§ 81-8. Police review of false alarms.

A. 

Any alarm system which has three or more alarms within a consecutive twenty-four-month period shall be subject to assessment as provided herein.

B. 

If three or more false alarms are recorded within a consecutive twenty-four-month period from a specific subscriber or proprietor:

(1) 

The alarm monitoring unit shall notify the alarm subscriber or the proprietor alarm owner by mail of such fact and direct that a report be submitted to the alarm monitoring unit within 20 days of the date of the mailing. The report shall contain:

(a) 

Specific defenses, if any, why the alleged false alarms should not be considered false alarms. Evidence that a false alarm was caused by an act of God shall constitute affirmative defense to an assessment for the particular false alarm.

(2) 

The report required in Subsection B(1) shall be received by the alarm monitoring unit within the time specified. If the report is not timely submitted, any notified party shall be deemed to have waived his right to any further review or hearing as provided herein, and the alarm business and the alarm subscriber or the proprietor alarm owner operating the alarm system generating the false alarms will be assessed pursuant to Subsection B(5) of this section.

(3) 

If the report required in Subsection B(1) is submitted, the alarm monitoring unit shall review the corrective action taken or to be taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarms and the specific defenses, if any, set forth in the report to the initial determination of false alarms. If it is determined that a valid defense to the initial determination of false alarms has been accepted, a notice shall be sent to all notified parties that no assessment will be made at that time. The notice shall specifically set forth the findings and conclusions of the alarm monitoring unit with respect to the review of the report.

(4) 

If the alarm monitoring unit determines that a defense to the initial determination of false alarms has not been alleged or accepted, a notice shall be sent forth by mail to the alarm subscriber or the proprietor alarm owner by the Police Commissioner or Fire Commissioner or their respective designee that they will be assessed pursuant to Subsection B(5) of this section. The notice of decision shall contain the specific findings and conclusions of the alarm monitoring unit with respect to the review of the report submitted.

(5) 

The assessment(s) imposed pursuant to Subsection B(2)and (4) of this section shall be in an amount of:

(a) 

One hundred dollars per false alarm upon the third false alarm; and

(b) 

An increase of an additional fifty dollars for each subsequent false alarm.

(c) 

For fire false alarms: An additional $500 per false alarm originating in a building 75 or more feet tall.

Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date of 10-1-2013.

Amended 1-15-2002 by Ord. No. 15-2002; 12-14-2004 by Ord. No. 284-2004; 5-21-2013 by Ord. No. 96-2013