CHAPTER 68

 

                         ALARM SYSTEMS

 

§ 68.1  Title

 

  This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Alarm Systems Law of the Incorporated Village of Mineola."

 

§ 68.2  Legislative intent

 

  The Board of Trustees has become aware of an extraordinary number of false burglar and fire alarms emanating from automated devices. These signals require that police and other emergency services respond to the false alarm, exposing them to unnecessary hazards and risks, wasting taxpayer funds and depriving other citizens, who may need emergency services, of those services. Such systems also produce lengthy neighborhood disturbances. This Chapter is intended to remedy this waste and to limit these disturbances by regulating alarm systems and reducing the number of false alarms.

 

§ 68.3  Definitions; word usage

 

  A.  The following definitions shall apply to terms used in this Chapter unless the context otherwise requires:

 

  ALARM DEVICE ‑ Any device which, when activated, transmits a signal to police headquarters or to a private central alarm station or produces any audible or visual or telephone signal to which the Police Department and/or Fire Department is expected to respond.

 

  ALARM INSTALLER ‑ Any person who installs alarms on any premises (except automobiles) located within the Village of Mineola.

 

  ALARM USER ‑ Any person, business or entity on whose premises an alarm device is located within the Village of Mineola.

 

  CENTRAL ALARM STATION ‑ Any private or commercial entity which receives signals from alarm devices within the Village of Mineola and relays information pertaining to said alarm devices to police headquarters or to the Fire Department.

 

  DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING AND CODE ENFORCEMENT ‑ The Department of Building and Code Enforcement of the Incorporated Village of Mineola.

 

  DIALER ALARM ‑ A telephone interfaced device that automatically § 68.3                    MUNICIPAL CODE

 

connects to Police Headquarters or the Fire Department and transmits any signal or impulse indicating that an alarm system has been activated or an emergency condition exists within the Village of Mineola.

 

  FALSE ALARM ‑ The activation of an alarm system which is determined by responding Police and/or Fire Department personnel not to have been caused by or as the result of a crime or emergency condition.

 

  PERSON ‑ Any natural person, firm, business or organization of any kind.

 

  VILLAGE ‑ The Incorporated Village of Mineola.

 

  B.  Word usage.

 

  When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the plural number indicate the singular number and words in the singular number shall indicate the plural number. Further, a masculine pronoun shall include the feminine. The word "shall" is always mandatory and not merely directory.

 

§ 68.4  Exceptions

 

  Excluded from the provisions of this Chapter is any alarm device installed in or on a motor vehicle. Also excluded from the provisions of this Chapter is any device designed to alert the occupants of any building of an emergency condition therein and which does not produce any audible or visual external signal or internal signal perceptible from outside the building in question.

 

§ 68.5  Alarm user permit

 

  A.  Every alarm user shall obtain an alarm user permit for each alarm system he or she owns, controls or operates within the Village of Mineola.

 

  B.  Applications for alarm user permits shall be filed with the Department of Building and Code Enforcement and shall include the following information:

 

  1.  Applicant's name.

 

  2.  Address of protected premises.

 

 

 

                          ALARM SYSTEMS                  § 68.7

 

  3.  Applicant's home and business telephone numbers.

 

  4.  The type of emergency the alarm system is designed to detect.

 

  5.  The person that sold, installed, responds to and/or maintains the alarm system.

 

  6.  The names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least two (2) persons who can be reached at any time to disconnect the system.

 

  C.  The alarm user shall notify the Department of Building and Code Enforcement of the Incorporated Village of Mineola of any changes in the above information at least two (2) days prior to the change taking effect.  Failure to do so shall provide grounds for revocation or suspension of the permit.

 

  D.  The information contained in the alarm user permit shall be maintained by the Department of Building and Code Enforcement and its inspection restricted to those Department of Building and Code Enforcement employees specifically assigned to alarm system related duties.

 

  E.  Any alarm system user who operates an alarm system without first having obtained an alarm user permit as required herein or after having had a permit suspended or revoked shall be guilty of a violation of this Chapter.

 

§ 68.6  Suspension or revocation of alarm user permits

 

  A.  More than four (4) false alarms in any twelve-month period from any alarm system for which an alarm user permit has been obtained shall constitute grounds for suspension of the permit.

