[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Palmyra 7-25-1994 by Ord. No. 600 (Ch. X, Part 4, of the 1975 Borough
Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Borough Council finds it to be in the best interest of the
residents of Palmyra Borough and the general public to prevent and
deter the installation, maintenance and use of police and fire alarms
that provide repetitious false alarms.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The dispatch of police, fire or medical services personnel
by the Lebanon County Communications Center.
The business by any individual, partnership, corporation,
alarm-monitoring service or other entity of selling, leasing, maintaining,
servicing, repairing, altering, replacing, moving or installing any
alarm system or causing any alarm system to be sold, leased, maintained,
serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or installed in or on
any building, structure or facility.
Any assembly of equipment, mechanical, electrical or battery-operated,
arranged to signal the occurrence of a police, fire, hazard or medical
emergency requiring urgent attention and to which police, fire or
medical units are expected to respond.
A service whereby trained employees, in attendance at all
times, receive prerecorded voice messages from automatic dialing devices
reporting an emergency at a stated location where such employees have
the duty to relay immediately by live voice any such emergency message
over a telephone facility to the Lebanon County Communications Center.
Any audible or visual device, such as a bell, horn, siren
or light, which is installed on the premises and is designed to attract
attention when activated by a criminal act or other emergency requiring
police, fire or medical response.
A device which is interconnected to a telephone line and
is programmed to transmit a signal by a voice or coded message that
indicates that an emergency condition exists and the need for an emergency
response is required.
The Borough of Palmyra, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.
A protective system or group of such systems operated privately
for customers by a person, firm or corporation which accepts recorded
messages from automatic dialing devices at a central station having
operators and guards in attendance at all times who have the duty
to take appropriate action upon receipt of a signal or message, including
the relaying of messages to the Lebanon County Communications Center.
A police, fire, hazard or medical emergency.
The administrative head of the Palmyra Emergency Medical
Service.
An alarm activated in the absence of an emergency, whether
willfully or by inadvertence, negligence or unintentional act, including
the malfunction of the alarm system, to which the Palmyra Borough
Police or the Palmyra Fire Department (including the Palmyra Emergency
Medical Service) responds. The term "false alarm" includes the intentional
activation of a robbery or burglar alarm for reasons other than a
robbery or burglary. The definition excludes malfunctions of the Lebanon
County Communications Center receiving equipment if such alarm is
directly connected to the Center's alarm board; testing or repairing
telephone or electrical lines or equipment outside the premises; acts
of God, such as earthquakes, flood, thunder or lightning; a crime
or attempted crime in progress.
The administrative head of the Palmyra Borough Fire Company.
The Palmyra Fire Company or another company acting in place
of the Palmyra Fire Company.
Fire and/or smoke.
An explosion and/or leak of toxic gas, liquid or solid, or
a potential explosion and/or leak.
To use a telephone line and equipment for transmitting a
message either directly or indirectly by an automatic dialing service.
An emergency involving the health of a person.
A telephonic communication device which, by its nature, is
used to transmit audible voice or digital signals over wire or air
in order to establish communications.
The administrative head of the Palmyra Police Department.
The Palmyra Borough Police Department or another Police Department
acting in the place of the Palmyra Borough Police Department.
An incident requiring prompt response by the Police Department.
A telephone line leading into the communications center that
is for the purpose of handling calls on a person-to-person basis and
which is identified by a specific listing among the white pages in
the telephone directory issued by the telephone company.
The owners or users of any audible alarm system installed on
or after the effective date of this chapter must equip such audible
alarms with a timing mechanism that will disengage the audible alarm
after a maximum of 15 minutes.
No automatic dialing devices that transmit recorded messages
directly to the Lebanon County Communications Center will be permitted.
A.Â
Immediately upon the effective date of this chapter, every alarm
supplier who installs any alarm system in the Borough or any current
alarm holder who has an alarm which would result in a response from
the Police or Fire Department shall furnish to the Chief of Police
the following information:
(1)Â
The name, residence and telephone number of the owner or user.
(2)Â
The address where the device is installed and the telephone number
at the address.
(3)Â
The name, address and telephone number of at least two other persons
or firms who are authorized and would respond to an emergency to gain
access to the address where the device is installed and neutralize
the alarm.
