§ 9-16-1. Purpose and definitions.

A.

Purpose.

1.

The purpose of this chapter is to encourage alarm users and alarm businesses to maintain operational reliability, properly use alarm systems and to reduce or eliminate false alarm dispatch requests.

2.

This chapter governs systems intended to summon police response, require permits, establish fees, provide for penalties for violations, establish a system of administration and set conditions for suspension or loss of permits.

3.

The licensure requirements contained in this chapter shall only apply to those individuals and entities who are not required to be licensed by the state alarm contractor's licensing law, T.C.A. § 62-32-301 et seq.

B.

Definitions. As used in this chapter:

Alarm administrator means the administrator of the alarm office.

Alarm agent means any person employed by a licensed alarm business whose duties include the altering, installing, maintaining, moving, repairing, replacing, selling, servicing or monitoring of an alarm system. This definition shall only include persons who work for an alarm business as defined in this section. The owners, managers, corporate officers and partners of all alarm businesses are classified as alarm agents. Further, any person who is not an alarm agent, who, as an employee of a licensed alarm business or a contractor for the alarm business, has access to confidential information of an alarm user or to monitor radio equipment, shall be considered an alarm agent.

Alarm business, also alarm system contractor, means a firm, company, partnership, or corporation, which sells, or attempts to sell, installs, services or monitors alarm systems, signal devices, devices, burglar alarms, television cameras or still cameras used to detect burglary, breaking and/or entering, intrusion, shoplifting, pilferage or theft. This definition shall not include persons who sell alarm systems strictly in an over-the-counter capacity in an established location or businesses where the alarm system is owned, operated and monitored by the same entity or proprietary alarm divisions of a company where the alarm user is also an employee of the alarm service provider.

Alarm dispatch requests means a notification to the police by an alarm business that an alarm, either manual or automatic, has been activated at a particular alarm site.

Alarm office means the office of the city having the responsibility to administer the permitting, licensing and oversight of alarm systems, alarm system contractors and alarm agents subject to the authority of this chapter and chapters 2-28 through 2-36 and the regulations and procedures established by the metro alarm review board.

Alarm site means a single premises or location served by an alarm system or systems. Each tenancy, if served by a separate alarm system in a building or complex, shall be considered a separate alarm site requiring separate permits.

Alarm system means a device or series of devices which are designed to discourage crime, by emitting or transmitting a remote or local audible, visual or electronic signal indicating an alarm condition. "Alarm system" does not include an alarm installed on a vehicle unless the vehicle is permanently located at a site or will cause emergency services to be dispatched.

Alarm user means any person, firm, partnership, corporation or other entity who (which) uses an alarm system.

ANSI means the American National Standards Institute.

Answering service means a telephone answering service providing among its services the receiving, through trained employees, of emergency signals from alarm systems, and the relaying of the message by live voice to the communications center of the police services division.

Automatic telephone dialing equipment means an alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection, or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message or coded signal to report a police emergency condition which the alarm system is designed to detect.

Board means the metro alarm review board created for permitting licensing and oversight of alarm systems, alarm systems contractors and alarm agents.

Certification means the authority granted by the board to do business as an alarm systems contractor.

Conversion means the transaction or process by which one alarm business begins the monitoring of an alarm system previously monitored by another alarm business.

Designated qualifying agent means any individual licensed by the board whose qualifications have been demonstrated to the metro alarm review board for overseeing and supervising alarm systems contractor operations of any classification or combination of classifications covered under this chapter.

Director means the director of police services of the city.

Duress—one plus is a silent or audible alarm system generated by activation at key pad intended to signal a crisis situation requiring police response.

False alarm means the activation of an alarm system through mechanical failure, malfunction, improper installation or through the negligence of the owner or user of the alarm system, which activation results in a response by a law enforcement agency. If the alarm business shall have notified the alarm administrator the first business day that an alarm system is subject to an intermittent repetitive malfunction which is under investigation by the alarm business, all activations of that alarm system within one continuous two-week period shall be counted as a single such false alarm. This system shall be said to be under a troubleshooting maintenance period.

False alarm dispatch means an alarm dispatch request to the alarm office, when the responding officer finds no evidence of a criminal offense or attempted criminal offense after having completed a timely investigation of the alarm site. An alarm dispatch request which is canceled by the alarm business or the alarm user prior to the time the responding officer reaches the alarm site shall not be considered a false alarm dispatch.

