O-440-82 ORDINANCE NO. 440-82
AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING REGULATIONS FOR THE USE
OF BURGLARY AND ROBBERY ALARM SYSTEMS; PROVIDING
DEFINITION; ESTABLISHING ALARM SYSTEM REQUIRE-
MENTS; ESTABLISHING POLICE DEPARTMENT RESPONSE
GUIDELINES; PROVIDING FOR APPEALS; ESTABLISHING
FEE ASSESSMENTS; PROHIBITING AUTOMATIC TELEPHONE
DIALING ALARM SYSTEMS; AND PROVIDING PENALTY FOR
ILLEGAL INSTALLATION THEREOF; REVOKING SECTIONS
14-19.1 AND 14-44 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES,
MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE; REQUIRING INSTALLATION AND
MAINTENANCE OF [SOME ALARM SYSTEMS BY AN ALARM
BUSINESS; PROVIDING EFFECTIVE DATE.
Section 1 . Title. This ordinance shall be known as the
Burglary and Robbery Alarm Ordinance".
Section 2. Definitions. Unless it is apparent from the
context that another meaning is intended, the following words when
used in this ordinance shall have the meanings attached to them by
this section:
a. "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 the police
department is expected to respond, but does not include alarms
installed in conveyances or fire alarms.
b. "Alarm user" means the person, firm, partnership, association,
corporation, company or organization of any kind in control of any
building, structure or facility or portion thereof wherein an alarm
system is maintained.
C. "Alarm business" means the business of any individual ,
partnership, corporation, or other entity engaged in selling, leasing,
maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering, replacing, moving or
installing any alarm system or in causing any alarm system to be sold,
leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved or
installed in or any building, structure or facility. An alarm
business shall be a burglar alarm specialty electrical contractor
which shall have, as a qualifying agent, a master burglar alarm
technician with a valid Dade County certificate of competency and a
current security clearance certificate issued by the Federal Bureau
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of Investigation. An alarm business shall have an occupational license
issued by Miami Shores Village.
d. "Automatic telephone dialing alarm system" means any automatic
dialing device or an automatic telephone dialing alarm system and shall
include any system which, upon being activated, automatically transmits
by telephone or telephone line to the Miami Shores Police Department,
a recorded message or code signal indicating a need for emergency response;
or a system which, upon activation, connects to an answering service whose
function it is to transmit to the Miami Shores Police Department a need
for emergency response.
e. "False alarm" means an alarm signal eliciting a response by
the police when a situation requiring a response by the Police does not
in fact exist, but this definition does not include an alarm signal caused
by unusually violent conditions of nature nor does it include other
extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the
alarm user.
f. "Code Enforcement Board" means a panel appointed by the
Village Council to act as an impartial arbitrator at hearings related
to the enforcement of the herein ordinance.
Section 3. Penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person to operate an alarm system
without complying with this Ordinance. Violation of this Ordinance
shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding $500.00 and 60 days in jail .
Section 4. Necessary Items for Alarm Systems.
All alarm systems will have an automatic reset which silences
the annunciator within 15 minutes after activation and which will not
sound again as a result of the same event that resulted in the original
activation.
Section 5. Response.
a. Whenever an alarm is activated in the Village, thereby
requiring response to the location by the Police Department, and
the Police Department does respond, a Police Officer on the scene
of the activated alarm system shall inspect the area protected by
the system and shall determine whether the response was in fact
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required as indicated by the alarm system or whether in some way the
alarm system malfunctioned and thereby activated a false alarm.
b. If the police officer at the scene of the activated alarm
system determines the alarm to be false, said officer shall make a
report of the false alarm, a notification of which shall be mailed or
delivered to the alarm user, at the address of the said alarm system
installation location, advising the alarm user of the false alarm.
C. The Village Manager, or his designee, shall have the
right to inspect any alarm system on the premises to which a response
has been made and he may cause an inspection of such system to be made
at any reasonable time thereafter to determine whether it is being
used in conformity with the terms of this ordinance.
