The purpose of this article is to provide minimum standards
of operation and regulations applicable to emergency and burglar alarm
systems, alarm businesses and alarm users.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
Every alarm user shall obtain an alarm user permit for each
alarm system he operates within the City of Dover. This permit shall
be obtained through the office of the Chief of Police. If a licensed
alarm business uses an alarm system to protect its own premises, it
shall obtain a permit for such system as required by this section.
A.
Alarm users shall ensure that all information submitted in an alarm
user permit application is kept current. The applicant shall include
acknowledgement of risk of transmitting through a central station
alarm company. Any changes made to any alarm system equipment, termination
point or list of persons to be notified in the event of an alarm shall
be reported to the Chief of Police, in writing, within 10 days of
such change.
B.
The alarm user applying for the permit required in § 45-19 of this article shall have his respective street number attached to his building in such a manner and in such a place as to be easily seen from the street. Furthermore, said number shall be placed in such a location so that it can be illuminated, if necessary, to ensure rapid location of the building by emergency personnel during the hours of darkness. Buildings located in rural-type locations, or located in such a manner that the above requirement is inappropriate, shall be identified at the intersection of the entryway to the building and the public right-of-way, and the numbers shall be of sufficient size to be easily seen by the operator of a vehicle approaching said entryway.
C.
Any false statement or misrepresentation of a material fact made
by an applicant for the purpose of obtaining a user's permit or renewal,
or any refusal to sign said application, shall be sufficient cause
for refusal to grant or for revocation of a permit.
D.
An alarm user applying for a permit in which the user will utilize
only a central station monitoring system shall be required to sign
a waiver form at police headquarters, or before a notary public, relieving
the City, its officers, agents, servants and employees from any liability
in connection with an alarm response or lack thereof. No alarm permit
shall be issued for a central station alarm unless the waiver form
is signed and approved by the Chief of Police or his designee.
A.
Alarm user permit. There will be a permit fee as provided in the
City Fee Schedule for the first year for all security and fire alarm
systems.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
B.
There shall be an annual renewal fee as provided in the City Fee
Schedule for all security and fire alarm systems.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
C.
If a residential alarm user is over the age of 65 and is the primary
resident of the dwelling and if no business is conducted in the residence,
a user's permit may be obtained without the payment of a fee, provided
proof of age is provided with the application.
D.
Federal, state, county or local government agencies which operate
alarm systems shall be exempt from payment of a fee.
E.
An alarm permit application renewal request received after the first
30 days of a new calendar year shall be processed as an original application.
A.
Every alarm user licensed under this article, connected to the Police
Department, may be required to have its alarm system inspected if
it exceeds five false alarms within a calendar year. Proof of such
inspection shall be forwarded to the Police Department. The certificate
shall state that, in the opinion of the alarm company, the alarm system
complies with the applicable installation standards and is safe and
reliable.
B.
The information contained in the alarm user permit application required by § 45-20 and other information received by the Chief of Police through correspondence or communications with the alarm user shall be securely maintained and restricted to inspection by the Chief of Police or certain police officers or City employees specifically assigned the responsibility for handling and processing alarm user permits in the course of their duties. If one of these persons is found to have purposely or knowingly revealed the information contained in an alarm user permit application or in correspondence or communications with an alarm user to any person for any purpose not related to this article or official law enforcement matters or without the express written consent of the alarm user supplying such information, he shall be guilty of a violation and shall be subject to a fine as provided in the City Fine Schedule.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
A.
Any alarm system user who operates an alarm system without first
obtaining a permit as required by this article or who operates an
alarm system when such permit has expired shall be guilty of a violation
and, upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine as provided in the
City Fine Schedule.
B.
Any alarm system user who, after having a permit revoked and after
exhausting his right to a hearing, fails to disconnect his alarm system
shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction, shall be subject
to a fine as provided in the City Fine Schedule.
A.
For the purposes of this article, a "false alarm" shall be defined
as an alarm signal eliciting a response by police when a situation
requiring a response by the police does not in fact exist, but does
not include an alarm signal caused by violent conditions of nature
or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control
by the alarm user.
B.
Except during the first thirty-day period following the installation of an alarm system, there shall be a service charge as provided in the City Fine Schedule for each false alarm received in excess of three in a calendar year, which shall be paid over to the City of Dover. For purposes of this section, a "calendar year" shall be defined as the period from January 1 through December 31. In addition, false alarms may form the basis for revocation of an alarm user's permit as provided in § 45-25 of this article. If the false alarm is due to an alarm system malfunction which is in the process of being repaired or where immediate steps are taken to identify or correct the problem(s), the Chief of Police may waive the service charge. Refusal to pay the service charge within 30 days may be punishable as a violation and may be cause for revocation of the alarm user's permit.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
C.
