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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 9032~.'~ ,I, f~; •~ ~' •: f [: .,tom ~ q, ` ~ ^n^': ORDINANCE NO. _ 7~C~~- .. AN ORDINANCE CREATING A NEW CHAPTER 46, "EMERGENCY REPORT- ING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES", OF THE FORT WORTH CITY CODE (1964), AS AMENDED; PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; REQUIRING PER- MITS FOR ALARM SYSTEM USERS; PROVIDING FOR A PERMIT FEE; PROVIDING FOR REVOCATION OF PERMITS; REQUIRING MAINTENANCE OF ALARM SYSTEMS; REGULATING ALARM REPORTING AND OPERA- TION; PROVIDING SERVICE FEES FOR ALARM NOTIFICATIONS; PROVIDING FOR REVOCATION AND DENIAL OF PERMITS; EXEMPTING GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE OF ALL ORDINANCES; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PROVIDING A PENALTY; PROVIDING FOR ENGROSSMENT AND ENROLLMENT; PRO- VIDING FOR PUBLICATION AND NAMING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. BE IT ORDAINED BY T.HE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. That a new Chapter 46 is hereby added to the Code of Ordinances of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1964), as amended, which chapter shall read as follows: "Chapter 46. "EMERGENCY REPORTING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES. Sec. 46-1. Definitions. Sec. 46-2. Permit required; fee; application; transfera- bility; false statements. Sec. 46-3. Permit duration and renewal. Sec. 46-4. Proper alarm system operation and maintenance. Sec. 46-5. Alarm reset required. Sec. 46-6. Indirect alarm reporting. Sec. 46-7. Direct alarm reporting; automatic alarm noti- fication prohibited. Sec. 46-8. Alarm system operating instructions. Sec. 46-9. Alarm dispatch records. Sec. 46-10. System performance reviews and consultations. Sec. 46-11. Service Fee. Sec. 46-12. Revocation of permit. Sec. 46-13. Appeal from denial or revocation of permit. Sec. 46-14. Violations; penalty; corporations, partner- ships and associations. Sec. 46-15. Implementation of chapter; exemptions; review. "Sec. 46-1. Definitions. "In this chapter: "(a) ALARM SYSTEM means a device or system that emits, transmits or relays a signal intended to summon, or that would reasonably be expected to summon, police ser- vices of the city, including, but not limited to, local alarms. Alarm system does not include: "(1) an alarm installed on a vehicle unless the vehicle is permanently located at a site; nor F,. ~, ~ •~ "(2) an alarm designed to tants of a premises local alarm. alert only the inhabi- which does not have a "(b) ALARM NOTIFICATION means a notification intended to summon the police, which is designed either to be initiated purposely by a person or by an alarm system that responds to a stimulus characteristic of unauthorized intrusion. "(c) ALARM SITE means a single premises or location (one street address) served by an alarm system or systems that are under the control of one owner. "(d) AUTOMATIC ALARM NOTIFICATION means an alarm notification sent over telephone lines, by direct connec- tion or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message, synthe- sized voice message, or coded signal indicating the existence of the emergency situation that the alarm system is designed to detect. "(e) CENTRAL STATION means an office to which remote and supervisory signaling devices are connected, where operators supervise the circuits, and/or where guards are maintained continuously to investigate signals. "(f) CHIEF means the chief of police of the city or his authorized representative. "(g) FALSE ALARM NOTIFICATION means an alarm notifi- cation to the police department, when the responding officer finds no evidence of unauthorized intrusion, attempted unauthorized intrusion, robbery, attempted rob- bery or an attempt to take a person hostage. "(h) LOCAL ALARM means an alarm system that emits a signal at an alarm site that is audible or visible from the exterior of a structure. "(i) PERMIT HOLDER means the person designated in the application as required in Subsection 46-2 who is re- sponsible for responding to alarms and giving access to the site and who is also responsible for proper mainte- nance and operation of the alarm system and payment of fees. "(j) PERSON means an individual, corporation, part- nership, association, organization or similar entity. "Sec. 46-2. Permit required; fee; application; transfer- ability; false statements. "(a) A person commits an offense if he operates or causes to be operated an alarm system without an alarm permit issued by the chief. A separate permit is required for each alarm system. "(b) A fee of $15 shall be charged for the issuance of each permit; S' -2- .g}, .