Chapter 5.14 BURGLAR, ROBBERY AND FIRE ALARMS Sections

5.14.010 Purpose and Scope 5.14.020 Definitions

5.14.030 Businesses and Users; Registration and Permit Required

 5.14.040 Alarm Users Responsibilities

 5.14.050 Alarm System Monitoring Companies Responsibilities

5.15.060 Unlawful Activation or Report of Alarm

5.14.070 Determination of False Alarm; Rebuttable Presumption

5.14.080 False Alarm; Penalty 5.14.090 Right to Hearing and Appeal

5.14.100 City Liability Limitations

5.14.110 Violation - Penalties Section

5.15.010 Purpose and Scope 1. The purpose and scope of this ordinance is to protect the limited public safety resources and services of the city from misuse. 2. The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to all alarm users, alarm businesses, employees of alarm businesses, and alarm systems which are installed, connected, operated or maintained on or prior to the date on which the ordinance codified in this Chapter became effective, and subsequent thereto.

Section 5.15.020 Definitions For purposes of this ordinance, the following words have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this Section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning.

1. ALARM SYSTEM means a mechanical or electrical device designed, installed or used for the purpose of giving notice of a burglary, robbery or fire alarm or other breach of security.

2. ALARM SYSTEM MONITORING COMPANY means any individual, partnership, corporation or other form of associations that engages in the business of monitoring security alarm systems and reporting any activation of such alarm systems to the public safety department.

 3. ALARM USER means any individual, partnership, corporation, or other form of association that owns, leases or rents a security alarm system or on whose premises a security alarm system is maintained for the protection of the premises. 4. CHIEF OF POLICE means the Chief of the Police of the police department serving Lindon City and the Chief’s designee.

 5. DEPARTMENT means the Public Safety Department, including police and fire, serving Lindon City.

6. DISPATCH OR RESPONSE means the discretionary decision whether to direct police or fire units to a location where there has been a request, made by whatever means, for police or fire assistance or investigation. There is not duty to dispatch under any circumstances, including to answer an alarm signal, and all dispatch decisions are made subject to competing priorities and available police or fire resources.

 7. FALSE ALARM means an alarm signal eliciting notification to and a response by the Department when there is no evidence of a crime or fire or other activity that warrants a call for immediate Department assistance and no person who was on or near the property or has viewed a video communication from the property call for Department assistance. “False Alarm” does not include an alarm signal caused by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the alarm use.

8. SECURITY ALARM SYSTEM means any system, device, or mechanism for the detection and reporting of any unauthorized entry or attempted entry or property damage upon premises protected by the system that may be activated by sensors or other techniques and, when activated, automatically transmits a telephone message or emits an audible, visible, or electronic signal that can be heard, seen, or received by person outside of the protected premises and is intended to summon Department assistance.

Section 5.14.030 Businesses and Users; Registration and Permit Required

1. Licensing. It is unlawful for any person to engage in the practice of an alarm business, alarm company or alarm agent in the city as defined in Utah Code Section 58-55-102 (1953) as amended, without a valid license therefore issued in accordance with the provisions of the Utah Burglar Alarm Security and Licensing Act, Sections 58-55-101 et. Seq., or the Utah Code (1953), as amended.

2. Owner Permit. No alarm business, alarm company or alarm agent shall install any alarm system in the city unless the owner, lessee, or lawful occupant of the premises on which the alarm system is to be installed has a valid alarm permit issued by the city.

3. User Permit. Every alarm user shall obtain from the Department an alarm user’s permit for each system prior to any installation of an alarm system. An application for a burglary, robbery or fire alarm user’s permit and an initial twenty-five dollar ($25.00) fee shall be filed with the Department. The permit shall be physically upon the premises using the alarm system and shall be available for inspection by the city.

4. Permit Application. The alarm user’s permit application shall set forth the full name, address and telephone number of both the owner or lessee on whose premises the system will be installed, operated or maintained and the name of the person or licenses alarm business or company responsible for maintaining the alarm system.

