§ 2.5-21. Intention.

The city commission hereby declares that it is the intention of this article to discourage the proliferation of false alarms in the city and to compensate the city for responding to unwarranted calls for the city's emergency services. The city commission finds that false alarms as defined in this section divert the resources of the police and fire-rescue departments from their primary missions. The city commission further finds that multiple false alarms at the same location are preventable by the alarm user. The city commission further declares that it shall be the duty of every person or business that maintains an emergency alarm device to see that the alarm is in good working order.

While recognizing the value of alarms in deterring crimes and alerting emergency services, the city commission finds that it is appropriate to impose a reasonable charge on alarm users for the city's response to more than four (4) false alarms within any six-month period.

The city commission further finds that due to the numerous responses to alarm calls, many of which are false alarms, alarm users receive a higher level of emergency services than residents who do not have alarm systems. The commission finds that it is appropriate to charge alarm users for the higher level of services they receive from the city through a false alarm fee.

(Ord. No. 403, § 1, 1-15-91; Ord. No. 403-A, § 1, 11-12-91; Ord. No. 403-B, § 1, 5-26-92)