[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Saugerties 10-28-1988 by L.L. No.
2-1988. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Construction codes — See Ch. 96.
The Town of Saugerties Police Department has recorded an extraordinary
number of false burglar alarms emanating from automated devices. These
signals require that police and other emergency services respond to
the false alarm, exposing them to unnecessary hazards and risks, wasting
taxpayer funds and depriving other citizens, who may need emergency
service, of those services. This chapter is intended to remedy the
waste by regulating and establishing controls for alarm systems, thereby
reducing the number of false alarms.
A.
ALARM SYSTEM
DIALER ALARM
FALSE ALARM
PERSON
POLICE CHIEF
POLICE or POLICE DEPARTMENT
TOWN
The following definitions will apply to terms used in this chapter.
Any device which, when activated, transmits, directly or
indirectly, a signal to police headquarters or to a private central
alarm station or produces any audible, visual or telephone signal
to which the Police Department is expected to respond.
A telephone-interfaced device that automatically connects
to police headquarters and transmits any signal or impulse indicating
that an alarm system has been activated or an emergency condition
exists within the Town of Saugerties.
The activation of the alarm system necessitating response
by the Town of Saugerties Police Department where an emergency does
not exist because, but not intended to be inclusive, of mechanical
failure, malfunction, improper installation or negligence by the owner,
his agents, servants and/or employees. "False alarms" do not include
alarms caused by hurricanes, tornadoes or other violent weather conditions,
public utility malfunctions or other outside interference beyond the
control of the owner, his agents, servants and/or employees.
A natural person, firm, partnership, association or corporation
or representative or agent of said entities who is the owner or lessee
of an alarm system.
The Chief of the Police Department of the Town of Saugerties.
The Police Department of the Town of Saugerties.
The Town of Saugerties.
B.
Word usage. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in
the plural number shall also indicate the singular number and words
in the singular number shall also indicate the plural number. Further,
a masculine pronoun shall include the feminine. The word "shall" is
always mandatory and not merely directory.
A.
No person shall operate, maintain, monitor or install an alarm system
without first obtaining a permit as required by this chapter.
B.
Excluded from the provisions of this chapter is any alarm system
installed in or on a motor vehicle and any device designed to alert
the occupants of a building of an emergency condition therein and
which does not, when activated, transmit, directly or indirectly,
a signal to police headquarters or to a private central alarm station
or produce any audible, visual or telephone signal to which the Police
Department is expected to respond.
A.
An application for a permit to maintain, operate, monitor or install
an alarm system shall be filed with the Chief of the Town of Saugerties
Police Department on forms supplied by the Town, together with an
application fee of $25. Said application shall set forth the following:
(1)
Name, address and telephone number of both the installer of the system
and the person or business on whose premises the system will be operated,
maintained, monitored or installed.
(2)
The location where the alarm system is proposed to be installed or
has already been installed prior to the effective date of this chapter.
(3)
The type of emergency the alarm system is designed to detect.
(4)
The name, address and telephone number of at least two persons who
can be notified and will be available to come to the premises on a
twenty-four-hour daily basis if and when the Town Police Department
receives a signal, message or warning from said alarm system.
(5)
The applicant shall also agree on said application that if the persons
to be notified and available either refuse to come to the premises
upon the request of the Town Police Department or cannot be reached
within a reasonable amount of time by telephone when the Police Department
receives a signal, message or warning from said system, the Town Police
Department may, without any liability for any charges as a result
of disconnection or any liability as a result of not responding to
alarms, do either of the following: disconnect the system itself,
if possible, or contact the installer to disconnect the system.
B.
The Chief of the Police Department shall approve such application
if he finds that:
(1)
The use of the alarm system to transmit a signal, message or warning
to the Town Police Department will not interfere with the orderly
conduct of Town business.
(2)
The person installing or who has installed the system maintains an
adequate service organization to repair, maintain or otherwise service
alarm systems sold or leased by him.
