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Home My WebLink About816 False Alarms• CITY OF MERIDIAN ORDINANCE NO. 8~ AN ORDINANCE RELATING TO FALSE ALARMS; AMENDING CHAPTER _ OF TITLE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN BY THE ADDITION THERETO OF A NEW SECTION ESTABLISHING THE CRIME OF FILING FALSE REPORTS /FALSE FIRE AND BURGLARY ALARMS AND TO SPECIFY THE MISDEMEANOR PENALTY, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN, COUNTY OF ADA, STATE OF IDAHO: SECTION 1. That Chapter _ of Title _ of the Municipal Code of the City of Meridian, be, and the same is hereby amended to read as follows: FALSE REPORTS It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind: A. To make or file, or cause to be made or filed, an accident report knowing the same to be false or misleading in whole or in part; or • B. To make or file, or cause to be made or filed, a theft report of a motor vehicle or other personal property, knowing the same to be false or misleading in whole or in part; or C. To intentionally make, turn in or give a false alarm of need for police or ambulance assistance, or aid or abet in the commission of such act; D. To make or file any false, misleading or unfounded statement or report concerning the commission or alleged commission of any crime occurring within the City; and E. To furnish in any report required by the ordinances of this City any false or fictitious address, or any address other than a true address or intended address, or to furnish in malting such report any false, untrue or misleading information or statement relating to any information required by the ordinances of this City to be made or furnished. BURGLAR ALARM SYSTEMS: Purpose: The purpose of this section is to reduce the number of the false burglar and robbery alarms thereby enhancing response time on other critical calls for service. • DEFINITIONS:For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases, and words and derivations thereof, shall have the meaning given herein. When consistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number, and words in the singular number include the plural number. The word "shall" is mandatory and not merely directory. A. Alarm Agent: Any person employed by an alarm business whose duties include the installation, maintenance, repair, service, response to , or summoning others to respond to an alarm system. When the alarm system is the sole responsibility of the user and no contractual agreements with another company exist for the maintenance of alarm equipment, the user shall be considered the alarm agent for purposes of this section. B. Alarm Company Director: Any person who receives an activation of an alarm or alarm system as provided by this Chapter, and then transmits the information to the Meridian City Police Department. C. Alarm Officer: The Chief of Police of the City of Meridian or his designee. D. Alarm Subscriber: Any person who purchases, leases, contracts for, or otherwise obtains an alarm system or contracts for the servicing or maintenance of an alarm system. • E. Alarm System: Any mechanical, electrical or other device which is designated or used for the detection of a trespass, burglary, or robbery within a building, structure, or facility, or for alerting others to a hazard or to the commission of an unlawful act within a building, structure or facility, or which emits a sound or transmits a signal or message when activated and which is designated to elicit a response from the Police Department. Alarm systems include, but are not limited to, direct dial telephone devises, audible alarms and proprietor alarms. Devices which are not designed or used to register alarms but are audible, visible, or perceptible outside the protected building, structure or facility are not included within this definition. An alarm system includes all the necessary equipment designed and installed for the detection of a trespass, burglary, robbery or other hazard in a single building, structure or facility, or for alerting others to the commission of an unlawful act within a building, structure or facility. F. Audible Alarm: A device designed for the detection of unauthorized entry or presence on certain premises which generates an audible sound or signal on such premises when it is activated. G. Automatic Dialing Device: An alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal indicating the existence of an emergency situation that the alarm system is designed to detect. U • H. Emergency: Any condition for which the alarm was designed and installed, and which results in a response of police personnel. False Alarm: An alarm signal, message, transmittal, or communication which is activated from an alarm system and which is responded to by personnel of the Police Department for which no emergency situation exists or existed as determined by the responding personnel. False alarm shall not include alarms caused by natural occurrences such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or other extraordinary circumstances determined by the alarm officer to be clearly beyond the control of the alarm subscriber. Penalty Status: That status achieved by more than two (2) false alarms within the calendar year beginning January 1 and ending December 31. I<. Person: Any individual, partnership, association, corporation, organization of any kind, or any governmental entity or political subdivision thereof. L. Police Department: The Meridian City Police Department. ALARM SYSTEMS MAINTENANCE: A. Each alarm subscriber shall maintain each alarm system in good working order, and provide the necessary service to prevent malfunctions. • B. It shall be unlawful for an alarm subscriber to allow, permit, or use an alarm system which is not in good working order, or has fallen into disrepair, or has malfunctioned. MAINTAINING A PUBLIC NUISANCE ALARM: A. No person, whether or not an alarm subscriber, shall maintain, operate, use or attempt to use an alarm system which generates more than two (2) false alarms in a calendar year. B. Any alarm system maintained, operated, used, or attempted to be used in violation of this section shall be deemed a public nuisance pursuant to Idaho Code §50-334. In addition to reimbursement or any other remedy available to the City, the City may impose a penalty fee for each and every false alarm after the two (2) within the calendar year as determined by following the schedule below: 3`d false alarm within the calendar year ..........................................