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Footnotes:
--- (3) --- Editor's note— Section I of Ord. No. O-99-14, adopted March 15, 1999, amended art. III in its entirety, in effect repealing §§ 40-61—40-68 and enacting similar new provisions in lieu thereof as §§ 40-61—40-71. Formerly, such provisions derived from § I of Ord. No. O-97-1, adopted Jan. 21, 1997.
Sec. 40-61. - Definitions.#
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the following meanings:
Act of nature means an unusual, extraordinary, sudden and unexpected manifestation of the force of nature, the adverse effects of which cannot be prevented by reasonable human care, skill, or foresight. Such events include tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other similarly violent conditions.
Alarm business means the business of any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity engaged in the sale, lease, maintenance, service, repair, alter, replacement, moving or installation of any alarm system or in causing any alarm system to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved, or installed in or on any building, structure or facility, as defined in G.L. 1956, title 5, ch. 57.
Alarm permit means a permit issued by the city allowing the operation of an alarm system within the city.
Alarm system means any assembly of equipment, whether mechanical, electrical or otherwise arranged or designed to signal the occurrence of any illegal entry or other non-consensual 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.
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.
Appeal officer means the chief of police or an individual designated by the chief of police to act in the capacity as an impartial arbitrator to review appeals related to the enforcement of this article.
Automatic telephone dialing alarm system means the automatic dialing or any automatic telephone dialing alarm system and shall include any system which, upon being activated, automatically transmits by telephone or telephone line to the Warwick 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 and/or monitoring facility whose function it is to transmit to the Warwick Police Department a need for emergency response.
False alarm means any activation of an "alarm system" as defined herein requiring police response with no evidence of an actual crime having been committed or other activity which warrants a call for immediate police assistance; but this definition does not include an alarm signal caused by an act of nature nor other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user or his/her agent.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-62. - Required alarm system features.#
(a)
Backup power supply. All alarm systems shall have a backup power supply that will become effective for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power failure or outage in the source of electricity from the utility company.
(b)
Automatic shutoff device. All alarm systems which utilize an audible bell, horn, siren or other sound emitting device shall be equipped with an automatic shut-off device which will deactivate the alarm system within 15 minutes after activation. All alarm users with audible bells, horns, sirens or other sound emitting devices shall install and maintain such automatic shut-off device within 90 days of the effective date of this article [March 15, 1999].
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-63. - Confidentiality clause.#
The information provided part of the alarm permit application pursuant to this article shall be confidential and shall not be subject to public inspection.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-64. - Police response to alarm; determination of validity; report of false alarm.#
(a)
Whenever an alarm is activated in the city, thereby requiring an emergency 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 along with the alarm user and they shall determine whether the emergency response was in fact required as indicated by the alarm system or whether in some way the alarm system malfunctioned and thereby activated a false alarm.
(b)
Should the police officer at the scene of the activated alarm system determine 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.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-65. - Alarm user to respond to alarm.#
An alarm user must respond or make arrangements for another responsible person to respond to the scene of an activated alarm within 30 minutes of the alarm activation. Should the alarm user or his/her designee fail to respond within 30 minutes as required herein, then the failure to respond shall be prima facie evidence that said alarm is a false alarm.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-66. - Reserved.#
Editor's note— Ord. No. O-23-15, § I, adopted June 6, 2023, repealed § 40-66, which pertained to alarm review panel and derived from Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, adopted March 15, 1999; Ord. No. O-99-36, § I, adopted Aug. 11, 1999; and Ord. No. O-21-9, § I, adopted June 23, 2021.
Sec. 40-67. - False alarm assessment schedule.#
(a)
After the chief of police or his designee has initially recorded three separate false alarms from a security alarm system of one user within any one calendar year, then the alarm user will be notified by the chief of police, via regular mail, of such facts and require the alarm user to submit within ten working days of receipt of such notice, a report describing the alarm user's efforts to discover and eliminate the cause or causes of the false alarms. This notice shall further contain the dates and time of each alleged false alarm. After three false alarms in a calendar year the alarm system shall be inspected and certified by a licensed alarm business. Said inspections shall not be required more frequently than once per calendar year. After ten false alarms in a calendar year, the alarm user shall appear before the municipal court.
(b)
Reserved.
(c)
In the event that the chief of police or designee determines that a report submitted in accordance with the preceding paragraph is unsatisfactory or that the alarm user has failed to show by the report that reasonable steps have been taken to eliminate or reduce false alarms, then the chief of police will inform the alarm user, via regular mail, that subsequent false alarms will cause the alarm user to be assessed monetary charges as follows:
Up to three false alarms No fee
4 th , 5 th , and 6 th false alarms $100.00 per false alarm
7 th , 8 th , 9 th and 10 th false alarms $150.00 per false alarm
11 or more false alarms $250.00 per false alarm (at the discretion of the municipal court)
(d)
If the chief of police or designee is satisfied based on the report submitted by the user, that the action taken will substantially reduce the likelihood of further false alarms, the chief of police will notify the alarm users in writing that no assessment will be made at that time. However, the alarm user will be subject to assessment proceedings on the next false alarm signal transmitted.
(e)
All fees assessed hereunder shall be made payable to the City of Warwick for deposit into the general fund.
(f)
For purposes of this section, multiple false alarms received within a 24-hour period will be counted as one false alarm.
(g)
Should an alarm user or his/her designee notify the police department prior to the arrival of the police at the location of the activated alarm that said alarm is false, thereby resulting in a nonemergency response by police, then the alarm user shall not be charged with a false alarm.
(h)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to security alarm systems owned and/or operated by agencies of the City of Warwick, State of Rhode Island, or the United States of America.
(i)
The chief of police or designee may, at their discretion waive the assessment of an alarm user's first offense for a false alarm if said alarm user agrees to attend the false alarm prevention program described below.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99; Ord. No. O-06-4, § I, 1-18-06; Ord. No. O-23-15, § I, 6-6-23)
Sec. 40-68. - False alarm prevention program.#
(a)
The police department shall provide an educational program for the prevention of false alarms. The police department shall allow any alarm user to attend any scheduled false alarm prevention program.
(b)
An alarm user who attends any false alarm prevention program provided pursuant to this section is not eligible to attend a false alarm prevention program again within 12 months from the day on which that person last attended the program unless such attendance is necessary to satisfy the requirements of section 40-67(f).
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-69. - Appeals procedure.#
Any alarm user who is aggrieved by a decision of the chief of police or designee may, within five working days of the issuance of the chiefs decision, appeal to the municipal court. The only grounds for appealing a decision of the chief of police are: (1)
Proof that a false alarm was caused by an act of nature or actions of any utility company.
(2)
Written verification from the alarm user and the alarm business that all necessary steps have been taken to upgrade, improve and ensure the accuracy of the security alarm system.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99; Ord. No. O-23-15, § I, 6-6-23)
Sec. 40-70. - Violations; penalty.#
The following acts and omissions shall constitute violations of this article, punishable by fine of up to $250.00. (1)
Failure to obey an order of the chief of police to discontinue use of a security alarm system after exhaustion of the right to appeal.
(2)
Failure to pay two or more consecutive assessments under the ordinance within 60 days from the date of assessment.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-71. - Regulation by police chief.#
The chief of police shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of this article.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)