[HISTORY: Adopted by the Council of the City of Perth Amboy 9-13-2000 as Ord. No. 1047-2000. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to establish standards and regulations
for various types of local burglar, fire, smoke and other emergency
alarm devices, whether by direct telephone line, radio, dial telephone
or other means.
This chapter shall apply to any person who operates, maintains
or owns any burglar, fire, smoke or other emergency alarm device designed
to summon the Police Department, Fire Department or other municipal
agencies to any location in response to the alarm.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A device or an assembly of equipment which emits an audible
response, which is intended to alert persons outside a premises to
the existence of a hazard or emergency or which is intended to alert
emergency agencies by automatically dialing an emergency agency or
which is connected to a business which offers the service of receiving
emergency signals, monitoring said signals and relaying them to an
emergency agency.
An alarm which is activated in the event of a medical emergency.
Any alarm activated by or resulting from inadvertence, negligence
or an intentional act of someone other than an intruder and shall
include, as well, any alarm caused by malfunction of the alarm device.
Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, association,
company or organization of any kind.
A.
The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to emergency medical
alarms.
B.
Permits shall be required for alarm systems located in buildings
of federal, state or local governmental agencies or authorities or
in public schools. Said alarm systems shall be exempt from the permit
fee, but said alarms shall be subject to the fines and penalties herein
provided for false alarms.
C.
There shall be no application fee for applicants over the age of
sixty-five (65).
[Amended 1-10-2001 by Ord. No. 1086-2001]
No person shall own, use, lease, operate or maintain an alarm
system within the city unless such person shall have first obtained
from the Police Department an alarm user permit for such alarm as
herein provided. All pre-existing alarm owners shall register their
alarms at no cost within one (1) year of this chapter's adoption
or by December 31, 2001. If such alarm owner does not register within
the required period of time, he shall be subject to the penalties
and fees set forth in this chapter.
If an alarm shall thereafter be found to be in operation without
being registered, the owner and/or occupant of the premises shall
be sent a notice, in writing by the Police Department, requiring compliance
with the terms of this chapter. If the owner and/or occupant within
ten (10) days after receipt of such notice does not comply with the
terms of this chapter, he shall be subject to the false alarm procedures
and penalties set forth in this chapter.
In order to obtain an alarm user permit, any person who operates
an alarm system shall submit an application for such permit in the
form designated by the Police Director, which application shall contain
the following:
A.
The name, home address and telephone number of the person applying
for the permit.
B.
The address of the premises upon which the alarm system is or will
be located.
C.
The type of alarm system for which the permit is sought.
D.
The name, address and telephone number of one (1) or more persons
who can be reached at any time and who are authorized by the owner
of the premises in which the system is installed to open the premises.
E.
Any other information relating to the alarm system or the user as
the Police Director may require.
A.
There shall be no application fee for registering a pre-existing or new alarm system within the time specified in Section 135-5 of this chapter. After this one (1) year grace period all unregistered and new alarm user permits shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty-five dollars ($25). There shall be no application fee for applicants over the age of sixty-five (65). All unregistered and new alarm user permits for commercial property shall be accompanied by a fee of fifty dollars ($50).
[Amended 9-28-2011 by Ord. No. 1586-2011]
B.
Upon receipt of a properly executed permit application, the Police
Director, or his designee, shall issue an alarm user permit to the
applicant. Alarm user permits shall not be transferable, shall be
kept on the premises where the alarm system is located and shall be
made available for inspection by the Police Department.
A.
In the case of a false alarm, the Police Department shall cause an
investigation to be made and shall keep a record of said alarms on
file. Excluded are alarm signals caused by violent conditions of nature
or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control
by owner or user and is not related to alarm maintenance.
B.
For such false alarms, the following penalties are prescribed:
[Amended 9-28-2011 by Ord. No. 1586-2011]
(1)
For the first and second false alarms in any given calendar year,
there shall be a written warning issued.
(2)
For the third false alarm in the same calendar year, a fine of twenty-five
dollars ($25) for residential properties and seventy-five dollars
($75) for commercial property shall be paid to the City of Perth Amboy.
(3)
For the fourth false alarm in the same calendar year, a fine of fifty
dollars ($50) for residential properties and one hundred dollars ($100)
for commercial properties shall be paid to the City of Perth Amboy.
(4)
For the fifth false alarm in the same calendar year, a fine of one
hundred fifty dollars ($150) for both residential properties and commercial
property shall be paid to the City of Perth Amboy. In addition, for
the fifth alarm and each false alarm thereafter a court appearance
is required by the owner or representative of the property.
A.
The City of Perth Amboy shall be under no duty or obligation to maintain
the police panel alarm system equipment or any equipment or device
connected thereto by a permit holder under this chapter.
B.
The Police Department of the City of Perth Amboy shall be under no
obligation whatsoever for the installation, connection, adequacy,
operation or maintenance of the alarm equipment, device or systems
so installed or connected.
C.
The City of Perth Amboy shall not be liable for any failure of such
alarm system or equipment.
[Amended 9-15-02 by Ord. No. 1171-2002]