(4)Â
The name and telephone number of any person, firm or corporation,
if any, other than the alarm supplier, who is responsible for maintenance
and repair of the system.
(5)Â
The type of alarm system, i.e., robbery, burglary, fire or medical
emergency.
B.Â
Users of alarm system devices whose devices were installed prior to the effective date of this chapter shall, within 60 days after such enactment, supply the Chief of Police with information specified in Subsection A.
C.Â
All information furnished pursuant to this section shall be kept
confidential and shall be for the authorized use of police, fire and
emergency medical services.
Every alarm supplier selling, leasing or furnishing to any user
who privately installs an alarm system which is located on a premises
within Palmyra Borough shall:
A.Â
Be permitted to install only equipment that is listed by Underwriters'
Laboratories, Inc. as being electrically safe and meeting the Borough's
requirements for the alarm system and all applicable state and Borough
building and electrical codes. Wiring for the alarm system must conform
to all applicable Borough codes.
B.Â
Cause each alarm system installed to be provided with a standby battery
power which will automatically and immediately take over in the event
of a power failure.
C.Â
Install equipment in such a way as to neutralize electrical surges
on the alarm system.
D.Â
Deactivate and repair any alarm system within a reasonable period
of time as determined by the Police Chief, Fire Chief and/or Emergency
Medical Service Manager when multiple false alarms are received.
No person shall conduct any test or demonstration of any alarm
system without first notifying the Lebanon County Public Safety Communications
Center.
Alarm suppliers and installers shall furnish at their own expense,
prior to time of contracting, a copy of this chapter to owners, lessees
or users of the equipment or services to be supplied.
A.Â
Any owner of an alarm system that has a direct or indirect connection
which results in a call for response will be charged $25 for the third,
fourth and fifth false alarms responded to by the Police, Fire or
Emergency Medical Department within a calendar year. The false alarm
response charge for the sixth and subsequent false alarms during a
calendar year shall be $100 for each response.
B.Â
The owner will receive a written billing statement by registered
or certified mail, which will include a notice that any owner who
fails or refuses to pay their false alarm response charges will be
subject to the penalties hereinafter set forth.
C.Â
It is the intent of this chapter to encourage property owners with
alarm systems to upgrade, maintain or repair such alarm system or
systems by imposing a penalty when multiple false alarms occur from
the same system which would not occur if the system were in proper
working order. It is not the intent of this chapter to penalize any
owner or operator of multiple systems that are not integrated or interrelated,
i.e., standalone systems, any of which may malfunction occasionally.
It is not the total number of false alarm responses for any particular
location that the ordinance seeks to eliminate; it is the total number
of false alarm responses caused by a particular system which repeatedly
malfunctions within a calendar year. For burglar, water flow or electronic
fire detection in one or more buildings, each of which operates independently
and without relation to the other systems, each such standalone system
would be permitted two false alarm responses before any penalty would
be imposed on the property owner for that particular standalone system
causing a false alarm response.
D.Â
Property
owners believing that he, she, it or they have multiple alarm systems
are encouraged to provide the Police Chief with evidence of such multiple
systems in order that a determination can be made in advance as to
whether such system is a standalone system or is integrated in such
a manner that it is part of a larger system and not separately entitled
to the two annual nonpenalized false alarm responses.
E.Â
Any person repairing, maintaining or installing an alarm system must
advise Lebanon County Communications Center immediately prior to commencing
work and immediately after completion of work. If any false alarm
occurs resulting in a call response by police or fire personnel as
a result of the failure to advise the Lebanon County Communications
Center, said person shall be subject to the penalties set forth hereinafter.
Any person, corporation or business entity who violates any provision of this chapter and/or disregards compliance with § 100-9A of this chapter shall, in a summary proceeding before a Magisterial District Judge, be required to pay a fine of not less than $25 nor more than $300, plus costs of prosecution, and upon failure to make prompt payment of same, to undergo imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days. Each failure to pay shall be a separate offense. Upon conviction of a second offense, the fine shall not be less than $50 nor more than $300, plus costs of prosecution, and upon failure to make prompt payment, to undergo imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days. For any third and successive offense occurring within one calendar year, the fine shall not be less than $150 nor more than $300, and upon failure to make prompt payment, to undergo imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days.