 

  B.  The holder of any alarm user permit charged with a false alarm as described herein may appeal the charge in writing to the Board of Trustees of the Incorporated Village of Mineola within seven (7) days of notification of the charge.  False alarm charges may be waived by the Board of Trustees after consideration of the appeal.

 

§ 68.7  Reinstatement of alarm user permits

 

  In the event that an alarm user permit has been suspended or revoked, the alarm user may have the user permit reinstated by

Supp. #5, 1/29/2001

§ 68.7                                  MUNICIPAL CODE

 

forwarding to the Department of Building and Code Enforcement, in writing, verification that the conditions causing such false alarms have been repaired, corrected or otherwise eliminated.  Reinstatement shall not affect the false alarm count charged to any alarm user permit during each calendar year.

 

§ 68.8  Minimum requirements

 

  Each alarm system within the Village of Mineola must be equipped as follows before an alarm user permit can be issued:

 

  A.  The alarm system shall contain an automatic audible signal cut-off device so that the maximum time any alarm shall cause an externally audible signal to be emanated does not exceed twenty (20) minutes per activation.

 

  B.  The alarm system shall be equipped with a standby power source sufficient to maintain the system in a state of readiness for at least six (6) hours in the event of a power failure.

 

  C.  Automatic dialer devices, upon a single stimulus, shall not exceed two (2) separate calls to the Police Department and no such call shall exceed one (1) minute in duration.  There must be at least a two-minute interval between calls, with the second call clearly identified as such.

 

§ 68.9  Alarm installer registration

 

  A.  No person shall install an alarm (unless said installation is for his or her personal use) without first registering with the Department of Building and Code Enforcement.

 

  B.  Such registration shall be on forms provided by the Department of Building and Code Enforcement and shall include the person's name, firm name, address, telephone number, criminal record (if any) and Nassau County Consumer Protection Board license number.  If such person is a corporation, the information required shall be set forth for the principals of the corporation.

 

  C.  A violation of this Section shall be punishable as set forth in Section 1.10 of this Code.  [§ 68.9  amd. LL #14, 2000, 1/5/2000.]

 

 

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                         ALARM SYSTEMS                 § 68.20

 

§ 68.10  Time limit for compliance

 

  Within one hundred twenty (120) days of the effective date of the local law*, from which this Chapter is derived, every alarm user shall obtain an alarm user permit and bring every alarm system into compliance with the requirements of this Chapter.

 

§ 68.11  Administration and enforcement

 

  The Department of Building and Code Enforcement of the Village of Mineola shall be the agency responsible for the enforcement and administration of this Chapter.

 

§ 68.20  Penalties for offenses

 

  In addition to the suspension or revocation of a license or permit, a violation of this Chapter shall subject the violator to the following fines and penalties:

 

  A.  Alarm users.

 

  1.  Operating or maintaining an alarm system without an alarm user permit: a fine of not less than Twenty‑five Dollars ($25.00) nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

 

  2.  Operating or maintaining an alarm system after an alarm user permit has been suspended or revoked: not less than Fifty Dollars ($50.00) nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

 

  B.  A violation of any other section of this Chapter for which no penalty has been prescribed shall subject the violator to a fine of no more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

 

References:

 

  Alarm Systems.  "It is within the police power of a munic[i]pality to adopt a local law regulating   the installation and use of burglar alarm systems such as those here involved (Opns St Comp,      1978 No. 78-447). The cited opinion did not address the question of whether governmental agencies, such as school districts, which utilize such systems are exempt, as a matter of law,     from those regulations.  The general rule is that the State and  its political subdivisions are        not subject to local zoning or building codes (County of Westchester v Village of Mamaroneck,     22 AD2d 143, 255 NYS2d 290, aff'd 16 NY2d 940, 264 NYS2d 925; Opns St Comp, 1977, No. 77-232);   or to the general police powers of a municipal corporation (Grills v Giambra, 452 NYS2d 132)     in the performance of their governmental functions.  "[I]t would seem that the general rule   should prevail in its broad sense and that the State, its political subdivisions and governmental agencies (including school districts) are exempt from any municipal police power enactments relating to them in the performance by them of governmental functions which they        are expressly or impliedly authorized by law to undertake." Op St Compt 82-312.

 

*Local Law #3  of the year 1988 which was the original enactment was filed in the Office of the Secretary of State on May 16, 1988 effective immediately.