False alarm service charges

(a) Any service charge assessed pursuant to this section shall be considered an obligation owed by the permittee to the city and shall be paid within 30 days from the date of receipt of the assessment notice. (b) (1) A permittee who installs a new alarm system or reinstalls an alarm system shall not be subject to a false alarm determination for a period of 30 days from the date the alarm system becomes operational. This subdivision shall apply only if the alarm user provides written notice to the alarm system coordinator within 10 days of completion of an alarm system installation or reinstallation. The written notice shall specify the date the installation or reinstallation was completed and, if a reinstallation, shall contain a description of the reinstallation. For the purposes of this subsection, an alarm system is considered to have been reinstalled when a new control panel is installed for the system. (2) An alarm user who obtains an initial permit for an alarm system already in operation on April 27, 2002* shall not be subject to a false alarm determination for the 30-day period immediately following issuance of the permit. (3) This subsection shall not apply to any permittee or other alarm user who is delinquent in payment of any service charges assessed or fines imposed pursuant to this article. (c) A series of false alarms generated by an alarm system, for which a permit has been issued under this article, as a result of a common cause within any 72-hour period shall be considered a single occurrence of a false alarm for purposes of subsections (d) and (e), provided that: (1) Repairs to the alarm system to eliminate the common cause are made before the alarm system generates additional false alarms after the 72-hour period; (2) The alarm user provides documentation of the repairs to the alarm system coordinator; and (3) No additional false alarms are generated as a result of the common cause within the 30-day period immediately following the completion of repairs. (d) A service charge shall not be assessed for the first, second, and third false alarms activated from any premises within a 12-month period. The fourth false alarm and all false alarms thereafter activated from any premises within a 12-month period shall cause the permittee to be assessed a $50 service charge per occurrence, provided that an initial fourth false alarm activation within a 12-month period shall be deemed not to have occurred if the alarm user successfully completes an alarm systems operation and maintenance educational program approved by the chief of police. (e) Except as provided in subsection (d), the assessment notice for the fourth false alarm and all false alarms thereafter activated from any premises within a 12-month period shall specify that the police department shall be under no duty to respond, and may discontinue responding, to alarms activated from the premises until all unpaid service charges assessed pursuant to this section are paid. Upon receipt of all service charges assessed, police department response to alarm activations at the premises may recommence. In addition, the chief of police, before determining to recommence police response to the premises, may require that a permittee or alarm user submit written proof that its alarm system has been inspected by a licensed contractor after the most recent false alarm determination. This section shall not apply to panic, duress, or holdup alarms.