Long Beach Municipal Code Ch. 5.12 Alarm Systems

The purpose of this Chapter is to set forth regulations governing burglary and robbery alarm systems, and users of such systems within the City, to provide for alarm system permits and to set forth the permit fees therefor.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

For the purpose of this Chapter, certain words and phrases shall be construed in this Chapter as set forth in this Section, unless it is apparent from the context that a different meaning is intended:

A. "Alarm agent" means any person who is employed by an alarm business operator, either directly or indirectly, who does not respond to activated alarms but whose duties include any of the following: Selling, maintaining, leasing, servicing, repairing, altering, installing, replacing, or moving on or in any building, structure or facility, any alarm system.

B. "Alarm business" means the business of any person consisting of selling and installing, maintaining, servicing, altering, replacing or moving any alarm system or component parts thereof in or on any building, structure or facility, or responding to alarm systems.

C. "Alarm business operator" means any person who operates any business engaged in the sale and installation, maintenance, alteration, or servicing of the alarm systems, or which responds to such alarm systems. Alarm business operator shall not include a business which merely sells from a fixed location or manufactures alarm systems, unless such business services, installs, monitors, or responds to alarm systems at protected premises.

D. "Alarm system" means any system or device designed or used for the detection of an unauthorized entry into any building, structure, or facility, or for alerting others of the commission of an unlawful act within any building, structure, or facility, or communicating the fact of such unlawful entry or the commission of such unlawful act.

E. "Chief of Police" means the Chief of Police of the City or his designated representative.

F. "False alarm" means an alarm signal to which the Long Beach Police Department has responded and where an emergency situation did not exist. Such emergency situations shall include only those acts for which the permittee's alarm system was specifically designed to detect or to alert the Police Department as specifically set out in Subsection D., above.

G. "Department of Financial Management" means the Department of Financial Management of the City.

H. "Responding alarm agent" means any person who responds to alarms or who is in uniform and on duty for the purpose of responding to an alarm.

I. Repealed.

J. "Commercial alarm system" means any alarm system protecting structures or areas which are not used primarily for habitation.

K. "Residential alarm system" means any alarm system protecting structures or areas which are used primarily for habitation.

(Ord. C-6548 § 6, 1988; Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. Alarm system. No person shall install on, or maintain on, any premises under his control or have installed on, and/or maintained on or operated on, any premises under his control any alarm system without first applying for and obtaining an alarm system permit therefor in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter; provided, however, the premises maintained for the conducting of an alarm business by an alarm business operator shall be exempt from this requirement. There shall be no installation of any alarm system or any service or repair work thereon performed until all permits required under this Chapter have been obtained.

B. Alarm agent and responding alarm agent. No person shall act as alarm agent or responding alarm agent without having previously registered as an alarm agent or responding alarm agent with the Department of Consumer Affairs of the State. Any person acting as an alarm agent or responding alarm agent must, prior to performing any duties of an alarm agent or responding alarm agent, show his registration card, issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs, to the Chief of Police or his representative.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The provisions of this Chapter do not apply to:

A. Persons engaged solely in the manufacture or sale of alarm systems, components from a fixed location and who do not install, maintain, service or plan the alarm system for any location;

B. Alarm systems which do not directly alert law enforcement agencies or others outside the protected building, structure or facility, but are designed solely to alert security personnel or others directly connected with or employed by the owner of or operator of the protected building, structure or facility;

C. Any person who engages in the selling or repairing of alarm systems or components thereof from a fixed location, and who does not either personally or through an agent or employee, visit the building, structure or facility in which the alarm system is sold or repaired or installed.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

Applications for alarm system permits required under this Chapter shall be filed with the Department of Financial Management in the form prescribed and shall be accompanied by the requisite fee. The fee is established to cover the actual cost of permit issuance and management, including, but not limited to, the cost of investigating and processing the applications for such alarm system permits. It is not refundable.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The Chief of Police shall conduct an appropriate investigation of the application for an alarm system permit. The permit shall be denied by the Chief of Police if the alarm system does not comply with the standards and regulations adopted pursuant to Section 5.12.110. Said permit shall be issued to the person possessing a permit to engage in business on the premises, or to the owner of such property, or to the owner or tenant of the property in the event such alarm system is installed on property used for residential purposes.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The information furnished and secured pursuant to this Chapter shall be confidential in character and shall not be subject to public inspection and shall be kept so that the contents thereof shall not be known except to persons charged with the administration of this Chapter.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. A permit fee provided by resolution of the City Council adopted pursuant to Section 5.04.040, shall be payable upon the making of an application to install an alarm system. The fee shall be paid before any permit to install an alarm system is issued. Upon any change of location of the alarm system, a new fee in the amount of the regular annual fee shall be due and payable. Alarm system permits for businesses shall be renewed annually and alarm system permits for residences shall be renewed every three (3) years. Any federal, State or local agency shall be exempt from the payment of the fee provided for in this Section.

B. It shall be a violation of this Chapter if an owner fails to obtain an alarm permit within fifteen (15) days after receipt of notification of a violation.

