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Home My Public Portal AboutORD10749 SEEN Amended BILL NO. SPONSORED BY COUNCILMAN ORDINANCE NO. An 4V9 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSON,, MISSOURI, PROVIDING FOR THE REGULATION OF BURGLAR AND FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS, TO PRESCRIBE A SYSTEM OF FINES FOR FALSE ALARMS, AND TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATIONS OF SUCH REGULATIONS. BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF JEFFERSON, MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The Code of the City of Jefferson is hereby amended to add an eleventh article to Chapter 17, to read as follows: Sec. 17-228. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following words or phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section: (1) Alarm Buy .. aess: Any individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity in which the owners or employees engage in the activity of altering, selling, installing, leasing, maintaining, repairing, replacing, servicing, or responding in any manner to alarm systems. (2) Alarm System: Any assembly of equipment and devices or a single device such as a solid state unit which uses electrical energy to signal the presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention and to which police or firemen are expected to respond. In this ordinance, the term "Alarm System" shall include but not be limited to the terms "Automatic Holdup Alarm Systems, " "Burglar Alarm Systems, " "Holdup Alarm Systems" and "Manual Holdup Alarm Systems" as those terms are hereinafter defined. This definition shall also include non-manually operated fire alarm systems. (3) Answering Service: Any telephone answering service providing among its services the service of receiving on a continuous basis through trained employees emergency signals from alarm systems, and thereafter immediately relaying the message by live voice to the communication center of the police department. (4) Automatic Answering Device : Any alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal indicating the existence of the emergency ty.t situation that the alarm system is designed to detect. 1 • ( 5 ) Automatic Holdup Alarm System: Any alarm system in which the signal transmission is initiated by the action of the robber. ( 6 ) Burglar Alarm System: Any alarm system signaling an entry or attempted entry into the area protected by the system. ( 7) False Alarm: Any activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation, without an unlawful entry or rather condition which the alarm is designed to detect, or through the negligent or intentional acts of the owner or lessee of an alarm system or of his employees or agents or other causes. (8 ) Holdup Alarm System: Any alarm system signaling a robbery or attempted robbery. (9 ) Manual Holdup Alarm System: Any alarm system in which the signal transmission is initiated by the direct action of the person attacked or by an observer of the attack. (10) Subscriber: Any person who buys or leases, or otherwise obtains an alarm signaling system or contracts with or hires an alarm business to monitor or service the alarm device. Sec. 17-229. Automatic Dialing Devices. No person shall interconnect any automatic dialing device to a police or fire department primary trunkline and no person shall permit such devices to remain interconnected from any property owned or controlled by that person. Such devices may be interconnected to a modified central station or an answering service . Relaying messages received to the police or fire departments shall only be done person to person on a telephone line designated by the police chief. The police chief may approve a direct line installation between a modified central station or an answering service to the police or fire departments, with full costs to be borne by the person or business operating the station or service. Sec. 17-230. Personnel to Respond to Alarm. The subscriber shall provide the police department with the name and telephone number of the alarm business with whom the subscriber has contracted to respond to an emergency signal transmitted by the automatic alarm device. If the subscriber has not contracted with an alarm business to respond, the subscriber shall provide the police department with the names and telephone numbers of at least two other persons who have agreed in writing to respond to an emergency signal transmitted by the automatic alarm device, who can be reached at any time of the day or night, who are authorized to respond to an emergency signal and who can open the premises where the device is installed. I£ any such person refuses to cooperate with the police department, such refusal shall be a violation of this ordinance. If any such Aft person withdraws his agreement to cooperate the subscriber will at once furnish another person who has consented and meets the qualifications set forth in this section. Sec. 17-231. Direct Connections. No alarm system designed to transmit emergency messages directly to the police or fire department shall be ( 1) tested or demonstrated without first notifying the police or fire department dispatcher, or (2) connected to the police or fire department without express written consent of the chief of the appropriate department. No direct connection of any alarm system designed to monitor an environmental condition shall be permitted. Sec. 17-232. Notification. When an alarm business service to its subscribers is disrupted for any reason by the alarm business, or the alarm business becomes aware of such disruption, it shall promptly notify the police department by telephone that protection is no longer being provided. Sec. 17-233. False