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HomeMy Public PortalAboutOrd. 1236', ~ - ORDINANCE NO. 1236 follows: ,, , AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LYNWOOD, CALIFORNIA, RELATED TO BURGLARY, ROBBERY, AND FIRE ALARM SYSTEMS The City Council of the City of Lynwood does ordain as Section 1. Chapter 33 of the Code of the City of Lynwood (the C-" ode"), consisting of Sections 33-1 through 33-16, inclusive, is hereby added to the Code to read in full as follows: "Section 33-1. ALARM SYSTEMS: FINDINGS. The City Council finds: (a) Many burglar and holdup alarms to which law enforcement responds are false. Such false alarms result in an enormous waste of manpower. Such a large percentage of false alarm may lull law enforcement officers into a sense of false security since, in responding to an alarm, officers may incorrectly assume it is a false alarm and may be seriously injured or killed by criminals at the location. (b) Many alarm systems automatically dial an emergency phone number. Such systems are prone to be activated by electrical current failures or other events having no connection with criminal activity. Consequently, these systems tie up emergency telephones, thereby making them unavailable to receive genuine emergency calls. (c) The danger to citizens through emergency response created by false alarms is unnecessary and hazardous. (d) The waste of tax dollars through responses created by false alarms must be eliminated. (e) False burglar and holdup alarms have created conditions that endanger the health, safety and welfare of the general public. Section 33-2. DEFINITIONS. as used in this Chapter, the words hereinafter defined shall have the respective meanings assigned to them unless the context otherwise requires. (a) Alarm Agent means any person employed by a private alarm business whose duties include the altering, installing, maintaining, moving, repairing, replacing, selling, servicing, responding to or causing others to respond to an alarm system in or on any building, structure or facility. (b) Private Alarm Business means any business carried on by any person who engages in the sale, lease, maintenance, service, repair, alteration, replacement or installation of any alarm or alarm systems in or on any building, structure or facility. (c) Alarm Owner means the person who has a contractural right to use or make available for use by his agents, employees, representatives or family, any alarm system, or possesses title to the same. (d) Alarm System means any mechanical or electrical device designed or used for the detection of fire and/or intrusion into a building, structure, or facility, which upon detection causes a local audible alarm or transmission of a signal or message. Alarm systems include, but are not limited to, direct dial tone devices, audible alarms, and proprietor alarms. Devices that are not designed or used to evoke a • r police or fire response or to. activate alarms that are intended to be audible, visible, or_ perceptible outside of the protected building, structure,.pr facility intended to be served by such devices are not included within this definition, nor are auxiliary devices that may suffer damage or disruption by the use of an alarm. (e) Appellant means a person as hereinafter defined, who files an appeal pursuant to this Chapter. (f) Applicant means a person as hereinafter defined, who files an application for permit as provided for in this Chapter. (g) Audible alarm means a device designed to detect a fire or an intrusion into a building, structure or facility and which generates an audible sound on the premises when it is actuated. (h) City means the City of Lynwood. (i) D~ means a calendar day. (j)- Direct dial device means-a device which is connected to a telephone line and upon activation of an alarm system automatically dials a predetermined telephone number and transmits a message .or signal indicating a need for an emergency response and/or service. (k) False Alarm means the activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, accident, misoperation, malfunction, misuse, or the negligence of either the owner or lessee.of the alarm system or any of their employees or agents. False alarms shall. not include alarms caused by independent acts of god or causes beyond the control of the owner or lessee of the alarm system or their employees or agents. It shall be the_responsibility of the owner or lessee of the system to show that the cause was beyond their control. (1) Fire Department means the Lynwood Fire Department. (m) Person means an association, company, corporation, firm, individual, organization, or partnership. (n) Proprietor Alarm means an alarm system that is not regularly serviced by a Private Alarm Business. (o) Sheriff's Department means The County of Los Angeles Sherif-f's Department or other law enforcement agency under contract with the city to provide law enforcement services. Section-33-3. PERMIT FOR ALARM SYSTEM REQUIRED. No person shall install or use an .alarm system without first obtaining an alarm permit_issued by the City in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter. Fees for this permit. shall be established by City Council resolution. Section 33-4. APPLICATION FOR PERMIT. Application for. an alarm permit shall be filed with the City Clerk on forms provided by the City. The application shall be signed and verified by the owner or.lessee of the alarm system. for which the permit is requested, and the application shall contain such information as may be required by the City in order to ensure that the permit is issued in accordance with the provisions. of this Chapter. Section 33-5. SUSPENSION AND REVOCATION OF PERMITS. An alarm permit may be suspended and/or revoked as follows: If, after investigation, the City determines that the permittee has violated any provision of this Chapter, has violated any -2- 4 1. rules and regulations promulgated by the City pursuant to authority granted by this Chapter, or has failed to pay a false alarm fine as provided in Section 33-10, the City shall send to the permittee, by United States mail, a notice of intent to revoke the permit, which shall specify the violation or violations determined by the City to exist and that the permittee has the right to appeal the determination of the City to revoke the permit to the City Manager pursuant to Section 33-6, and that failure of the permittee to remedy the violation or violations specified in the notice of revocation within said fifteen (15) day period, or within such additional time as may be allowed by the City upon a showing of good cause therefore, will result in revocation of the alarm permit and the inability to use the alarm system until a new permit is issued. Section 33-6. NOTICE OF APPEAL. If any permittee is aggrieved by any action of the City pursuant to the provisions of Section 33-5, the applicant may appeal to the City Manager by filing with the City Manager a Notice of Appeal, setting