[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Alpine as § 4-16 (Ord. No. 237) of the 1970 Revised General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide standards and regulations
for various types of intrusion, burglar, fire, smoke and other emergency alarm
devices, whether it be a dial alarm or a local alarm.
[Amended by Ord. No. 367]
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person who operates,
maintains or owns any dial alarm, local alarm or direct line hook-up alarm
to any alarm company, answering service or police alarm board which is designed
to summon the police, Fire Department or other municipal agency to any location
in response to any type of alarm signal.
[Amended by Ord. No. 515; Ord. No. 367]
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the
following meanings:
That type of device using telephone lines transmitting an alarm directly
through the police switchboard.
Any alarm that goes directly to any answering service, police alarm
board or any alarm company monitoring system.
Any alarm actuated by inadvertence, negligence, unintentional act
or accident by a resident or some other person authorized to be in the house
or building, or any alarm that is transmitted to the Police Department which,
when checked, shows no evidence in the house or other alarmed building of
any intruder having gained entry or having attempted to gain entry, or no
intruder inside the house or building. These alarms shall be deemed to be
a malfunction of the alarm device, and such malfunction is also determined
to be a false alarm.
Any alarm or device which, when activated, produces a visual or noise
signal and which is not connected by telephone line to the police switchboard.
A two-way radio network which connects an alarm system to the central
monitoring station without wires.
[Amended by Ord. No. 367; Ord. No. 517]
A.
Permit. No person may install or cause to be installed a dial alarm or local alarm device without first making application to and obtaining a written permit for the installation from the Chief of Police. There shall be a fee charged of $25 for the processing of an application to install any type alarm device or for the issuance of a written permit to install. This fee of $25 will cover the registration of the current year to December 31, as required in Subsection B.
B.
Registration. Any person who owns or operates a dial
alarm or local alarm shall make application for the continuance thereof, in
writing, to the Chief of Police on or before January 15 of each year for a
permit to run for the remainder of the year. The annual permit fee shall be
$25 per alarm. Any person who installs any alarm after January 15 of any year
shall be required to obtain a permit for the balance of the year and the fee
for such permit shall be $25. The application shall contain at least the location
of the device, the name and address of the installer of the device, the type
of device, provisions relating to false alarms and testing procedures, a list
of persons to be contacted in the event of an alarm and other information
as may be required by the Chief of Police.
[Amended by Ord. No. 367]
A.
Persons having either a dial or local alarm device shall
be required to leave with the Police Department the name of a person or persons
who can be reached in case of malfunction of the equipment in order that the
device can be temporarily disconnected. This requirement can be fulfilled
by leaving a tagged key to the premises with the Chief of Police, provided
that in so doing the owner thereby releases the borough and the Police Department
from any claims to damages or loss in connection with such entry.
B.
Persons having alarm devices which are being tested or
repaired shall notify the Police Department before tests or repairs commence
and after completion so as to avoid the possibility of activating a false
alarm.
C.
All alarms must have an automatic reset device with a
five to 10 automatic shut-off and reset feature.
[Amended by Ord. No. 367]
A.
Knowledge of false alarm; investigation. In any case
of a false alarm, any person having knowledge thereof shall immediately notify
the Police Department in the fastest possible manner. The Chief of Police
shall cause an investigation to be made of all false alarms and keep a record
of such alarms on file.
B.
Alarm set in error, charges. Each alarm holder will be
issued an alarm code number. When a resident or other person authorized to
be in the house or building that is sending in an alarm signal calls the police
and uses the proper code, and informs them that the alarm was set in error,
the police will not respond and no false alarm warning or summons will be
charged. If there is no call, or the person calls with the wrong code or no
code, the police will respond and check the house or building, and the false
alarm will be charged against the alarm holder's record.
C.
Exception to charge. If any alarm comes in and the officer
on duty deems it to be caused by any storm, hurricane or severe weather condition,
power failure or power restoration or any type of line malfunction between
the home, alarm receiving company or Police Department, or any other similar
occurrence, the alarm shall be noted but not charged against the homeowner
or business as a false alarm.
[Amended by Ord. No. 367; Ord. No. 403; Ord. No. 517]
A.
For false alarms, the Mayor and Council prescribe the
following penalties:
(1)
For the first, second and third false alarms in any given
calendar year, a warning shall be issued.
(2)
For the fourth and fifth false alarms in the same calendar
year, a fine of $25 shall be paid to the borough.
(3)
For the sixth and subsequent false alarms, a fine of
$50 shall be paid.
(4)
After four false alarms in any given calendar year, the
Mayor and Council reserve the right to require disconnection of the device
for a limited or permanent time. No permit shall be revoked or suspended without
giving the permittee an opportunity to show cause before the Mayor and Council
why such action should not be taken.
B.
Any person not complying with any of the provisions of
this chapter shall be liable to a penalty of $50 payable to the borough. Such
penalty and all other penalties may be recovered in a court of law or by issuance
of summons in the Municipal Court and recoverable in the same manner as a
fine imposed for any offense.
