lake County Sheriff's Office. Fees shall be paid within
30 days of the billing date.
B.Â
There shall be no fee charged for false alarms when
the property owner or his/her representative notifies the Sheriff's
Department that the alarm was accidental and the responding emergency
services unit has not yet arrived at the site.
C.Â
Testing. Alarms may be tested, provided that prior
notification is given.
The Green Lake County Sheriff may issue a waiver
for any provision of this chapter.
Except as otherwise provided herein, the penalty
for violation of any provision of this chapter shall be a forfeiture
as hereinafter provided together with the costs of prosecution and
the penalty assessment imposed by Wisconsin Statutes, where applicable.
Payment of the judgment may be suspended by the sentencing judge for
not more than 60 days. Any person who shall fail to pay the amount
of the forfeiture, cost of prosecution and the penalty assessment
imposed for violation of any provision of this chapter may, upon order
of the court entering judgment therefor and having jurisdiction of
the case, be imprisoned until such forfeiture, costs and assessments
are paid, but not exceeding 90 days. The forfeiture penalty shall
not exceed $500.
