City Ordinance Chapter 022 - Emergency Services

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                                 Chapter 22

                      EMERGENCY SERVICES

                           Article I. In General
Secs. 22-1-22-30. Reserved.


                    Article II. Burglar Alarm Systems
Sec.   22-31.   Definitions.
Sec.   22-32.   Statement of purpose.
Sec.   22-33.   Design of systems; dial alarms.
Sec.   22-34.   False alarms.
Sec.   22-35.   Defective alarm systems; unlawful use of alarm systems; penalty.




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                                            EMERGENCY SERVICES                                      § 22-34



          ARTICLE I. IN GENERAL                         Sec. 22-32. Statement of purpose.
                                                           The police department experiences an inordi-
Secs. 22-1-22-30. Reserved.                             nate number of false alarms from alarm systems
                                                        installed in businesses and residences within the
                                                        city. These false alarms require the time and
      ARTICLE II. BURGLAR ALARM                         attention of dispatchers and police officers who
               SYSTEMS*                                 could otherwise perform duties beneficial to the
                                                        resident of the city. In addition, the inordinate
Sec. 22-31. Definitions.                                number of false alarms induces a lack of attention
                                                        and awareness thus endangering the safety of the
  The following words, terms and phrases, when          officers responding thereto. The cost of respond-
used in this article, shall have the meanings           ing to false alarms is unfairly absorbed by all the
ascribed to them in this section, except where the      residents of the city rather than by the alarm user
context clearly indicates a different meaning:          whose alarm system is causing the false alarm. It
                                                        is the purpose of this article to impose upon the
   Alarm system means an intrusion or holdup            alarm user a charge to cover the city's cost in
device designed or arranged to signal, audibly,         responding to such false alarms and to encourage
visibly, electronically or mechanically or by any       the installation, maintenance and operation of
combination of these methods the presence of an         alarm systems which do not cause false alarms.
intrusion or holdup of residential, business or         (Code 1975, § 12-121; Code 2002, § 22-32)
commercial property to which the police depart-
ment is expected to respond. The term "alarm            Sec. 22-33. Design of systems; dial alarms.
system" includes hostage alarms but excludes fire
alarm signals.                                             (a) Any alarm system designed to emit an
                                                        audible siren, noise, flashing light, beacon or
  Alarm user means any person or business on            other sound or light annunciation so as to signal
whose premises an alarm system is maintained            persons outside the premises shall be equipped to
within the city except for alarm systems on motor       automatically terminate the location annuncia-
vehicles. However, if an alarm system on a motor        tion of the alarm system within five minutes from
vehicle is connected with an alarm system at a          the initial light or sound emission.
premises, the person using such system is an
alarm user.                                                (b) Dial alarms designed to terminate at the
                                                        dispatch center are prohibited unless written
   Dial alarm means an alarm system which               permission is received from the chief of police.
automatically sends over regular telephone lines        (Code 1975, § 12-123; Code 2002, § 22-33)
a prerecorded message or coded signal indicating
the existence of an emergency situation that the        Sec. 22-34. False alarms.
alarm system was designed to detect and which is
                                                           (a) For each false alarm, the alarm user shall
connected to and received by an agency main-
                                                        receive a false alarm notice from the police de-
tained by the local government.
                                                        partment. The alarm user shall return the false
   Dispatch center means the county central oper-       alarm notice to the police department within 14
ations for police services communication center.        days of the date of the false alarm and shall state
                                                        on the false alarm notice the cause of the alarm
  False alarm means the activation of an alarm          and corrective measures taken.
system not resulting from criminal activity for
                                                           (b) An alarm user shall be required to pay the
which the alarm was intended.
                                                        city a service fee for having four or more false
(Code 1975, § 12-122; Code 2002, § 22-31)
                                                        alarms within a calendar year. The amount of
   *State law reference-Private security business and   such fee shall be established by resolution of the
security alarm act, MCL 338.1051 et seq.                city commission and shall cover the cost of re-


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§ 22-34                                      MUSKEGON CITY CODE



sponding to such false alarms and the cost of            Sec. 22-35. Defective alarm systems; unlaw-
inspection, investigation and supervision result-                    ful use of alarm systems; penalty.
ing from the enforcement of this article. If the           The following acts or omissions constitute a
alarm user fails to pay the service fee within 60        municipal civil infraction:
days after billing by the city, such service fee shall
be added to and made a part of the next city tax             (1)   Possession by an alarm user of a defective
bill against the subject premises and collected in                 alarm system, defined as a system which
the same manner as provided by law for the                         reports eight false alarms within a calen-
collection by the city of taxes on real estate.                    dar year, for whatever cause;
                                                             (2)   The activation of an alarm system by any
   (c) Alarm conditions caused by the following                    person for a purpose other than police
extenuating circumstances shall not constitute a                   department response to a holdup, includ-
false alarm, and the alarm shall not be counted,                   ing an armed or unarmed robbery, lar-
nor shall a fee be assessed by the city:                           ceny, or attempt to commit an armed or
                                                                   unarmed robbery or larceny, at a business
   (1)    Alarm system malfunctions on new instal-                 or commercial property;
          lations if occurring within a 30-day period        (3)The activation of an alarm system for
          after the alarm system is installed, pro-             police department response to circum-
          vided that corrective measures have been              stances which do not involve an intrusion,
          instituted as attested to by the alarm user           including a breaking or entering or forc-
          on the false alarm notice.                            ible trespass by persons unknown to the
                                                                occupants, at a residential location.
   (2)    Alarms activated by a major disruption of      (Code 1975, § 12-125; Code 2002, § 22-35)
          telephone or other communication sys-
          tems or by motor vehicle-utility pole acci-
          dents at the discretion of the chief of
          police or his designee.

   (3)    Meteorological or geological conditions
          when a large number of alarms or a
          particular area of the city is affected at
          the discretion of the chief of police or his
          designee.

   (4)    Alarm conditions activated by persons
          working on an alarm system with prior
          notification to the police department and
          the dispatch center.

   (5)    Any alarm cancelled by the alarm user or
          designated alarm company prior to the
          dispatch of any police officer to the scene.

   (d) The chief of police or his designee shall
determine the existence of conditions specified in
subsections (c)(l) through (4) of this section uti-
lizing the official police report generated by the
alarm activation and utilizing any other informa-
tion deemed necessary to make a decision.
(Code 1975, § 12-124; Code 2002, § 22-34)


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