Chapter 8.15
ALARM SYSTEMS
Sections:
8.15.030 Alarm user’s permits required.
8.15.040 False alarms – Fines for excessive false alarms.
8.15.050 No response to excessive alarms.
8.15.080 Automatic dialing device – Certain interconnections prohibited.
8.15.100 Sound emission cutoff feature.
8.15.120 Statistics confidentiality.
8.15.130 Allocation of revenues and expenses.
8.15.140 Enforcement and penalties.
8.15.010 Purpose and scope.
A. The purpose of this chapter is to encourage alarm users and alarm businesses to assume increased responsibility for maintaining the mechanical reliability and the proper use of alarm systems to prevent unnecessary police emergency responses to false alarms and thereby to protect the emergency response capability of the city of Rogue River police from misuse.
B. This chapter governs security alarm systems, requires permits, establishes fees, provides for allocation of revenues, provides for fines for excessive false alarms, no response to alarms, provides for punishment for violations and establishes a system of administration. [Ord. 08-353-O § 1].
8.15.020 Definitions.
“Alarm business” means the business by any individual, partnership, corporation, or other entity that is engaged in selling, leasing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering, replacing, moving or installing any alarm system or causing to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or installed any alarm system in or on any building, structure or facility within the city.
“Alarm user” means any person, association, business or organization of any kind which owns, controls or occupies any building, structure or facility wherein an alarm system is maintained within the city.
“Automatic dialing device” means a device which is interconnected to a telephone line and is programmed to select a predetermined telephone number and transmit by voice message or code signal an emergency message indicating a need for emergency response.
“City” means the city of Rogue River, Oregon.
“Economically disadvantaged person” means a person receiving public assistance and/or food stamps.
“False alarm” means an alarm signal eliciting a response by police when a situation requiring a response by the police department does not in fact exist. This does not include an alarm signal caused by violent conditions of nature or other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm business operator or alarm user.
“Interconnect” means to connect an alarm system including an automatic dialing device to a telephone line, either directly or through a mechanical device that utilizes a telephone, for the purpose of using the telephone line to transmit a message upon the activation of the alarm system.
“No response” means a police officer will not be dispatched to investigate a report of an alarm signal.
“Permit period” means July 1st to June 30th of each year.
“Police chief” means the police chief of the law enforcement agency of the city of Rogue River, Oregon, or a designated representative.
“Primary trunk line” means a telephone line serving the emergency communications agency that is designated to receive emergency calls.
“Security alarm system” means any assembly of equipment, mechanical or electrical, arranged to signal the occurrence of an illegal entry or other activity requiring urgent attention and to which police are expected to respond within the city.
“Sound emission cutoff” means a feature of an alarm system which will cause an audible alarm to stop emitting sound.
“System becomes operative” means when the alarm system is capable of eliciting a response by the police department. [Ord. 08-353-O § 2].
8.15.030 Alarm user’s permits required.
A. All alarm users shall obtain an alarm user’s permit from the city of Rogue River, Oregon, for each location that has an alarm system installed. This permit may be obtained before the use of the security alarm system or upon the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter. Systems using alarm capabilities will be required to obtain a separate permit for each function. Application for alarm user’s permit will be filed with the city of Rogue River, Oregon, each year. Each permit issued shall bear the signature of the city administrator and be for a one-year period. The permit shall be physically located on the premises that has an alarm system and shall be available for inspection by the police department.
B. A $50.00 charge will be levied upon a user who fails to obtain a permit prior to the system becoming operative, or who is more than 30 days delinquent in renewing a permit. [Ord. 23-418-O § 29; Ord. 08-353-O § 3].
8.15.040 False alarms – Fines for excessive false alarms.
Any alarm system which has five or more false alarms within a permit year shall be subject to:
A. A fine according to the following schedule:
1. Five through nine false alarms: $100.00 each;
2. Tenth and any subsequent false alarms: $1,000 each.
B. The police chief shall notify by first class mail those alarm uses who have a false alarm and include a copy of this chapter. The police chief shall also inform the alarm user of their right to appeal the validity of the false alarm as provided in RRMC 8.15.090. If five false alarms occur for one alarm user, and a fine has been levied but has not been received by the police chief within 30 days from the day the notice was mailed and there is no appeal pending on the validity of the false alarms, the police chief shall send the notice of fines by certified mail along with a notice of a late fee of $15.00. If payment is not received within 10 days from the day the notice of a late fee was mailed, the police chief shall initiate the “no response” process and may initiate the enforcement of fines as stated in subsection (A) of this section.
On the fifth false alarm, the police chief shall notify the alarm user that they shall submit to the police chief a letter specifying what corrective action has been taken to prevent further false alarms. Upon authorization of the alarm user, the alarm company may submit the required letter. [Ord. 23-418-O § 30; Ord. 08-353-O § 4].
8.15.050 No response to excessive alarms.
A. After the tenth false alarm, the police chief shall send a notification to the alarm user by first class mail, which shall contain the following information:
1. That the tenth false alarm has occurred.
2. The alarm user shall apply to the police chief in writing for reinstatement. The police chief may reinstate the alarm user upon a finding that reasonable efforts have been made to correct the false alarms.
3. That the alarm user has the right to contest the validity of a false alarm determination through false alarm validity hearing. The request for such a hearing must be in writing and within 10 days of receipt of the notice of false alarm from the police chief.
