[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Andover 9-11-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-21. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person who
operates, maintains, has control over or owns any alarm device designed
to summon the police or fire personnel to any location in response
to an alarm signal. The terms of this chapter shall not prohibit alarm
companies from providing service by private source within the Borough
of Andover.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any type of alarm system providing warning of intrusion,
fire, smoke, carbon monoxide, flood or like peril or emergency.
Any alarm or signal not activated, caused or transmitted
by an intruder, fire, flood, smoke or carbon monoxide. False alarms
shall also include an alarm caused by malfunctioning of the alarm
device or related equipment. Such an alarm or signal triggered in
connection with the testing of an alarm system shall constitute a
false alarm unless notice of the testing shall have been properly
given to the Police Department in advance thereof. False alarms shall
not include activation caused by power or phone line interruptions
when such interruptions have been reported to the Police Department
or the Borough Clerk.
Includes any natural person, partnership, corporation, association
or other entity.
The New Jersey State Police or any other law enforcement
agency exercising lawful jurisdiction.
It shall be unlawful for any person to cause, allow or activate
a false alarm as defined in this chapter.
In the case of a false alarm, any person having knowledge thereof
shall immediately notify the Police Department.
With regard to each false alarm, the Police Department shall
be authorized to investigate and to keep a record of said false alarms
on file. The Police Department and/or authorized representatives of
the Andover Borough Fire Department shall notify the Borough's
Code Enforcement Official of violations of this chapter. For the purpose
of this chapter, the Borough's Code Enforcement Official shall
be enforcing agent on behalf of the Borough of Andover.
Any person responsible for causing or allowing a false alarm
in violation of this chapter shall be subject to the following:
A.
For the first false alarm in any given calendar year, a warning shall
be issued.
B.
For the second false alarm in any calendar year, a fine of $50 shall
be imposed.
C.
For the third false alarm in any calendar year, a fine of $100 shall
be imposed.
D.
For the fourth false alarm in any calendar year, a fine between $100
and $500 for each occurrence shall be imposed, and a letter from a
licensed alarm company certifying that the alarm device is operating
properly shall be delivered to the Borough Code Enforcement Official
within 30 days after the date of the most recent false alarm.
E.
If a person fails to provide certification that the alarm device is operating properly per Subsection D of this section, a fine between $500 and $1,000 shall be imposed.
F.
For the fifth and any subsequent false alarms in any given calendar
year, a fine of $1,000 shall be imposed.
Where the investigation by the Police Department discloses continued
abuse of the privileges of the alarm device either by the property
owner, person in control of the alarm device or the private alarm
company and a disregard for taking remedial steps to avoid false alarms,
the Borough's Code Enforcement Official may require disconnection
of the alarm device permanently or for a limited period of time, upon
the recommendation of the Police Department, provided any person whose
alarm device is to be disconnected, shall be given an opportunity,
on five days' written notice, to show cause before the Borough
Council at a public hearing why such action should not be taken.
In an emergency, the Police Department shall be authorized to
temporarily disconnect any alarm device.
All necessary steps shall be taken by the person having responsibility
for or control over the alarm device to immediately ascertain the
cause of any false alarm, and the problem shall be corrected by said
person within 72 hours after the occurrence of the false alarm. If
applicable, said person shall show cause to the Police Department
and the Code Enforcement Official why the malfunction cannot be remedied
within that time period. The Police Department shall have the discretion
to grant an additional period of time within which to make the necessary
repair.
