[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough
of South Plainfield 4-5-2010 by Ord. No. 1882.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fire Department — See Ch. 52.
Police Department — See Ch. 84.
Fire prevention — See Ch. 230.
[1]
Editor's Note: This chapter also repealed former Ch.
131, Alarm Systems, adopted 3-28-1983 by Ord. No. 945 (Ch. 65 of the
1982 Code), as amended.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the regulation
and control of the installation, operation and maintenance of private
alarm systems within the Borough of South Plainfield so that the quality
of the alarm services rendered to the public will be maintained at
a high level. Further, the private alarm enterprises retained by owners
and occupants of buildings and enterprises in the Borough of South
Plainfield will be able to perform their services on a basis of standards
and requirements that are fairly, equitably and impartially applicable
to all such subscribers.
The provisions of this chapter shall apply to any person who
operates, maintains or owns any alarm system designed to summon the
police or other municipal agencies (excepting the Fire Department)
to any location in response to any type of alarm signal. The terms
of this chapter shall in no way prohibit alarm companies from providing
service by private source to other offices within or without the Borough
of South Plainfield, as long as the person complies with the applicable
provisions of this chapter.
As used in this chapter, the hereinafter defined words and phrases
shall have the following meanings:
Any type of alarm designed to provide an alarm signal.
The installation in one or more buildings of one or more
alarm devices or local alarms for the express purpose of giving visual
or audible warning, or both, of an emergency, such as holdup, burglary,
intrusion, flood or the like. Devices giving warning of fire or smoke
are excluded from this chapter.
Any alarm or nonemergency 911 calls actuated by inadvertence,
negligence or unintentional act of someone other than an intruder
and shall include alarms or nonemergency 911 calls caused by malfunctioning
of an alarm device, alarm system or other relevant equipment; any
alarm or nonemergency 911 calls actuated intentionally or by inadvertence,
negligence, unintentional act.
Any mechanism that constitutes, in whole or in part, an alarm
system that is operated by a private company, entity, or person at
a location other than the property of the Borough of South Plainfield,
any of its agencies, or the Board of Education of South Plainfield.
A person in possession of premises in or upon which an alarm
system exists.
A person holding a permit to install, operate or maintain
an alarm system that employs an alarm device.
Any natural person, corporation, partnership, association
or any other organization.
A.
No person shall install, operate or maintain any alarm system unless
the alarm system has been registered with the Police Department. The
alarm system of each permittee shall be deemed registered at such
time as permits for the system are issued, all necessary inspections
are completed and approved, and the occupant of the building or store
in which it is installed shall have filed with the Chief of Police
a registration form which shall include, among other data, the location
of the device, name of the installer of said 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, name of persons
or company maintaining the alarm system, and any other information
as may be required by the Chief of Police.
B.
No further renewal registration shall be required unless and until
there has occurred any material change in the information previously
submitted with respect to any alarm system. It shall be the duty of
the occupant of a building or store served by an alarm system, within
10 calendar days after a change in information previously submitted
to the Borough of South Plainfield, to cause to be filed a supplemental
or revised registration containing accurate current information with
respect to the data required by the registration form.
C.
The alarm company of each local or private alarm system shall pay
to the Borough of South Plainfield an initial fee of $25 to cover
the costs of permits, registration and additional records required
to be maintained. Such fee shall be for the protection of the owners
of local and private alarms and to ensure compliance with this chapter.
D.
All outside and audible alarms shall be installed with an automatic
cutoff after sounding for a period not to exceed 15 minutes.
A.
Any person, company, business or other applicable entity who operates,
maintains and/or owns any alarm device or alarm system designed to
summon the Police Department, or other governmental agency (excepting
the Fire Department) to any location or response to any type of alarm
signal shall be responsible for the proper functioning of the equipment
and for any false alarm, and shall be assessed the following penalties:
(1)
For the first four false alarms in any calendar year, no fee shall
be assessed. A written warning shall be issued to the property owner
or business proprietor upon the fourth false alarm;
(2)
For the fifth false alarm in any calendar year, the property owner
or business proprietor shall pay a fine of $25 per residential property,
and $50 for commercial property;
(3)
For the sixth false alarm in any calendar year, the property owner
or business proprietor shall pay a fine of $50 per residential property,
and $75 for commercial property;
(4)
For the seventh false alarm in any calendar year, the property owner
or business proprietor shall pay a fine of $75 per residential property,
and $100 for commercial property;
(5)
For the eighth and any subsequent false alarms in any calendar year,
the property owner or business proprietor shall pay a fine of $100
per residential property, and $200 for commercial property;
B.
In the event there are 10 or more false alarms in any calendar year, the property owner or business proprietor shall not be entitled to nonassessed false alarms for the following calendar year, and the property owner or business proprietor shall pay fees as listed in Subsection A(2) through (5) for false alarms.
C.
All fees for false alarms as set forth herein are to be paid in full
within 30 days of receipt of notice. Failure to pay such fees would
preclude the nonassessment of fees for the first four false alarms
in the next period of 12 consecutive months, and the property owner
or business proprietor shall pay a fine of $100 for residential property,
and $200 for a commercial property for each and every false alarm
in the next calendar year until all fees and penalties have been paid.
In addition to the foregoing, the Borough of South Plainfield may
take any other civil or criminal action as provided by this chapter
and state law.
D.
For any other violation of this section, the violator may be required
to perform community service of up to 30 days, or pay a fine of up
to $1,000, or both. In the case of a continuing violation, the violator
may be found guilty of as many separate offenses or counts as the
number of days he is proved to have continued in violation of this
chapter.
The Chief of Police may, from time to time, promulgate rules
and regulations supplementing this chapter in order to provide for
recordkeeping and efficient management of said system.