$25.00 4`h false alarm within the calendar year ..........................................$50.00 5``' false alarm within the calendar year ..........................................$75.00 Every successive false alarm over five (5) within the same calendar • year ................................................................................................. $100.00 • C. Where the alarm system is deemed a public nuisance as provided in this section, the alarm officer shall provide the alarm subscriber written notice informing the alarm subscriber of the penalty status and the finding of public nuisance. D. Abatement of Nuisance: 1. The City of Meridian hereby reserves all remedies provided for in Idaho Code §50-334, §52-202, and §52-205. 2. The City of Meridian shall further reserve all rights and remedies of collection pursuant to Idaho Code §50-1008. E. Review: 1. The alarm subscriber may request that the alarm officer review and reconsider the determination of public nuisance by submitting a written request to the alarm officer within ten (10) days upon receipt of the notice of penalty status and nuisance. Failure to submit a written request in compliance with this Section is deemed a waiver of any and all rights to appeal. 2. The alarm officer shall review the determination and send the alarm subscriber his findings as to whether the alarm system is a public nuisance in writing by certified mailing within fifteen (15) days of receipt of written request of the alarm subscriber. F. Appeal: The alarm subscriber may request a hearing before the City Council • after filing a notice for hearing in writing to the City Clerk no later that ten (10) days upon mailing of the alarm officer's finding of public nuisance. Any finding by the City Council is appealable to the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District provided filing and fees are submitted in accordance to Idaho law. COMPLIANCE: A. An alarm subscriber who has notice of his/her alarm system being deemed a public nuisance shall be assessed a penalty fee in accordance to B. An alarm subscriber who has notice of the assessed penalty or for any amount due in reimbursement, shall remit within fifteen (15) days the amounts due to the City of Meridian. PROHIBITED ALARM SYSTEMS: No person shall use or operate an automatic dialing device or any device programmed to initiate and deliver a message or signal to any telephone number belonging to the City. • VIOLATIONS: A. It shall be unlawful to operate or maintain any alarm system as herein defined in this Section for any purpose other than reporting such trespasses, burglaries, robberies, or other crimes involving potential serious bodily injury or death. B. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or use a public safety alarms system for any purpose other than that for which it is installed, or for any purpose other than detecting and reporting a trespass, burglary, robbery or other permitted purpose. C. It shall be unlawful for any alarm agent, alarm subscriber or other person to install, operate or use any alarm system as herein defined in this Section which malfunctions due to improper installation or operation and that results in the generation of false alarms. PENALTIES: A. Unless otherwise provided, any person violating any of the provisions of this Ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a general misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined or imprisoned in the county jail in an amount not exceeding that permitted by law. (Idaho Code § 18-113 ) B. Each and every false alarm over three (3) within the calendar year shall be deemed a separate offense. ENFORCEMENT: The conviction or punishment of any person for violation of the provisions of this Section shall not release such person from paying any business taxes, charges, fees, license fees or reimbursement for false alarms due and unpaid at the time of such conviction, nor shall payment of any fee or reimbursement for false alarm prevent the criminal prosecution for violation of any of the provisions of this Section. All remedies shall be cumulative and the use of one or more remedies by the City shall not bar the use of any other remedy provided by law. SEVERA.BILITY: If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, or any part of this chapter, shall be declared and adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity or unconstitutionality shall not affect, invalidate, or nullify the remainder of this chapter. Nothing in this provision shall be construed as modifying or nullifying Uniform Fire Code. SECTION 2. Due to the fact that the codifier is in the process of recodifying the Municipal City Code, the exact section number of this ordinance shall be assigned by the codifier, and which section shall be approved at such time as the City Council approves the recodification in accordance with its authority under I.C. §§ 50-903 • and 50-905. SECTION 3. All ordinances, resolutions, orders or parts thereof in conflict herewith are hereby repealed, rescinded and annulled. SECTION 4. VALIDITY: The Meridian City Council hereby declares that any section, paragraph, sentence or word of this Ordinance as adopted and amended herein be declared for any reason to be invalid it is the intent of the Meridian City Council that it would have passed all other portions of this ordinance independent of the elimination herefrom of any portion as may be declared invalid. SECTION 5. SAVINGS CLAUSE. This ordinance does not affect an action or proceeding commenced or right accrued before this ordinance takes effect. SECTION 6. DATE OF EFFECT. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect within one (1) month after its passage, approval and publication, according to law. PASSED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MERIDIAN, IDAHO, this ~ day of ~~~~aQi-c1 , 1999. APPROVED BY THE MAYOR OF THE CITY MERIDIAN, IDAHO, this ~~~day of ~~6~u.~y , 1999. ,n ~a or Robert D. 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