Section 5.14.040 Alarm Users Responsibilities An Alarm User shall:

1. Maintain the premises and security alarm system in a manner that will minimize or eliminate false alarms;

2. Review all alarm system operating instructions, including those for verification of an alarm;

3. Notify the alarm system monitoring company of a false alarm activation as soon as the user is aware of the false alarm; and

4. Not manually activate an alarm except when needing an immediate police or fire response to an emergency. Section 5.14.050 Alarm System Monitoring Companies Responsibilities An Alarm System Monitoring Company engaging in business in the city shall:

1. Obtain all necessary business licenses as required by the city and the State of Utah.

 2. Maintain a current record, accessible to the Public Safety Director or designee at all times, which includes the names of the alarm users serviced by the company, the addresses of the protected properties; the type of alarm system, original installation date and subsequent modifications, if nay, for each protected property; and a record of the false alarms at each property.

3. Provide the Public Safety Director or designee such information as the Director requests regarding; the nature of the company’s security alarms; the company’s method of monitoring the alarms; the company’s program for preventing false alarms, including educational programs for alarm users; and the company’s method for disconnecting audible alarms.

4. Provide each of its alarm system users with: operating instructions for the alarm system, including an explanation of the alarm company’s alarm verifications process; a telephone number to call for assistance in operating the system; and a summary of the provisions of this ordinance relating to penalties for false alarms and the possibility of no response from the Department to alarm systems experiencing excessive false alarms.

5. Maintain a verification process, for all monitored security alarm systems in order to prevent unnecessary Department dispatches resulting from false alarms.

 6. Communicate requests for cancellations of the Department response in a manner specified by the Director or designee.

 7. Maintain a record of all requests for Department responses to an alarm, including: the date and time of the alarm and request for Department response; the alarm system user’s name and address; evidence of the company’s attempt to verify the alarm; and, to the best of its knowledge, an explanation of the cause of any false alarm, and

8. Work cooperatively with the alarm system user and the Department in order to determine the cause of any false alarms and to prevent reoccurrences.

 Section 5.14.060 Unlawful Activation or Report of Alarm

1. No person shall activate a security alarm system for the purpose of summoning the Department except in the event of fire, an unauthorized entry, robbery, or other crime being committed or attempted on the premises, or if the person needs immediate assistance in order to avoid injury or serious bodily harm.

2. Any person who notifies the Department of an activated alarm and has knowledge that such activation was apparently caused by an electrical or other malfunction shall at the same time notify the Department of the apparent malfunction.

Section 5.14.070 Determination of False Alarm; Rebuttable Presumption For the purposes of this ordinance, there is a rebuttable presumption that the following determinations made by the Department personnel dispatched to the premises reporting an alarm signal are correct:

 1. There is no evidence of a fire, crime or other activity that would warrant a call for immediate fire or police assistance at the premises.

2. No individual who was on or near the premises or who has viewed a video communication from the premises called for a fire or police dispatch or verified a need for an immediate Department response, and

3. There is no evidence that violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the alarm user caused the activation of the alarm.

Section 5.14.080 False Alarms: Penalty

1. The penalty for a false alarm is a civil infraction, and the alarm system user shall be penalized by an administrative service fee to the city according to the following schedule: First false alarm in a calendar year Written warning Second false alarm: Fifty dollars ($50.00) Third false alarm: Seventy-five dollars ($75.00) Fourth and One Hundred subsequent false alarms: Dollars ($100.00)

2. All administrative service fees assessed under this ordinance shall be paid to the city within thirty (30) days of the date that notice of the assessment of the service fee is mailed to the alarm user. If any service fee is not paid within the time set forth above, a $35.00 late fee shall be assessed for each month thereafter that the fee remains unpaid.

3. The city may use all available legal remedies to collect delinquent service fees and late penalties. If the delinquent service fee is owed by a business, payment of the fee and late penalties may be required prior to the renewal of the alarm user’s Business or Alcoholic Beverage License.

4. An alarm permit shall be suspended for any failure by the alarm user to pay any administrative service fee and applicable late penalties imposed pursuant to this chapter within 120 days of the date that notice of the assessment of the service fee is mailed to the alarm user. The Public Safety Director may also suspend any alarm permit if the Director determines that the alarm system in question has a history of unreliability, which unreliability shall be presumed upon the occurrence of five (5) false alarms within a ninety (90) day period.