(3)
The alarm system meets the following minimum requirements:
(a)
The alarm system shall contain an automatic audible-signal-cutoff
device so that the maximum time any alarm shall cause an externally
audible signal to be emanated does not exceed 30 minutes per activation.
(b)
The alarm system shall be equipped with a standby power source
sufficient to maintain the system in a state of readiness for at least
six hours in the event of a power failure.
(c)
Automatic dialer devices, upon a single stimulus, shall not
exceed two separate calls to the Police Department, and no such call
shall exceed one minute in duration. There must be at least a two-minute
interval between calls, with the second call clearly identified as
such.
(d)
The contents of any recorded message to be transmitted to the
Police Department must be intelligible and in a format approved by
the Chief of Police as appropriate for the type of emergency being
reported.
(e)
Automatic dialer devices shall be connected to the Police Department
only via telephone numbers designated by the Chief of Police for this
purpose.
C.
The Police Chief may impose such other and further reasonable conditions
on the granting of said permit as he may deem necessary or desirable
in carrying out the provisions, legislative intent and purposes of
this chapter.
Any applicant whose application for a permit has been denied
and any person whose permit has been suspended or revoked may appeal
such denial, suspension or revocation in writing to the Town Board
of the Town of Saugerties within 30 days after such denial, suspension
or revocation and may appear before such Town Board at a time and
place to be determined by the Town Board in support of his or its
contention that the permit should not have been denied, suspended
or revoked. The decision of the Town Board shall be final.
All persons operating, maintaining or monitoring a presently existing alarm system must comply with all provisions of this chapter within 90 days after the effective date of this chapter. Upon the expiration of this period, said persons shall be in violation of this chapter and subject to disconnection and other penalties under this chapter. If a person operating, maintaining or monitoring an alarm system on or before the effective date of this chapter applies for a permit pursuant to § 62-4 within 90 days of the effective date, then there shall be no application fee due. If a person operating or maintaining an alarm system on or before the effective date applies for a permit after 90 days from the effective date, he or she shall be subject to the application fee.
A cancellation code will be available through the Police Department
for every alarm user permit. The code will allow the alarm user the
ability to abort any alarm activation. Alarm signals that are promptly
and properly aborted by cancellation code will not be charged against
the alarm user permit as a false alarm.
If the location of police headquarters should be changed at
any time, the Town shall not be responsible for any expense incurred
by the owner or lessee or business licensee or alarm agent for moving
alarm systems or reconnecting such systems to the relocated police
headquarters.
A.
Upon the third false alarm in any one calendar year, the holder of
the permit shall be sent a written notice, by ordinary mail through
the United States Postal Service from the Police Chief, of fees payable
upon all subsequent false alarms, of potential demand for disconnection,
and of potential nonresponse by the Police Department to alarms.
B.
Upon the fifth false alarm in any one calendar year, the holder of
the permit shall be assessed a fee of $25 by the Town Police Department,
and for each subsequent false alarm thereafter, the fee shall be increased
by the sum of $25 to a maximum fee of $200 per violation.
C.
After the 13th false alarm in any one calendar year, the Police Chief
is authorized, but not required, to revoke the permit and demand that
the person disconnect the alarm system until the conditions causing
such false alarms have been repaired, corrected or otherwise eliminated.
D.
The failure to pay any assessment within 15 days after assessment
by the Town Police Department shall result in the immediate disconnection
of the alarm system and revocation of the permit.
E.
The Police Chief shall have the authority to disregard a false alarm
or alarms from the annual total for good cause shown. The Police Chief
shall maintain records concerning the reasons any such alarm was disregarded.
A.
An alarm user shall be in violation of this chapter if he shall operate,
maintain, monitor or install an alarm system without a permit or after
a permit has been suspended or revoked.
B.
In addition to the suspension or revocation of a license or permit,
any violation of this chapter shall be punishable by a maximum fine
of $250 or imprisonment for not more than 15 days, or both. Each day
that a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.