~ "(c) Upon receipt of a completed application form and the required fee, the chief shall issue an alarm permit to an applicant unless the applicant has failed to pay a service fee assessed under Section 46-12 or has had an alarm permit for the alarm site revoked, and the violation causing the revocation has not been corrected. "(d) Each permit application must contain the follow- ing information: (1) name, address, and telephone number of the permit holder who will be responsible for the proper maintenance and operation of the alarm system and payment of fees assessed under this chapter; (2) classification of the alarm site as either residential or commercial; (3) for each alarm system located at the alarm site the purpose of the alarm system, i.e., burglary, robbery, or personal hostage or robbery; (4) other information which is necessary this chapter. required by the chief for the enforcement of "(e) Any false statement of a material matter made by an applicant for the purpose of obtaining an alarm permit shall be sufficient cause for refusal to issue a permit. "(f) An alarm permit cannot be transferred to another alarm system except by authorization of the chief. A per- mit holder shall inform the chief of any change that alters any information listed on the permit application within two business days. No fee will be assessed for such changes. "(g) A permit holder shall cancel a permit for any alarm system which is removed from an alarm site or which otherwise ceases to come under the permitting requirements of this chapter. Cancellation may be accomplished by re- turning the permit to the chief. "(h) All fees owed by an applicant must be paid be- fore a permit may be issued or renewed. "Sec. 46-3. Permit duration and renewal. "A permit is issued for two years and must be renewed every two years upon submission of an updated applica- tion. It is the responsibility of the permit holder to submit an application prior to the permit expiration date. The chief shall determine the first expiration date of a permit. "Sec. 46-4. Proper alarm system operation and maintenance. "(a) A permit holder shall: (1) maintain the premises containing an alarm system in a manner that insures proper op- eration of the alarm system; -3- ~; ~r - it (2) maintain the alarm system in a manner that will minimize false alarm notifications; (3) respond or cause a representative to re- spond within a reasonable period of time when requested by the city to repair or in- activate a malfunctioning alarm system, to provide access to the premises or to pro- vide security for the premises; (4) not manually activate an alarm for any reason other than an occurrence of an event that the alarm system was intended to re- port. (5) notify the Police Department prior to acti- vation of an alarm for maintenance pur- poses. "(b) A permit holder shall adjust the mechanism or cause the mechanism to be adjusted so that an alarm signal will sound for no longer than 30 minutes after being acti- vated. "Sec. 46-5. Alarm reset required. "A permit holder of an alarm system that utilizes a local alarm shall adjust the mechanism or cause the mech- anism to be adjusted so that, upon activation, the local alarm will not transmit another alarm signal without first being reset. "Sec. 46-6. Indirect Alarm Reporting. "(a) A person who is engaged in the business of re- laying alarm notifications to the city shall: (1) communicate alarm notifications to the city in a manner and form determined by the chief. (2) comply with the requirements of this chap- ter and any rules and regulations promul- gated by the chief. "Sec. 46-7. Direct alarm reporting; automatic alarm notification prohibited. "An alarm system, other than an alarm system in a financial institution, which transmits automatic alarm notifications directly to the communications center of the police department shall be prohibited. "Sec. 46-8. Alarm system operating instructions. "A permit holder shall maintain at each alarm site, a complete set of written operating instructions for each alarm system. Special codes, combinations, or passwords must not be included in these instructions. "Sec. 46-9. Alarm dispatch records. "(a) The police dispatcher receiving the alarm noti- fication and/or the police officer responding to a dis- -4- ~r patch .resulting from a burglar, robbery, or personal hostage or robbery alarm notification shall cause to be recorded in the police information systems such informa- tion as necessary to permit the chief to maintain records, including but not limited to the following information: (1) identification of the permit holder; (2) identification of the alarm site; (3) dispatcher received time, dispatch time and officer arrived at scene time; (4) date of occurrence; (5) name of permit holder's representative on premises, if any. "(b) The responding police officer shall prepare and submit the appropriate reports in regard to any criminal offenses, attempts or other incidents which contributed to the alarm notification as determined by investigation. "Sec. 46-10. System performance reviews and consulta- tions. "If there is reason to believe that an alarm system is .not being used or maintained in a manner that insures proper operation and suppresses false alarms, the chief may require a conference with an alarm permit holder to review circumstances of each false alarm. "If there is belief that an alarm is the result of circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the permit holder, the permit holder or the permit holder's represen- tative may request a conference with the chief. "Sec. 46-11. Service fee. "(a) Except as provided in Subsections (b), (c) and (d) below, the holder of an alarm permit shall pay a ser- vice fee of $30 for each alarm notification emitted from an alarm system that is in excess of four alarms within any 12 month period. "(b) If a person notifies the chief and applies for an alarm permit before a new alarm system is put into ser- vice, no service fee will be assessed during the first 60 days after the system is put into service, and alarm noti- fications during that period will not be counted in