5. A suspension for unreliability may be lifted upon a showing that the conditions which caused the false alarms have been corrected. An alarm user whose alarm permit is suspended by the Director shall pay a reinstatement fee of fifty dollars ($50) to the city before such permit shall be reinstated.

6. It shall be unlawful, and the basis for revocation of an alarm monitoring system company’s business license, to knowingly provide services to an alarm user which has been ordered to be disconnected from service pursuant to the provisions of this section.

7. Any person who uses, maintains, operates or is in control of any operational alarm system in the city while the alarm permit for such alarm system is suspended shall be guilty of a Class C misdemeanor.

 8. To discourage false alarms, the Department shall adopt a process of providing written notice to an alarm user, who has more than one false alarm in a calendar year, of the consequences of excessive false alarms, the need to take corrective action, and the prospect that four (4) false alarms in a six (6) month period may result in the Department disregarding any future alarms from the premises unless independent information that verifies the need for an immediate response is provided. 9. Prior to determining not to respond to a premises, the Director shall provide written notice to the user that: a. Four (4) false alarms have been received from the property within a six month period; b. The remedies authorized in this chapter as noted above are to be instituted; c. The alarm system user may request a hearing before the Director or designee and explain why the city should not take the proposed action; d. If no hearing is requested, the Department will after ten (10) days from the delivery of the notice disregard alarms from the premises unless there is an in-person call or other independent information that verifies the need for an immediate response; and e. A requirement of an in-person communication or other verification shall remain in effect until notified otherwise.

Section 5.14.090 Right to Hearing and Appeal

1. An alarm user shall have the right to request a hearing to contest the imposition of any penalty under this chapter including: the imposition of any fee, suspension of any permit, or the determination of a false alarm. A written request for a hearing must be files by the alarm user with the Department within ten (10) business days of the date of mailing of the notice of imposition of the penalty. Notice of the imposition of a penalty shall be considered satisfied if sent by regular main to the alarm user’s address listed in the alarm user’s information card. The request for a hearing shall include the alarm user’s name, address, telephone number, and a statement of the reasons for disputing the imposition of the penalty. A timely request for a hearing shall stay the imposition of any penalty until the hearing is decided. The Department’s determination of a false alarm, the imposition of an administrative service fee, or suspension of a permit shall be considered final if the alarm user fails to request a hearing within the time period set forth above.

2. The Director or designee shall conduct any hearings requested by the alarm user and shall affirm, modify, or vacate the imposition of the penalty after considering all of the evidence presented. An alarm shall be presumed to be a false alarm unless the alarm user can establish the existence of an emergency or other hazard at the time of the alarm by a preponderance of the evidence. The burden of proving the existence of an emergency shall be upon the alarm user. Hearings shall be conducted informally.

3. An alarm user may appeal the decision of the Director of designee to the City Administrator by filing a written request for a hearing with the City Administrator within ten (10) business days of the decision rendered in the initial hearing. If no request for an appeal hearing is made within the ten day period, the decision rendered in the initial hearing shall be considered final. The appeal hearing shall be conducted by the City Administrator or designee. The City Administrator, or designee, shall affirm, reverse, or modify the decision rendered in the initial hearing and the action taken in the appeal hearing shall be final.

Section 5.14.100 City Liability Limitations Nothing in this chapter shall create or be construed to create a duty upon the Department of Public Safety or the city to respond to any alarm whether or not the alarm is false. An alarm, like any other request for service from the Department of Public Safety, may be responded to within the resources of the Department in light of other responses required by the Department at the tine of the alarm.

Section 5.14.110 Violation - Penalties 1. An alarm system monitoring company’s failure to comply with any of the requirements of this ordinance shall be a civil infraction, punishable by a fine of up to two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00). Each day of noncompliance shall constitute a separate offense. 2. Violations of the other sections of this ordinance shall be a Class C misdemeanor unless otherwise specified. (Ord. no 2003-14, Adopted, 08/05/2003)