10-5-8 Warning Notices and Penalties.
A. Any alarm system which has four (4) or more false alarms within any consecutive three hundred sixty-five day (365) period shall be subject to assessment as provided herein. Warning letters detailing dates and times of the first three (3) false alarms along with information on assessments for future false alarms will be mailed to the subscriber and their alarm company within seven (7) days of the third false alarm.
B. If the Police Department records four (4) or more false alarms within any consecutive three hundred sixty-five (365) day period:
1. The Police Department shall notify both the alarm subscriber and alarm business or the proprietor alarm owner by mail or fax of such fact and direct that a report be submitted to the Police Chief within twenty (20) calendar days of the date of the mailing. The report shall contain:
a. A description of the action taken or to be taken to discover and eliminate the cause of the false alarm.
b. 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, common-cause or action of the telephone company shall constitute affirmative defenses to an assessment for the particular false alarm.
2. The report required in paragraph (1) shall be received by the Police Chief or his designee 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 paragraph (5) of this subsection.
3. If the report required in paragraph (1) is submitted, the Police Chief or his designee 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 the false alarms has been accepted, a notice shall be sent to all notified parties that no citation will be made at that time. The notice shall specifically set forth the findings and conclusions of the Police Chief with respect to the review of the report submitted.
4. If the Police Chief or his designee determine that a defense to the initial determination of false alarms has not been alleged or accepted, a citation shall be sent forth by mail to both the alarm subscriber and the alarm business or the proprietor alarm owner that they will be assessed pursuant to paragraph (5) of this subsection upon a fourth false alarm.
5. The assessment(s) imposed pursuant to paragraphs (2) and (4) of this subsection shall be a minimum civil fine in an amount of fifty-five dollars ($55) per false alarm up to the fifth false alarm and one hundred fifty dollars ($150) per alarm thereafter (sixth false alarm or up). The property owner or resident and the alarm business will be jointly and severally responsible for the payment of any assessments imposed upon their alarm system. The owner or resident of the alarm site shall be responsible for the payment of any assessments imposed upon a proprietor alarm system. ((O)98-07, 03/18/1998)