deter- mining when a service fee will be assessed. "(c) If the responding police officer determines that an alarm notification was caused by unauthorized intru- sion, attempted unauthorized intrusion, robbery, attempted robbery or an attempt to take a person hostage, that noti- fication will not be counted in determining when a service fee will be assessed. "(d) An alarm notification will not be counted in determining when a service fee will be assessed if the permittee can prove that the alarm notification was the result of a severe weather condition, such as a tornado, hurricane or earthquake or other weather condition that -5- :~ ,~ '~ - ~ ~. r' causes physical damage to the alarm site, or the result of a malfunction in the operation of telephone lines for the transmission of alarm signals, proof of the latter being documented in the form of telephone company work orders or time stamped records from the alarm company showing the periods of interrupted service. "Sec. 46-12. Revocation of permit. "(a) The chief shall revoke an alarm permit if he de- termines that: (1) there is a false statement of a material matter in the application for a permit; (2) the permit holder has violated Section 46-2, 46-4, 46-5, 46-6, 46-7, 46-8 or 46-9; or (3) the permit holder has failed to make pay- ment of a service fee assessed under Section 46-11 within thirty (30) days of receiving notice to do so. "(b) A person commits an offense if he operates an alarm system during the period in which his alarm permit is revoked. "Sec. 46-13. Appeal from denial or revocation of permit. "(a) If the chief refuses to issue or renew a permit, or revokes a permit, he shall send to the applicant or permit holder by certified mail, return receipt requested, written notice of his action and a statement of the right to an appeal. The applicant or permit holder may appeal the decision of the chief to the city manager by filing with the city manager a written request for a hearing, setting forth the reasons for the appeal, within 10 days after receipt of the notice from the chief. The filing of a request for an appeal hearing with the city manager stays an action of the chief in revoking a permit until the city manager or his designated representative makes a final decision. If a request for an appeal hearing is not made within the 10-day period, the action of the chief is final. "(b) The city manager shall set a time and place for the hearing, which shall be served upon the applicant or permit holder by certified mail, return receipt re- quested. The city manager or his representative shall serve as hearing officer at an appeal and consider evi- dence by any interested person. The formal rules of evi- dence do not apply at an appeal hearing. All parties to the hearing shall have the right to present evidence and shall have the right of cross-examination. The hearing officer shall make his decision on the basis of a prepon- derance of the evidence within 15 days after the request for an appeal hearing is filed. The time for hearing an appeal may be extended by agreement of the parties. The hearing officer shall affirm, reverse, or modify the action of the chief. The decision of the hearing officer is final as to administrative remedies with the city. -6- .. - e ~. ~' •- ~w "Sec. 46-14. Violations; penalty; corporations, partner- ships and associations. "(a) A person commits an offense if he violates by commission or omission any provision of this chapter that imposes upon him a duty or responsibility. "(b) A person who violates a provision of this chapter is guilty of a separate offense for each day or portion of a day during which the violation is committed, continued or permitted, and each offense is punishable by a fine of not more than $200 but not less than $50 upon first conviction and not less than $75 upon second and subsequent convictions. "(c) In addition to prohibiting or requiring certain conduct of individuals, it is the intent of this chapter to hold a corporation, partnership or other association criminally responsible for acts or omissions performed by an agent acting in behalf of the corporation, partnership or other association, and within the scope of his employment. "Sec. 46-15. Implementation of Chapter; exemptions; re view. "(a) This chapter shall apply only to a person who operates or causes to be operated an alarm system at an alarm site other than a one-family or two-family dwelling. "(b) This chapter shall not apply to alarm systems operated by local, state or federal governmental entities. "(c) The city manager shall monitor the enforcement and effect of this chapter and report to the city council six months from the effective date of this ordinance on its effect in reducing unnecessary alarm notifications." SECTION 2. That this ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1964) , as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 3. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of ' this ordinance are severable, and, if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of -7- a , competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or sec- tion. SECTION 4. That the City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby directed to engross and enroll this ordinance by copying the caption and penalty clause in the minutes of the City Council and by filing the ordinance in the ordinance records of said city. SECTION 5. The City Secretary of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby directed to publish the caption and penalty clause and effective date of this ordinance for two (2) days in the official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, as authorized by the TEX. REV. CIV. STATS., Art. 1176b-1. SECTION 6. