City Code, ExplainedBetaPardon our dust while we build this out — expect some changes along the way.

This chapter requires anyone operating an alarm device (burglar or fire alarm) in the City of Pottsville, or an alarm device outside the city that terminates at Pottsville's Police Department, to obtain a permit, and it sets technical standards, fees, and penalties for false alarms.

Who this affects

Homeowners, tenants, and businesses with alarm systems connected to or monitored by the Police Department; it also affects alarm installation/monitoring companies through the permit application process.

Key rules

• It is unlawful to put an alarm device into operation without first obtaining an alarm device permit from the Police Department.
• Permit applications must include the applicant's name, home and business addresses and phone numbers, the device location, and the names, addresses, and phone numbers of at least two keyholders who don't reside at the premises and can be reached at any time.
• Applicants must sign a statement releasing the City of Pottsville from liability for damage caused by forced entry during an alarm response.
• A fee (set by City Council resolution) is required for telephone dialer, local sounding device, and indirect alarm device permits.
• The Police Department must grant or deny a permit application within ten (10) weekdays, and may deny only for incomplete applications or noncompliant devices.
• Devices already in operation get a ninety (90) day grace period after the chapter's effective date before a permit is required.
• Permits may be revoked for noncompliant equipment, unpaid false alarm charges (30+ days overdue), more than twelve (12) false alarms in a calendar year, an intentional false alarm caused by the permit holder or a resident over age fifteen (15), or unpaid direct alarm device fees.
• A revoked permit holder may reapply after forty-five (45) days, but someone with two revocations for intentional false alarms may not reapply for one (1) year from the second revocation.
• Recorded alarm messages may not exceed sixty (60) seconds and must be intelligible and in a Police-Department-approved format.
• Direct alarm devices must dial only Police-Department-designated numbers, allow the permit holder to abort the signal, and interface with the Police Department's central receiving station.
• Exterior bells, sirens, or soundmaking devices must automatically deactivate after thirty (30) minutes; preexisting units must be modified to do so unless modification requires replacement.
• Alarm devices must meet Underwriters' Laboratories, National Fire Protection Association, or other recognized industry standards, or the applicant must submit evidence of reliability; nonconforming devices are permitted only conditionally on satisfactory post-installation performance.
• Sensory mechanisms must be adjusted to avoid false triggers from water pipe pressure changes, light flashes, wind, vehicle noise, or similar causes.
• Permit holders must maintain their alarm devices in good repair.
• Intentional false alarms are prohibited outright.
• Accidental false alarm charges: no charge for the first through third alarm in a calendar year; twenty-five dollars ($25.) each for the fourth through tenth; fifty dollars ($50.) each for all alarms beyond that (charges apply after the first month of installation).
• The Police Department must mail notice of a false alarm charge within ten (10) days of the false alarm or forfeits the right to assess it; the charge is due thirty (30) days after the notice is mailed.
• Direct alarm device permit holders pay a one hundred dollar ($100.) connection fee plus actual interface costs, and an annual maintenance fee (prorated by City Council each July among current permit holders) due thirty (30) days after notice.
• The Police Department is not obligated to provide or continue a central receiving station, but must notify affected permit holders if it discontinues one.
• No one may test an alarm device without Police Department permission, except where equipment is keyed through an intermediary and not relayed to the central receiving station.
• Issuing a permit does not make the City liable for maintaining equipment, responding to alarms, or any loss or damage related to the alarm system.
• The City may inspect alarm device installation and operation on any premises at reasonable times with written notice.
• Permit applicants or holders may appeal a Police Department decision to City Council in writing within ten (10) days; City Council's decision after a hearing is final.

Penalties

Violators are, upon conviction, subject to a fine of not more than six hundred dollars ($600.00) and/or imprisonment for a term not to exceed ninety (90) days.

Notable and archaic details

• Applicants must sign a statement agreeing not to sue the City for damage caused by police forcing entry to respond to an alarm.
• A change in the Police Department's location does not entitle permit holders to compensation for any resulting costs.
• Two revocations for intentional false alarms bar reapplying for a full year.