Alarms. (a) In determining whether an alarm is a false alarm, all circumstances shall be considered. Police officers or fire officials investigating false alarms shall make a careful check for signs of an occurrence: that had abated before the officers official 's arrival which would have justified the use of th,;; alarm. ( b) Any false alarm initiated by an alarm system and responded to by the police or fire department shall constitute a violation of this article and shall be punishable by the warning and fine schedule set forth in this section. However, a false alarm caused by a person or persons other than the subscriber or owner or lessee of the alarm system shall not be charged to the subscriber. (c) The following fine schedule is established for police or fire response to false alarms: (i) After the first three responses within a ninety ( 90) day period: a written warning shall be issued by the chief of police or fire. Such warnings shall include a copy of this section. (ii) The fourth response within a ninety ( 90) day period: a minimum fine of ten dollars ($10.00) . (iii)The fifth response within a ninety (90) day period: a minimum fine of thirty dollars ($30.00) . (iv) All further responses within a ninety ( 90) day period: a minimum fine of seventy-five dollars ($75.00) . (d) When the choice is made to notify the police or fire department directly by person of any situation, any determination of a false alarm or fines, warnings, and proceedings regarding false alarms shall be governed by Section 17-165 of this Code. This subsection shall apply to the use of a manually operated fire alarm. (e) The warnings and fines imposed by this section shall be waived for sixty ( 60) days if the police chief or fire chief is notified, within five ( 5 ) working days of the installation, of a new alarm system. Any false alarms initiated by an alarm system within the sixty ( 60) day period shall not be counted in determining any warnings or fines accruing after the sixty (60) day period. Sec. 17-234. Termination of Direct Connection. ( a) The police chief shall require the owner or lessee of any alarm system directly connected to the police or fire department to disconnect such device until it is working in such a manner as will not produce a high frequency of false alarms. The police chief may require disconnection if nine (9 ) false alarms are received in any ninety (90) day period. The police chief may, after giving notice to the subscriber, order disconnection of the system for noncooperation of the subscriber, or for violations of this article. (b) A disconnection order shall be lifted if, after review of the alarm system and its operation, the police chief is satisfied that the fault has been corrected. (c) If the police chief does not feel that the fault has been corrected and refuses to lift the suspension, the subscriber may submit a written appeal to the police chief who shall organize a meeting of the appeals board and the subscriber within seven (7) days of the postmarked date of the appeal letter. The appeals board shall determine whether the alarm system should be reconnected or whether the disconnection shall be continued until further evidence is presented to the police chief that the fault has been corrected. ( d) The police chief shall appoint the appeals board consisting of one subscriber, one member of the fire department and one other resident of the city. ( e) On the date of the reconnection of the alarm system, the false alarm count shall revert to zero. Sec. 17-235. Obligation to Instruct. Each alarm business which installs or services an alarm system shall clearly instruct the subscriber in the proper use and operation of the alarm system, as frequently as necessary, especially in those factors which can cause false alarms. Sec. 17-236. Maintenance and Inspection. (a) A subscriber shall maintain any alarm system in good working order, providing the necessary service to prevent false alarms, to prevent malfunctions endangering persons or property and to prevent other malfunctions. (b) A subscriber shall cause any alarm system to be inspected regularly, by a representative of the alarm business with a service contract or other person qualified to inspect and service such equipment, at least once every twelve (12) months. inspections shall be complete enough to detect any likely malfunctions and may include testing of the equipment. Particular attention shall be paid to the conditions that have the potential of causing false alarms. The person making the inspection shall make available a written report to the subscriber, and the report shall be kept for twelve (12) months, and shall be made available on request during regular business hours to the police department or the fire department. (c) The subscriber shall be responsible for maintaining the alarm system, and he shall look to the report of the inspector for guidance, but shall not limit his maintenance effort to matters on the report of the inspector. Sec. 17-237. Penalties. Any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity violating any provision of this ordinance, except those set forth in Section 17-233, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than two hundred and fifty dollars ( $250.00) for each offense, and a separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation occurs or continues. Any fine imposed under this section, or section 17-233, shall not preclude the use of any remedy set forth in section 17.234. rA r Section 2. This Ordinance shall be in full force and effect ,(V from and after its passage and approval. Passed `.��,.a�� 7 /�.f'6 Approved G '5� 1 5:,V, b:.r i% Pr esiding Officer Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk Ra; a�7 tr f i t 1