[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Bethlehem 10-13-1986 by Ord. No. 11-86 (Ch. 13, Part 4, of
the 1988 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following definitions shall apply in the
interpretation and enforcement of this chapter:
Any siren, bell, horn, or other device which is attached
to the interior or exterior of a structure and emits a warning signal
audible outside the structure or transmits a prerecorded voice alarm
or other signal and is designed to attract attention or transmits
a message to an emergency communication center, when activated by
a criminal act or other emergency requiring police, fireman, or emergency
medical personnel to respond.
Documentation pertaining to any alarm system other than a
residential sensory device, which identifies the owner or lessee of
the system, the address of the property which is protected by the
alarm system, the identity of individuals authorized to respond to
the alarm in order to gain access to the property and deactivate the
system, the identity of the firm or individual who installed the system
and can provide emergency repair service, and any other data required
by the Bethlehem Township Police Department.
An electrically operated instrument composed of sensory apparatus
and related hardware which automatically transmits a prerecorded voice
alarm or other similar message and/or signal over telephone line,
by direct or indirect connection to an emergency communication center,
upon receipt of a stimulus inherently characteristic of a fire or
intrusion.
A protection system or group of such systems, operated privately
for customers or publicly by a person, firm, corporation, or governmental
entity which maintains, supervises or accepts recorded messages and/or
signals from automatic protection devices at a central station having
operators that have the duty to take appropriate action upon receipt
of a signal or message.
Any alarm or signal activated by an automatic protection
device or any other kind of direct or indirect signal given to an
emergency communication center, or any signal given from a residential
sensory device to which police or firemen respond, which is not a
result of weather extremes, burglary, fire, robbery or similar emergency.
Any company, corporation, or individual, which has contracted
to engage or engaged in the act of installing fire, intrusion, water
alarm, or medical systems, etc., where the system is designed to require
a response from an emergency service.
A device attached to the interior or a residential structure
which is not tied to an emergency communication center not intended
to be audible on the exterior of the structure to which it is attached.
The Township of Bethlehem, County of Northampton, Pennsylvania.
Within 90 days from the effective date of this
chapter, every owner/lessee of an alarm shall register same with the
Police Department. Such registration shall, but not necessarily be
limited to, the following information:
A.Â
The name, residence, and telephone number of the owner
or lessee.
B.Â
The address where the device is installed and the
telephone number of that address.
C.Â
The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least
two persons who are authorized to respond to an alarm and gain access
to the address where the device is installed.
D.Â
The name, address and phone number of the company
which installed the alarm.
[Amended 8-15-1988 by Ord. No. 8-88]
Responses to alarms given off by audible alarms
and automatic protection devices involve the time of and the danger
to members of the Township Police Department and Fire Department and
Emergency Medical Services, and false alarms are therefore to be discouraged.
if more than three false alarms are given from any property in any
given calendar year, a service fee, as established from time to time
by resolution, shall be paid to the Township by the user, whether
owner or lessee, or the audible alarm or automatic protection device
from which the false alarm emanated for the fourth and each subsequent
false alarm in that calendar year. The Chief of Police of the Township
shall have the right to waive payment of the service fee for any false
alarm which is caused by weather conditions or malfunctions in the
operation of the electrical system of Pennsylvania Power and Light
Company/Metropolitan Edison Company.
[Amended 8-15-1988 by Ord. No. 8-88]
Any person who violates any provision of this
chapter shall be guilty of a summary offense and shall, upon conviction
thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $300, together
with cost of prosecution, and in default of payment of any part thereof,
to undergo imprisonment for a period of not more than 90 days.