Section 6. Appeals.
a. A Code Enforcement Board shall hear appeals from alarm
users on the issue of whether the alarm system in question activated
a false alarm, as determined by a police officer at the scene of such
an acti vated al arm.
b. Upon receipt of any false alarm report from the Village,
the alarm user shall have 10 days in which to request in writing, a
hearing for appeal purposes before the code enforcement board.
C. At the hearing, which must be scheduled and concluded
within 15 days from the date the request for same is received, the
alarm user shall have the right to present evidence and testimony.
d. The code enforcement board shall make written findings
available to the alarm user and the Village Manager within 10 days
from the date the hearing is concluded.
e. (1 ) A decision by the Village Manager, or his designee,
to uphold or to cancel the false alarm report which is the subject of
the herein section must be made within 10 days from the receipt of
the above findings by the Village Manager.
(2) Until all of the steps set forth in this Section 6.
have been completed, the false alarm in question will be considered
to have been genuine and will not be considered the basis for the
prima facie presumption that the involved alarm system is malfunctioning.
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Section 7. Fee Assessment.
a. It is hereby found and determined that more than five
false alarms within a calendar year is excessive and hereby con-
stitute§ a nuisance.
b. The activation of five or more false alarms within a
calendar year will be handled according to the following schedule:
(1 ) The sixth through ninth false alarm will be billed
a $25 service charge per occurrence which shall be considered a bill
owed by the alarm user to the Village. Each $25 service charge incurred
for the sixth through ninth false alarm at the alarm premises shall be
paid within 30 days from date of receipt thereof. Failure to make
payment within 30 days from date of receipt shall result in a dis-
continuance of police responses to alarms that may occur at the
alarm premises.
(2) The tenth false alarm shall cause the following
action to occur:
(a) The alarm user shall be given 10 days advance
written notification that a police response will not occur when an
alarm is received by the police department.
(b) The notice shall specify the specific date of
revocation, and that the police department will discontinue responding
to alarms that occur at the premise.
(c) Reinstatement of police service will be made upon
receipt of a letter from an alarm company licensed by Miami Shores
Village that the alarm system is operating properly and a $75 rein-
statement fee.
(3) On the eleventh and each subsequent false alarm the
alarm user will be subject to pay a fee of $500 in addition to the
conditions set forth in subsections a and b (2) hereof.
Section 8. Automatic Telephone Dialing Alarm Systems.
a. It shall be unlawful for any person, natural or corporate,
to sell , offer for sale, install , maintain, lease, operate or assist
in the operation of an automatic telephone dialing alarm system over
any telephone lines exclusively used by the public to directly request
emergency service from the Miami Shores police department.
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b. The Chief of Police, or his designee, when he has knowledge
of the unlawful maintenance of an automatic telephone dialing alarm
system, installed or operating in violation of subsection a. of Section 8.
hereof shall , in writing, order the owner, operator or lessee to dis-
connect and cease operation of the system within 72 hours of receipt of
the order.
c. Any automatic telephone dialing system installed unlawfully,
as set forth in subsection a. of Section 8. hereof prior to the effective
date of this article shall be removed within 30 days of the order as
contained in subsection b. of Section 8. hereof.
Section 9. Installation and Maintenance of Alarm Systems.
a. All burglar alarm systems installed in Miami Shores Village,
except those specifically manufactured and marketed for "owner installa-
tion", shall be installed and maintained by an alarm business.
b. The Village may contract with an alarm business to install
and maintain a panel or annunciator system in the Police Station, which
maintenance cost will be paid by the alarm subscribers.
c. The contract referred to in b. supra shall be subject to
termination by the Village at any time by giving sixty days notice to
the alarm business.
Section 10. Revocation.
This ordinance supersedes and hereby revokes Sec. 14-44, Miami Shores
Code of Ordinances.
Section 11. Effective date.
This ordinance shall become effective upon passage.
PASSED on First Reading this 18th day of May, 198
PASSED and ADOPTED on Second Reading this h y of Jun 11 2.
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Robevt J. Lod9/<r1_1'
Mayor
ATTEST:
Village Clerk
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