In any case when an alarm is received at police headquarters and
the Police Department is unable to locate or make contact with the
persons responsible for the alarm system, as designated by the alarm
user on the application form, or in case the persons responsible do
not expeditiously respond when notified, the City of Dover, its officers,
agents, servants and employees shall be exempt from any and all liability
for any claim or loss or damage, personal or property, which may result,
and a service charge as provided in the City Fine Schedule shall be
paid over to the City of Dover by the alarm user. This service charge
shall be in addition to any other service charge that may be imposed
pursuant to this Code.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
D.
In any case where a false alarm is received in excess of six per
calendar year from an alarm system for which an alarm user permit
has been obtained, the Chief of Police may require the alarm user
to produce a certificate from the alarm company maintaining the equipment,
indicating that the system has been inspected and is in reliable working
order. Failure to produce the above certificate within 30 days of
request shall be punishable as a violation and may be cause for revocation
of the alarm user's permit.
A.
If the Police Department has recorded excessive false alarms, as defined in § 45-24, the Chief of Police may notify the permit holder, in writing, and request the permit holder to submit a report within 15 days describing efforts to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarms. If the alarm user requests an extension of time to file this report, based on some extraordinary circumstances, the Chief of Police may extend the fifteen-day period for a reasonable time. If the permit holder fails to submit his report within the specified period, the Chief of Police shall notify the alarm user that his permit to operate an alarm system has been revoked, and, under such circumstances, the user shall not be entitled to a hearing. For the purposes of this section, "excessive false alarms" shall be defined as more than six false alarms within a calendar year.
B.
If the alarm user submits a report as required by Subsection A of this section, but the Chief of Police finds the report unsatisfactory, then the Chief of Police may issue a written notice of his intent to revoke the alarm user's permit.
C.
If, after the submission of a report required by Subsection A of this section which is satisfactory to the Chief of Police, the alarm system of the permit holder incurs two or more false alarms during the same calendar year, the Chief of Police may issue written notice of his intent to revoke the alarm user's permit.
D.
Upon receipt of a notice of intent to revoke an alarm user's permit,
the permit holder may within 10 days of such receipt submit a written
request for a hearing before the Chief of Police, setting forth the
reasons that his permit should not be revoked. Written notice of the
time and place of the hearing shall be served on the permit holder
by the Chief of Police at least five days prior to the date set for
the hearing.
E.
At the hearing before the Chief of Police, the holder of the permit
or his authorized representative shall have the right to be made aware
of the circumstances leading to revocation of the alarm permit and
to present evidence on his own behalf. After the hearing, the Chief
of Police may either issue an order of revocation, withdraw the notice
of revocation or allow a reasonable time, not to exceed 15 days, in
which the alarm user must take action to eliminate the cause(s) of
the false alarms to the satisfaction of the Chief of Police.
A.
An alarm user whose permit has been revoked may apply for a revoked user's permit as provided in § 45-20 of this article. The Chief of Police shall not be required to issue a revoked user permit unless he is satisfied that the user's system has been properly serviced and its deficiencies corrected. The Chief of Police may also impose reasonable restrictions and conditions upon the user before issuing a revoked user permit, and these restrictions and/or conditions shall appear on the permit and shall provide for automatic revocation on the occurrence of four false alarms in the remaining permit year.
B.
In situations where a user permit is revoked under the conditions in Subsection A of this section, there shall be no appeal to the Chief of Police, and this revocation shall remain in effect for the remainder of the calendar year.
C.
The fee for reissuance of a user permit shall be as provided in the
City Fee Schedule .
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
When any City official has the right or is required to act within
a prescribed period pursuant to this article, and service is made
by mail, one day shall be added to the prescribed period. In lieu
of service by mail, delivery may be made by hand by any person 18
years of age or older.
The Chief of Police shall promulgate such rules as may be necessary
for the implementation of this article and for determination of grounds
for clerical revocation of any permit required by this article.
Failure of any person to comply with the requirements of written
notice of a violation of any provision of this article within three
days of receipt of such notice, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and
holidays, shall constitute a violation of this article. Such notice
shall continue in force and effect until full compliance with the
requirements stated therein, and each and every failure to comply
with such notice within 24 hours after the three days allowed for
compliance shall constitute a separate offense.
[Amended 2-12-2020 by Ord. No. 2020.01.08-001]
Unless otherwise provided, any person, firm or corporation within
the boundaries of the City of Dover who violates any provision of
this article shall be guilty of a violation and, upon conviction,
shall be punished by a fine as provided in the City Fine Schedule.
Each day during which a violation continues shall be considered a
separate offense.
