1289 – Bill No. 277 Security Alarms

AN ORDINANCE REGULATING FALSE ALARMS FROM  ALARM SYSTEMS WITHIN THE CORPORATE CITY LIMITS OF THE CITY OF RICH HILL, MISSOURI

SECTION 1. PURPOSE.

(A) The purpose of this Ordinance is to encourage Alarm Users and alarm companies to properly use and maintain the operational effectiveness of Alarm Systems in order to improve the reliability of Alarm Systems and reduce or eliminate False Alarms.

(B) This Ordinance governs Alarm Systems intended to summon law enforcement response, and  provides for fines for excessive alarms during a Calendar Year.

SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Ordinance, the following terms and phrases shall have the following meanings:

(A)      Alarm Administrator shall mean a Person or Persons designated by the City ofRich Hillto administer, control and review False Alarms and to administer the provisions of this Ordinance.

(B)      Alarm Dispatch Request means a notification to a law enforcement agency that an alarm, either manual or automatic, has been activated at a particular Alarm Site.

(C)     Alarm Site means a single fixed premises or location served by an Alarm System within the City of Rich Hill, Missouri.

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(D)     Alarm System means a device or series of devices, including, but not limited to, hardwired systems and systems interconnected with a radio frequency method such as cellular or private radio signals, which emit or transmit a remote or local audible, visual or electronic signal indicating an alarm condition and intended to summon law enforcement response, including Local Alarm Systems.

(E)      Alarm User means any Person, who (which)  owns or operates an Alarm System.

(F)      Calendar Year shall mean January 1 through December 31.

(G)     Cancellation means the process where response is terminated by the Alarm User or the Monitoring Company notifying  the responding law enforcement agency that there is not an existing situation at the Alarm Site requiring law enforcement agency response after an Alarm Dispatch Request.

(H)      False Alarm means an Alarm Dispatch Request to a law enforcement agency, when the responding law enforcement officer finds no evidence of a criminal offense, attempted criminal offense,  fire or other emergency after having completed a timely investigation of the Alarm Site.

(I)       Local Alarm System means a silent alarm signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a n emergency at the Alarm Site.

(J)      Monitoring means the process by which a Monitoring Company receives signals from an Alarm System and relays an Alarm Dispatch Request to a law enforcement agency for the purposes of summoning law enforcement to the Alarm Site.

(K)      Monitoring Company shall mean a business of providing Monitoring services for an Alarm Site.

(L)      Person means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, organization or similar entity.

SECTION 3. NOTIFICATION

The Alarm Administrator shall notify the Alarm User in writing after each False Alarm. The notification shall also include the amount of the fine, if any,  for the False Alarm.

SECTION 4. FINES

(A)      An Alarm User shall be subject to fine,  depending on the number of False Alarms originating  from a Person’s Alarm Site within a 12‑month period, based  upon the following schedule:

i.        For the first three (3) False Alarms in a Calendar Year, no fine will be imposed;

ii.        For the fourth (4th) False Alarm in a Calendar Year, a fine of $25.00 will be imposed on the Alarm User;

iii.       For the fifth (5th) False Alarm in a Calendar Year, a fine of $50.00 will be imposed on the Alarm User;

iv.       For each False Alarm in excess of five (5) in a Calendar Year, a fine of $100.00 will be imposed on the Alarm User for each False Alarm;

(B)      If Cancellation of an Alarm Dispatch Request occurs prior to law enforcement arriving at the scene, no false alarm fine will be assessed.