BURGLAR ALARM ORDINANCE- CHAPTER 66

The following rules and regulations from Ordinance 66 of the Code of the Township of Washington apply to those residents or business owners who have a burglar alarm system in operation on their premises. The information required to complete your Burglar Alarm registration will assist the Police Department in providing both a rapid response to an activated Burglar Alarm and a decisive determination as to the cause of the alarm.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

1. The following alarm types must be registered with the Police Department:
   Direct Alarm: Comes to the alarm panel at Police Headquarters.
   Private Agency Alarm: Your alarm signals a private agency which calls
   Police Headquarters.
   Dial Alarm: An automatic device that calls Police headquarters from your house when your alarm is activated. .
   Local Alarm: An outside bell or other device that attracts attention when your alarm is activated.

2. It is illegal for any local alarm to ring for a period greater than fifteen continuous minutes.

3. All dial alarm systems must call 664-1002 and not the regular police business number to report an alarm. The dial message length may not exceed fifteen seconds and may not be sent to Police headquarters more than twice during an alarm activation.

4. Any person testing any alarm must notify Police Headquarters immediately before the test and immediately after the testing is completed. Failure to do so will subject the person to the penalty provided for false alarms.

5. The annual registration fee is $5.00. Homeowners who are sixty-five years old or older are not required to pay this fee. All other homeowners or business owners should make their checks payable to the Township of Washington Police Department.

PENALTIES

1. Any person having a dial alarm device which calls the general Police Business phone number instead of 664-1002 will receive one warning from the Police Department. If that person fails to chance the dial device so that it calls the alarm phone number of 664-1002 and/or fails to comply with the above mentioned rules and regulations, he will receive a local ordinance summons.
2. False alarms are defined as any alarm activated as a result of any reason other than an intruder or a suspects intruder. False alarms will be dealt with in the following manner:
   for the first and second false alarm within a twelve month period, a warning will be issued by the Police Department.
   Third false alarm -Local Ordinance Summons- $10 fine
   Fourth false alarm -Local Ordinance Summons- $20 fine
   Fifth false alarm -Local Ordinance Summons- $30 fine
   Six or more false alarms -Local Ordinance Summons- Court appearance required with higher fines as appropriate
3. A false alarm penalty will not be imposed until thirty days after the initial registration.

NOTE - IF YOU REALIZE THAT YOU SET YOUR ALARM OFF IN ERROR, IMMEDIATELY NOTIFY POLICE HEADQUARTERS.

For more info contact us at: administration@washtwppolice.org