False alarm user awareness class means a class operated by the governing entity for the purpose of educating alarm users about the problems created by false alarm dispatches and in the responsible use of their alarm system.

Holdup alarm means a silent or audible alarm signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a robbery in progress.

Interconnect means to connect an alarm system to a voice grade telephone line, either directly or through a mechanical device that utilizes a standard telephone, for the purpose of using the telephone line to transmit an emergency message upon the activation of the alarm system.

Keypad means a device that allows control of an alarm system by the manual entering of a coded sequence of numbers or letters.

Malicious false alarm means the intentional false reporting to the police of a police emergency condition, or the intentional setting off of an alarm system which will cause another person to report the signal to the police. However, this definition is not to include the testing of an alarm system by a licensed alarm business under guidelines established by the metro alarm administrator.

Metro alarm administrator means the administrator of the alarm office.

Metro alarm review board means and shall consist of six members as follows: a dispatcher or other person appointed by the director, a dispatcher or other person appointed by the sheriff, two local alarm business representatives appointed by the alarm association, and two members of the public-at-large, appointed by the governing mayors and approved by the active legislative bodies.

Monitoring means the process by which an alarm business gives signals from alarm systems and relays an alarm dispatch test to the city for the purpose of summoning police response to the alarm site.

Monitoring station or central station means an office to which a remote police alarm and supervisory signaling device are connected, where trained personnel are on duty and in attendance at all times to supervise the circuits terminating therein, investigate signals and retransmit alarm signals to appropriate agencies.

Notice means written notice given by the issuance of a citation left at the scene of a false alarm by officers of the police services division or given by personal service upon the addressee, or given by U.S. mail addressed to the person to be notified at his or her last known address. Service of such notice shall be effective upon the completion of personal service or upon the placing of the same in the custody of the U.S. Postal Service.

Officer means a city police officer or a Shelby County deputy sheriff.

One plus duress alarm means the manual activation of a silent alarm signal by entering at a keypad a code that adds one to the last digit of the normal arm/disarm code (Normal code = 1234, One Plus Duress Code = 1235).

Panic alarm means a silent alarm signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a crisis situation requiring police response.

Person means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, organization or similar entity.

Police emergency alarm system means an assembly of equipment or devices which is designed, arranged or used for the detection of a hazardous condition or an unauthorized entry or attempted entry into a building, structure or facility, or for alerting persons of a hazardous condition or the commission of an unlawful act within a building, structure or facility, and which emits a sound, or transmits a signal or message when activated, to which annunciation a law enforcement agency or other service agency may be summoned to respond, but shall exclude a proprietary system.

Primary trunkline means a telephone line leading directly into the communications center of the police services division that is for the purpose of handling emergency calls on a person-to-person basis, and which is identified as such by a specific number included among the emergency numbers listed in the telephone directory issued by the telephone company and covering the service area within the police services division's jurisdiction.

Proprietary system means an alarm system emitting alarm or supervisory signals from within a control center, the control center being under the supervision of the proprietor of the protected premises. If a proprietary system includes any signal visible or audible outside the protected premises, it thereby becomes a police emergency alarm system as defined in this section.

Sheriff means the sheriff of Shelby County.

Special trunkline means a telephone line leading into the communications center of the police services division and having the primary purpose of handling emergency signals or messages originating either directly or through a central location from automatic dialing devices.

Subscriber or user means any person who purchases, leases, contracts for or otherwise obtains or uses an alarm system.

Takeover means the transaction or process by which an alarm user takes over control of an existing alarm system which was previously controlled by another alarm user.

Telephone company means the publicly regulated industry which furnishes telephone communication services to the citizens of the city.

Transmitting device means an instrument which sends a signal to a monitoring point indicating intrusion into a given protected area.

UL shall stand for Underwriter's Laboratories.

Verify means an attempt by the alarm business, or its representative, to contact the alarm site by telephonic or other electronic means, whether or not actual contact with a person is made, before requesting a police dispatch, in an attempt to avoid an unnecessary alarm dispatch request.

(Code 1985, § 28-126; Ord. No. 4640, § 1, 1-19-1999; Ord. No. 4847, §§ 1—3, 2-20-2001)