§ 18-98. Installation requirements; duty of owners; duties of alarm companies.

(a)

Prior to the activation or substantial modification or use of an alarm system, as defined in section 18-89, the owner, manager, or lessee of the premises shall furnish to the county's third party alarm administrator on a form provided by the county's third party alarm administrator manually or electronically which includes information deemed necessary to provide adequate response to the alarm.

(b)

Owners, managers or lessees of existing alarm systems as defined in section 18-89 shall have 30 days from the effective date of the ordinance from which this article is derived to comply with the above notice requirements.

(c)

Owners, manager or lessees, or agents of any alarm system shall respond to the alarm location, when requested, in order to reset or deactivate the alarm system within a reasonable time of notification. Failure to provide such access shall result in a false alarm assessment as provided in section 18-100.

(d)

Prior to the activation or use of any type of general alarm device the owner, manager or lessee of the premises shall furnish to the county's third party alarm administrator, information regarding the full names, addresses and telephone numbers of at least three persons for commercial properties and two persons for residential properties who can be reached at all times and who are authorized and have the capability to enter the premises and deactivate the alarm device. Owners, managers or lessees of the premises with alarm devices already installed shall have 30 days from the effective date of the ordinance from which this article is derived to comply with the above notice requirement. It shall be the responsibility of the owner, manager or lessee of the premises to provide an updated list annually to the county's third party alarm administrator. Failure to do so may result in a false alarm assessment subject to the sanctions of section 18-100.

(e)

All burglar alarm systems having an audible or visual signal at the premises shall be equipped so as to automatically shut off the audible or visual signal after 15 minutes, except those systems required by law to have a longer operating period, in which case said system shall be equipped so as to automatically shut off the audible or visual signal at the conclusion of the longer required operating time.

(f)

All alarm systems shall be properly maintained. System malfunction due to faulty maintenance shall not be grounds for an excused false alarm assessment.

(g)

All alarm systems shall obtain all necessary permits and inspections for the installation of the system.

(h)

All alarm companies that sell, lease, install, operate, monitor or have the responsibility for alarm systems, shall maintain the appropriate license as required under F.S. ch. 489, and shall register annually with the county. A fine of $500.00 shall be assessed to any alarm monitoring company who fails to register. Each registration shall be valid for 12 months. The alarm monitoring company shall provide the following information:

(1)

Name, street address and telephone number. Monitoring companies shall maintain, for a period of at least one year, records relating to alarm notification and shall provide such records to the county's third party alarm administrator upon request, or a fine of $125.00 shall be assessed.

(2)

The names, street addresses, and telephone numbers of all contracted alarm operators within the territorial jurisdiction of the county.

(3)

The procedure used to verify the legitimacy of an alarm prior to notification of county law enforcement.

(4)

The name, street address, and telephone number of the alarm company.

(i)

An alarm company performing monitoring services shall:

(1)

Attempt to verify, by calling the alarm site and/or alarm user by telephone, to determine whether an alarm signal is valid before requesting dispatch. Telephone verification shall require, as a minimum, that a second call be made to a different number, if the first attempt fails to reach an alarm user who can properly identify themselves to attempt to determine whether an alarm signal is valid, except in the case of a panic or robbery-in-progress alarm, or in cases where a crime-in-progress has been verified by video and/or audible means.

(2)

Provide alarm user registration number, when available, to the communications center to facilitate dispatch and/or cancellation.

(3)

Communicate any available information about the location of the alarms to the communications center.

(4)

Communicate a cancellation to the communications center as soon as possible following a determination that a response is unnecessary.

( Ord. No. 2015-005 , pt. G, 5-19-2015; Ord. No. 2016-005 , pt. A, 4-5-2016; Ord. No. 2016-011 , pt. A, 7-5-2016)

Editor's note

Ord. No. 2015-005, pt. G , adopted May 19, 2015, amended § 18-98 in its entirety to read as herein set out. Former § 18-98, pertained to excessive false alarm signals—generally, and derived from the Code of 1982, § 1-2.5-12; Ord. No. 87-44, adopted November 17, 1987 and Ord. No. 99-10, adopted August 24, 1999.