[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Allegheny 6-13-1988 (§§ 6.190 to 6.197 of the 1986 Code). Amendments
noted where applicable.]
Unless otherwise expressly provided, the following
words shall for the purposes of this chapter have the following meanings:
A device or system designed for the detection of an unauthorized
entry or an attempted unauthorized entry on premises or for alerting
others of the commission of an unlawful act, or both, or for the detection
of fire, and which, when actuated, emits sound or light or transmits
a signal or message.
A device or system which causes an alarm to be sounded in
such a manner that it may be heard by a person in or around the premises
from which it is transmitted or received.
A device or system which is interconnected to a telephone
line and is programmed to select a predetermined telephone number
and transmit by voice message or code signal an emergency message
indicating a need for emergency service response. For the purposes
of this chapter, an automatic protection device is deemed to be an
alarm system only if its activation directly results in the response
of emergency services.
Those public services that provide medical assistance, police
protection or fire protection.
The activation of an alarm system or automatic
protection device which indicates the existence of an emergency situation
when, in fact, no such emergency exists.
An alarm that activates during testing, repair
or maintenance if prior notification of the testing, repair or maintenance
is not given to the Township prior to beginning such activity.
The activation of an alarm system or automatic
protection device by natural disasters or severe weather conditions
which are unpreventable activations of the system by the technology
of the system itself are not considered false alarms.
The activation of an automatic protection device
or alarm system which does not directly or indirectly result in the
request for emergency services is not considered a false alarm.
User, tenant, lessee, agent, employee, resident or other
entity who or which owns or is entitled to possession of any premises
on which an alarm system or automatic protection device has been installed.
The Board of Supervisors of the Township of Allegheny, Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania.
The Township will provide an information card,
available at the Township office, which, when completed, will make
important information available to emergency services which are required
to respond to alarm system and automatic protection device activations.
In the event a system owner or subscriber fails to complete and file
the information card with the Township, and in the further event that
the system owner's or subscriber's alarm system or automatic protection
device is activated and emergency services respond to the activation
and in the further event that the responding emergency services cannot
find the location of the premises of the system owner or subscriber
whose system has activated, the alarm will be recorded as a false
alarm. The information card is not a permit required for the use of
an alarm system nor shall any fee be charged to the system owner or
subscriber for the completion and filing of the requested information
card.
Any emergency services officer who responds
to a false alarm shall report the same to the Township and to the
Allegheny Township Chief of Police who shall monitor and maintain
records concerning such false alarms.
A.
Any alarm system or automatic protection device which
produces false alarms shall constitute a public nuisance if such system
or device activates more than one false alarm in any thirty-day period
or more than two false alarms in any ninety-day period or more than
three false alarms in any one-hundred-eighty-day period or more than
four false alarms in any three-hundred-sixty-five-day period.
B.
Any alarm system or automatic protection device which
is activated by an individual without proper cause, as opposed to
being activated by a defect of the system itself, and which either
directly or indirectly causes a response by emergency services shall
be declared a public nuisance.
C.
In the event that any testing, repair or maintenance
of an alarm system or automatic protection device is not completed
within 12 hours from the time of the beginning of the testing, repair
or maintenance of the system or in the event that notification of
the completion of the testing, repair or maintenance of the system
is not given to the Township, the system shall be considered a public
nuisance.
A.
When any alarm system or automatic protection device
shall constitute a public nuisance as set forth herein, the Chief
of Police shall notify the system owner or subscriber that the system
has been declared a public nuisance and shall notify the system owner
or subscriber the reason therefor. The Chief of Police shall also
notify the system owner or subscriber that any future false alarms
shall result in prosecution for violation of this chapter.
B.
The notice required by this section shall be given
by the Chief of Police, or his designee, to the system owner or subscriber
by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by personal service
by handing a copy of the notice to the system owner or subscriber
or to an adult individual found on the premises. If personal service
is made, the Chief of Police, or his designee, shall file a proof
of service with the Township, which proof shall be under oath and
which proof shall designate the person upon whom service was made,
together with the time, date, place and manner of service.
A.
Upon the system owner or subscriber being notified
that his alarm system or automatic protection device has been declared
a public nuisance, the system owner or subscriber shall have four
days, starting at 12:00 midnight of the day notified, to abate the
nuisance and any additional false alarms occurring within the four
days shall not subject the system owner or subscriber to penalties
under this chapter.
B.
Following receipt of notice by the Chief of Police
or his designee that an alarm system or automatic protection device
constitutes a public nuisance, and prior to any additional false alarms
occurring more than four days after said notification, the system
owner or subscriber shall, if he elects to continue operation of the
system, file an affidavit with the Chief of Police indicating under
oath that the false alarms previously caused were caused by a known
mechanical or technical defect within the system. There shall be attached
to the affidavit a statement or work order from a competent repair
person who is qualified to perform maintenance and repair work on
that particular alarm system or automatic protection device indicating
that the system was defective and that any and all defects have been
remedied.
C.
The system owner or subscriber may elect to disconnect
his alarm system or automatic protection device. If the system owner
or subscriber shall so elect, neither the Township, its agent, servants
or employees nor any emergency services, their agents, volunteers
or employees shall be liable in any way to the system owner or subscriber
upon any cause of action whatsoever, legal or equitable, as a result
of said system owner's or subscriber's election to disconnect.
A.
Any system owner or subscriber who shall fail to file the affidavit required by § 61-6B of this chapter shall, upon conviction in a summary proceeding brought before a District Justice under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, be guilty of a summary offense and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, plus costs of prosecution. In default of payment thereof, the defendant may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days. Each day or portion thereof that such violation continues or is permitted to continue shall constitute a separate offense, and each section of this chapter that is violated shall also constitute a separate offense.
B.
Any system owner or subscriber whose alarm system
or automatic protection device causes a false alarm after said system
has been declared a public nuisance and after said system owner or
subscriber has received notice thereof shall, upon a summary conviction
before a District Justice, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less
than $75 nor more than $300, plus costs, provided additionally, however,
that beginning with the second false alarm after the system has been
declared a public nuisance and after notice thereof has been given
to the system owner or subscriber, the minimum fine shall be increased
by $25 for the second and each successive offense, not to exceed $300
per offense.
[Amended 1-10-2005 by Ord. No. 2-2005]
The Allegheny Township Volunteer Fire Companies'
buildings and offices are hereby exempt from the operation of this
chapter.