(Ord. C-6548 § 1, 1988: Ord. C-6325 § 14, 1986: Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The approving authority for permits issued pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall be the Chief of Police and the issuing authority for such permits shall be the Director of Financial Management.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

Any permit for an alarm system issued under this Chapter shall be nontransferable.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The Chief of Police shall prescribe and enforce minimum standards and regulations for the installation, maintenance and operation of all alarm systems installed, serviced or maintained within the City. The Chief of Police may require inspection and approval of all alarm systems installed, serviced or maintained within the City.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. A service charge, prescribed by resolution of the City Council, shall be charged to the permittee of a particular system for the second and any subsequent false alarms in any twelve (12) month period. The twelve (12) month period is measured from the date of a false alarm to the preceding twelve (12) months.

B. The Chief of Police or his/her designee may conduct investigations and inspections, if necessary, to verify that the cause of the false alarms has been corrected.

C. After each false alarm, the Director of Financial Management or designee shall notify the permittee in writing of the date and time that the Police Department responded to that false alarm and the number of false alarms of record attributed to that alarm system within the previous twelve (12) month period. The permittee shall further be informed in writing of the provisions of this Section and of any service charge to be imposed.

D. Within ten (10) days from the date of said notice, the permittee may present written evidence to the Director of Financial Management or designee that the alarm response in question was not in fact a false alarm as defined in Subsection 5.12.020.F, or that there was a justifiable reason for the activation of the alarm. If no such response is made by the permittee within said ten (10) day period, the Police Chief's order shall be final. Within ten (10) days of receipt of a response from the permittee, if the Chief of Police or his/her designee determines that the response to the alarm in question was not in fact a false alarm, the alarm response shall not be counted against the permittee. The permittee shall be notified in writing of the Police Chief's determination.

E. No false alarms shall be counted against the permittee that were the result of fire, earthquake, flood, acts of God or other natural disasters.

F. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to either require or prohibit a response by the Police Department to any alarm signal or to, in any way, regulate the discretion of the Police Chief in allocating Police resources in the official performance of his/her duties.

(ORD-10-0014, § 26, 2010; Ord. C-7423 § 2, 1996: Ord. C-7304 § 1, 1994: Ord. C-6548 §§ 2, 3, 4, 5, 1988; Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

The following shall constitute grounds for suspension and revocation of an alarm system permit:

A. Any of the grounds set forth in Section 5.06.010;

B. The violation of any of the provisions of this Chapter or of any alarm system standards and regulations prescribed by the Chief of Police pursuant to this Chapter.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

Any alarm system permit issued under this Chapter may be suspended by the Chief of Police for the grounds listed in Section 5.12.140.

(Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

A. No permit issued pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall be suspended until after a hearing is held by the Chief of Police, relating to such suspension, notice of which hearing shall be given in writing to the permittee and served at least fifteen (15) days prior to the date of the hearing thereon; such service shall be upon the holder of such permit or his/her manager or agent, which notice shall state the ground of suspension and shall also state the time when, and the place where, such hearing will be held. The notice shall be served upon the holder of the permit by delivering the same to the person, his/her manager or agent, or to any person in charge of, or employed in the place of business of the holder, or, if the person has no place of business, then, at his/her place of residence, or by leaving the notice at the place of business or residence of the person with some person of suitable age and discretion. In the event the holder of the permit cannot be found and the service of the notice cannot be made upon him/her in the manner provided, then a copy of the notice shall be mailed, postage fully prepaid, addressed to the permittee at his/her place of business or residence at least fifteen (15) days prior to the date of the hearing.

B. Any permit suspended by order of the Chief of Police shall be deemed permanently revoked fifteen (15) days after the order of suspension becomes effective unless the permittee files an appeal from the order of suspension in the time and in the manner provided in Section 5.12.170.

C. When an appeal is filed, the order of suspension shall be stayed pending the determination of the appeal by the City Council. The suspension shall become a revocation of the permit if the decision of the City Council upholds the order of suspension made by the Chief of Police. The suspension shall be dissolved immediately if the decision of the City Council reverses the order of suspension made by the Chief of Police.

D. Any permit revoked pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall be surrendered by the permittee to the Chief of Police or his/her representative who shall transmit it to the business license section of the Department of Financial Management.

(Ord. C-7423 § 3, 1996: Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)

Any applicant for a permit, which may be required under this Chapter, whose application for such permit has been denied by the Chief of Police, or any permittee whose permit has been suspended pursuant to an order of suspension made by the Chief of Police, may, within ten (10) days after such denial or order of suspension, appeal therefrom to the City Council by filing with the Director of Financial Management a notice of such appeal setting forth the decision and the grounds upon which he deems himself aggrieved thereby. The applicant shall pay to the Director of Financial Management at the time of filing the notice of appeal, a sum as determined by the City Council by resolution as a filing fee. The Director of Financial Management shall report the filing of the application to the Chief of Police. The Chief of Police shall thereupon make a written report to the Director of Financial Management setting forth the basis of the determination denying the application for a permit or issuing the order of suspension. The Director of Financial Management shall within ten (10) days forward the written report to the City Council. The City Council at its next regular meeting following the receipt of the written report shall set the appeal for hearing to be held not less than ten (10) days, nor more than thirty (30) days thereafter, and the hearing may be continued for good cause by the order of the City Council. The disposition of the appeal by the City Council shall be final.

(ORD-10-0014, § 5, 2010; Ord. C-6260 § 1 (part), 1986)