forth the facts and circumstances regarding the appeal. This Notice of Appeal shall be filed not later than fifteen (15) days after service of a Notice of Revocation as provided for in Section 33-5 of this Chapter. The City Manager shall, within fifteen(15) days after the date on which the appeal is filed, hold a hearing, consider all relevant. evidence, make findings and determine the merits of the appeal. The City Manager may affirm, overrule, or modify the action. The decision of the City Manager, or his duly authorized representative, shall be final. Section 33-7. AUDIBLE ALARM REQUIREMENT. For each and every audible alarm system, the owner thereof shall, in a location clearly visible from the exterior of the premises, post the names and telephone numbers of persons to be notified to render repairs or service during any hour of the day or night during which the audible alarm system is operated. Every audible alarm shall be equipped to terminate its audible alarm within ten (10) minutes after initial activation. Section 33-8. PROHIBITIONS. No person shall install or use an alarm system that upon activation emits a sound similar to a siren in use for emergency vehicles or Civil Defense purposes or dials directly to any sheriff, police or fire station. Section 33-9. INFRACTIONS. Violations of this Chapter shall constitute an infraction punishable by the following respective fines: (a) Installing or using an alarm system without a permit - $250.00. (Section 33-3). (b) Failure to take corrective action - First Offense - $50.00; second offense - $100.00; third and subsequent offenses - $200.00. (Section 33-12). (c) Operating an audible alarm system without a ten (10) minute automatic reset - $100.00. (Section 33-7). (d) Installing or using a direct dial alarm system - $250.00. (Section 33-8). (e) For installing or using an alarm system which, upon activation, emits a sound similar to a siren used for emergency vehicles or Civil Defense purposes - $250.00. (Section 33-8). (f) For maintaining, using, or possessing an alarm system which has caused any signal, message, or alarm to be transmitted to the Lynwood Fire Department or Sheriff's -3- Department by communication from an alarm agent or an alarm business or by a person responding to an audible alarm system and which alarm system is determined to have been a false system by the Fire Department or the Sheriff's Department: (1) For the third false alarm within any twelve-month period, a fine of $50.00; (2) For the fourth false alarm within any twelve-month period, a fine of $150.00; (3) For the fifth and each subsequent false alarm within any twelve-month period, a fine of $250.00. Section 33-10. OTHER FEES. Fees prescribed in this Chapter shall be in addition to any other lawful fees imposed by the City for doing or conducting business within the City. Section 33-11. CORRECTIVE ACTION. After the Sheriff's Department responds to any false alarm, a written report shall be submitted to the Sheriff's Department by the permittee describing actions taken to eliminate the cause of the false alarm. The permittee shall submit this report within ten (10) days of the date requested by the Sheriff. Failure by the permittee to provide the Sheriff's Department with this report shall be grounds for revocation of the permit. The permittee has the right to appeal in accordance with Section 33-6 for any revocation based upon failure to file such a report. In the event that a permittee sustains three false alarms within any twelve-month period, the City, in addition to imposing the fines provided for herein, shall commence revocation proceedings as provided for by Section 33-5, and may revoke the permit within the time period provided for in that Section should the permittee fail to demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the City, that the alarm system is in good working order and will not cause a subsequent false alarm. Section 33-12. LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY. The City is under no obligation or duty to any permittee or any other person by reason of any provision of this Chapter of the exercise of any privilege by any permittee hereunder, including but not limited to, any defects in a sheriff, police or fire alarm system, any delay in transmission of an alarm message to any emergency unit or damage caused by delay in responding to any alarm system by any City officer, employee, or agent. Section 33-13. EXEMPTIONS. The provisions of this Chapter are not applicable to audible alarms affixed to motor vehicles or to a public telephone utility whose only duty is to furnish telephone service pursuant to tariffs on file with the California Public Utilities Commission. Section 33-14. APPLICATION OF CHAPTER. Any person who, as of the effective date of this Chapter, possesses, has installed and continues to use an alarm system that requires a permit under this Chapter, shall apply for a permit as provided for in Section 33-4 within six (6) months after the effective date of this Chapter. Section 2. Severability. If any section, subsection, subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase or. portion of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any person or place, is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this Ordinance or its application to other persons or places. The City Council hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, .subdivision, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, subdivisions, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions, or the application thereof to any person or place, be declared invalid or unconstitutional. -4- Section 3. The City Clerk is hereby ordered and directed to certify to the passage of this ordinance and to cause-the same to he published once in the Lynwood Press, a newspaper of general circulation, printed, published, and circulated in the City of Lynwood. First read at a regular meeting of the City Council of said City held on the 4th day of September , 1984, and finally ordered published at a regular meeting of said Council held on the 2nd day of October , 1884. AYES: COUNCILMEN BYORK, HENNING, ROWE, THOMPSON, MORRIS NOES: NONE ABSENT: NONE ABSTAIN: NONE ATTEST: ANDREA L. HOOPER, City C erk City of Lynwood APPROVED AS TO FORM: ity Attorney // ~--, E. L. MORRIS, AY R City of Lynwood APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: ~NALD W. LATHROPE, IRE CHIEF DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY -5- Y O STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) ss. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) I, the undersigned, City Clerk of the City of Lynwood, and ex-officio clerk of the Council of said City, do hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of Ordinance No. 1236 adopted by the City Council of the City of Lynwood, and that the same was passed on the date and by the vote therein stated. Dated this 5th day of October lggq. (SEAL) O~ ' /~~ City Clerk, City of Lynwood '