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after May 1, 1984. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: City Attorney Date : a - ~ S _ $ ADOPTED: ~ - /~~ ~t,~ EFFECTIVE: -8- BIAS f,EQ FfIE~ 1 ' ~,~~" CITY INANAGER 1 City of Fort 'V~®rth, ~'ezas ACCOUNTING-2' ' TRANSPORTATION?UBLIC.K'C~RK3~~y®~ ~^'~~{~ v®~/~~~IV `>`/®~~~~W~~~~®~ POLICE AOMINIc+...-.~n.._ . DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT ~ PAGE NUMBER False Burglar/Robbery Alarm 2/14/84 G-5807 Revised Ordinance I ior_.2__ On September 13, 1983 Informal Report No. 6878 was brought before the City Oouncil. The City Council discussed several provisions that could be incorpcr gated into an ordinance to address the false alarm problem. Following di:scus- sion of the proposed ordinance, the City Oouncil directed staff to meet with representatives of the Alarm Association too obtain their input. A number of meetings have been held since that time with representatives fram the Alarm Association and they have offere3 several suggestions that are recca~r- mended for iinclusioa~ in the proposed ordinance. However, there were several suggestions offered that, in the staff's opinion, would make the ordinance cunb?~s~ ~a~ninistrative and enforcement standpoint. These suggestions W~. detWi i ~ ; n. Informal Re rt No. 6889 alo - po ng with the staff's rationale fur ~- ` rejection. Background As pointed out in IR No. 6878, the Police Department has been concerned for ,~ quite score time about the high incidence of false burglar arr3 robbery alarms, and have studied the approaches used in other cities to deal with this problem. Police records indicate that approximately 96$ of all alarms are false ar~d this figure has been fairly constant for several years. Early last year David M. Griffith and Associates, LTD., completed a fee study which placed the cost for false alarms in Fort Worth at $373, 556 from January 1982-March 1983. False alarms are clearly expensive for the City and prevent marry police officers from performing more critical law enforcenent duties. Our rs ~?~ ~ ?700 false alarm locations, both eoRnnercial and residential. ~i~~ an expected increase in the number of alarm locations, the proposed ordinance should help to decrease the number of false alarms. Synopsis of Proposed Ordinance. After a review of efforts in other cities to combat the false alarm problem and several meetings with the local alarm association, it is reccnmende3 that the local alarm ordinance oonta.in the following provisions. °Require all oa~ercial alarm users/owners to obtain a $15 permit from the Police Department. ~~ °Require a permit for each alarm system at a location. °Require permit to be renewed every two years or upon change of permit information. °Require permit holders to maintain their premises in a manner that insures proper operation of their systems (fix broken doors, windows, etc.,). °Require permit holder or designated representative to respond to alarm locations within a reasonable period of time, when called by the police, t_o repair or deactivate an alarm. °Provide for 60-day grace period after a new alarm systen is put into ., ~. service., if the Police Department is properly notified. DATE NUMBER CE SUBJECT False Burglar/Robbery Alarm PAGE 2/14/84 -5807 Revised Ordinance ? _ot_ ? °Require a local alarm (an alarm system that emits a signal at an alarm site) or an alarm sent directly to the City (police dispatcher), to be reset in order to be reactivated. °Require the Police Department to maintain specific records concerning alarms °Provide for a definition of false alarm notifications arr3 set guidelines for service fee exclusions. °Provide fora $30 fee assessment for each false alarm in excess of four false alarms i.n a twelve consecutive month period. °Provide fora conference between the Police Chief or his representative with a permit holder and his or her alarm company to discuss permit holders false alarms. °Provide for the revocation of a permit. °Make it a misdemeanor to operate an alarm systan without a_pernu.t or while a permit has been revoked. In the staff's opinion, the provisions outlined above will decrease the number of false alarms and result in alarm users/cx~mers and dealers working in concert to maintain alarm et3uipment arr3 premises. The permit aryl assessment fees will also provide sufficient funds to cover the administrative costs associated with this program. It is recommende3 that the ordinance once adopted by the City Qouncil not be effective for several rronths, as to allow sufficient time for current alarm users/owners to obtain permits. Reo~ndaton It is recommended that the City ~uncil adopt the attached ordinance as described above aril set the effective date of the ordinance at May 1, 1984. VS:kc Attachment APPROVED BY CITY COUNCIL FEB l.4 19$4 ~~ ,~ ' City Secretn a~ ~ rY tnm City of ~ ~7~/.py~ SUBMITTED FOR THE CITY MANAGER'S DISPOSITION BY COUNCIL: PROCESSED BY OFFICE BY ~ APPROVED ORIGINATING DEPARTMENT HEAD Vernell StllrnS ^ OTHER (DESCRIBE) CITY SECRETARY CDITIONAL INFORM/~IOy Bremby xtj ~~ O D /j NANCE NQ. U~~~ D CONTA ATE ~h