B. After the tenth false alarm within the permit year, there will be no police response to subsequent alarms without the approval of the police chief. The police chief shall send a notification of the police department response suspension to:
1. The Jackson County sheriff and Southern Oregon Regional Communications.
2. The alarm user by certified mail.
C. The suspension of the police department response to an alarm shall begin 10 days after the date of delivery of the notice of suspension of service to the alarm user unless written request for a false alarm validity hearing has been made in the required time period as listed in this section. [Ord. 08-353-O § 5].
8.15.060 Special permits.
A. An alarm user required by federal, state, county or municipal statute, regulation, rule or ordinance to install, maintain and operate an alarm system shall be subject to this chapter, provided:
1. A permit shall be designated a special alarm user’s permit.
2. A special alarm user’s permit for a system which has 10 false alarms in a permit year shall not be subject to the no response procedure and shall pay the regular fine and shall submit a report as required.
B. An alarm user which is a governmental political unit shall be subject to this chapter, but a permit shall be issued without payment of a fee. [Ord. 08-353-O § 6].
8.15.070 User instructions.
A. Every alarm business selling, leasing or furnishing any user with an alarm system which is installed on premises located in the area subject to this chapter shall furnish the user with instructions to enable the user to operate the alarm system properly and how to obtain service for the alarm system at any time. The alarm business shall also inform each alarm user of the requirement to obtain a permit and where it can be obtained.
B. Standard form operating instructions shall be submitted by every alarm business to the police chief. If the police chief reasonably finds such instructions to be incomplete, unclear or inadequate, the police chief may require the alarm business to revise the instructions to comply with subsection (A) of this section and then to distribute the revised instructions to its alarm users.
C. Any person having a security system on any real property shall properly train any person having access to the real property in the proper method for disabling the security system. All such training shall be given prior to the time any such person has access. Any person providing such training shall make and retain a record that such training occurred and the record shall be retained by the instructor for a period of not less than two years from the date of testing. [Ord. 08-353-O § 7].
8.15.080 Automatic dialing device – Certain interconnections prohibited.
A. It is unlawful for any person to program an automatic dialing device to select a primary trunk line, and it is unlawful for an alarm user to fail to disconnect or reprogram an automatic dialing device which is programmed to select a primary trunk line within 12 hours of receipt of written notice from the police chief that it is so programmed.
B. It is unlawful for any person to program an automatic dialing device to select any telephone line assigned to the city of Rogue River; and it is unlawful for an alarm user to fail to disconnect or reprogram such device within 12 hours of receipt of written notice from the police chief that an automatic dialing device is so programmed. [Ord. 08-353-O § 8].
8.15.090 Hearing.
A. An alarm user may appeal a false alarm determination by the police chief to the city council for a hearing. The appeal must be in writing and must be requested within 10 days of the alarm user having received notice of the alarm determination from the police chief. Failure to contest the police chief’s determination in the required time period shall result in conclusive presumption for all purposes that the alarm(s) were false.
B. If a hearing is requested, written notice of the date, time and place of the hearing shall be served on the alarm user by the police chief by first class mail at least 10 days prior to the date set for the hearing, which shall not be more than 21 days nor less than 10 days after the filing of the request for hearing.
C. The hearing shall be held before the city council, and the police chief and the alarm user shall have the right to present written and oral evidence subject to the right of cross-examination. If the city council determines that the alleged false alarms have occurred in a permit year, the city council shall issue written finding waiving, expunging or entering a false alarm designation on an alarm user’s record at their discretion. If false alarm designations are entered on the alarm user’s record, the police chief shall pursue assessment collection as set out in this chapter. [Ord. 08-353-O § 9].
8.15.100 Sound emission cutoff feature.
A. Alarm systems which emit audible sound which can be heard outside the building structure or facility of the alarm user, shall be equipped with a sound emission cutoff feature which will stop the emission of sound 15 minutes or less after the alarm is activated.
B. When an alarm system can be heard outside a building, structure, or facility for more than 15 minutes continuously or intermittently, and the alarm owner or alarm company is not readily available or able to silence the device, the police department or authorized representative is authorized to physically disconnect the sounding device.
The authorized representative of the police department disconnecting the alarm shall not be liable for cost associated with disconnecting or reconnecting the alarm. The alarm owner shall be liable for the cost of reconnecting the device. [Ord. 08-353-O § 10].
8.15.110 Fine payment.
The payment of any fine provided in this chapter shall not be deemed to extend the term of the permit. [Ord. 08-353-O § 11].
8.15.120 Statistics confidentiality.
A. Except as otherwise required by law, if an alarm user requests that information submitted by the user as part of an application to be kept in confidence, such information shall be held in confidence and shall be deemed a public record exempt from disclosure under state law. The police department shall be responsible for maintenance of records created under this chapter.
B. Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection (A) of this section, the police department shall develop and maintain statistics for purposes of evaluating alarm systems. [Ord. 08-353-O § 12].
8.15.130 Allocation of revenues and expenses.
All fees and fines collected pursuant to this chapter shall be general fund revenues of the city of Rogue River, Oregon. [Ord. 08-353-O § 13].
8.15.140 Enforcement and penalties.
A. Enforcement of this chapter may be by civil action as provided in ORS 30.315 or by prosecution for violation of this chapter.
B. Violation of this chapter shall be punishable upon conviction by a fine of not more than $1,000.
C. The failure or omission to comply with any section of this chapter shall be deemed a violation and may be so prosecuted subject to the fine provided in subsection (B) of this section. [Ord. 23-418-O § 31; Ord. 08-353-O § 14].