A. “Alarm administrator” means the representative of the private alarm consulting company engaged by the city pursuant to an agreement approved by the chief of police to administer the provisions of this chapter.

B. “Alarm agreement” means the legal contract or agreement by and between the alarm installation company and/or monitoring company and the alarm user.

C. “Alarm agreement holding company” means the company, whether the alarm installation company and/or monitoring company, holding the alarm agreement with the alarm user.

D. “Alarm installer checklist” means a check off list provided by the alarm administrator to the alarm installer to complete at each alarm site after the installation of an alarm system and prior to its activation.

E. “Alarm installation company” means a person in the business of selling, providing, maintaining, servicing, repairing, altering, replacing, moving or installing an alarm system at an alarm site for compensation, and includes individuals or firms that install and service alarm systems used in a private business or proprietary facility.

F. “Alarm dispatch request” means a notification to the police department that an alarm, either manual or automatic, has been activated at a particular alarm site.

G. “Alarm response manager” (ARM) means a person designated by an alarm installation company and monitoring company to handle alarm issues for the company and act as the primary point of contact for the city’s alarm administrator.

H. “Alarm permit” means a permit and permit number issued by the alarm administrator to an alarm user which authorizes the operation of an alarm system.

I. “Alarm site” means a location served by one or more alarm systems. In a multi-unit building or complex, each unit shall be considered a separate alarm site if served by a separate alarm system. In a single unit building that houses two or more separate businesses with separate alarm systems, each business will be considered a separate alarm site.

J. “Alarm system” means a device or series of devices which emit or transmit an audible or remote visual or electronic alarm signal which is intended to summon police response. The term includes hardwired systems and systems interconnected with a radio frequency method such as cellular or private radio signals, and includes local alarm systems, but does not include an alarm installed in a motor vehicle, on one’s person or a system which will not emit a signal either audible or visible from the outside of the building, residence or beyond, but is designed solely to alert the occupants of a building or residence.

K. “Alarm user” means any person who has contracted for monitoring, repair, installation or maintenance service for an alarm system from an alarm installation company or monitoring company, or who owns or operates an alarm system which is not monitored, maintained or repaired under agreement.

L. “Alarm user awareness class” means a class conducted by the alarm administrator for the purpose of educating alarm users about the responsible use, operation, and maintenance of alarm systems and the problems created by false alarms.

M. “Alarm user list” means a list provided by the alarm user’s alarm installation company or, if no alarm agreement exists between the alarm user and an alarm installation company, the alarm user’s monitoring company.

N. “Arming station” means a device that controls an alarm system.

O. “Automatic voice dialer” means any electronic, mechanical, or other device which, when activated, is capable of being programmed to send a prerecorded voice message to a law enforcement agency requesting a police dispatch to an alarm site.

P. “Burglar alarm” means an alarm intended to identify the presence of an intruder in either a business or residence.

Q. “Burglar alarm confirmation” means a method by which an alarm monitoring company shall verify a burglar alarm call prior to making a burglar alarm dispatch request. This method requires at least one of the following types of acceptable verification for a burglar alarm call:

R. “Burglary alarm crime in progress” means a burglar alarm dispatch request reported by a monitoring company that indicates a crime is in progress based upon an audio, video or similar verification device installed at the alarm site.

S. “Business license” means a business license issued by Auburn business license division to an alarm installation company or monitoring company to sell, install, monitor, repair, or replace alarm systems. The term “business license” does not include a security alarm license issued by the police department.

T. “Cancellation” means the termination of a police response to an alarm site after a dispatch request is made but before an officer’s arrival at the alarm site.

U. “Conversion of alarm user” means the transaction or process by which one alarm installation company or monitoring company begins the servicing or monitoring of a previously unmonitored alarm system or an alarm system that was previously serviced or monitored by another alarm company.

V. “Customer false alarm prevention checklist” means a check off list provided by the alarm administrator to the alarm installer to provide to the alarm user to complete prior to the activation of an alarm system.

W. “Duress alarm” means a silent alarm system signal generated by the entry of a designated code into an arming station in order to signal that the alarm user is being forced to turn off the system and requires an officer’s response.

X. “Enhanced call verification” means an attempt by the monitoring company, or its representative, to contact the alarm site and/or alarm user and/or the alarm user’s designated representatives by telephone and/or other electronic means, whether or not actual contact with a person is made, to determine whether an alarm signal is valid before requesting a police dispatch, in an attempt to avoid an unnecessary alarm dispatch request. For the purpose of this chapter, telephone verification shall require, as a minimum, that a second call be made to a different number if the first attempt fails to reach an alarm user who can properly identify themselves to determine whether an alarm signal is valid before requesting an officer dispatch. Names and numbers of those contacted or attempted to be contacted shall be provided when requested.

Y. “False alarm” means an alarm dispatch request to the police department which results in the responding officer finding no evidence of a criminal offense or attempted criminal offense after completing an investigation of the alarm site.

Z. “Holdup alarm” means a silent alarm signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a robbery in progress.

AA. “Local alarm system” means an unmonitored alarm system that annunciates an alarm only at the alarm site.

BB. “Monitoring” means the process by which a monitoring company receives signals from an alarm system and relays an alarm dispatch request to the police department.

CC. “Monitoring company” means a person in the business of providing monitoring services.

DD. “One plus duress alarm” means the manual activation of a silent alarm signal by entering a code that adds one number to the last digit of the normal arm/disarm code (e.g., normal code = 1234, one plus duress code = 1235).

EE. “Panic alarm” means an alarm system signal generated by the manual activation of a device intended to signal a life threatening or emergency situation requiring an officer’s response.

FF. “Permit number” means a unique individual number assigned to an alarm user as part of the registration of their alarm permit issued by the police department.

GG. “Person” means an individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, organization or similar entity.

HH. “Police,” unless the context indicates otherwise, or “police department” means the Auburn police department.

II. “Protective or reactive alarm system” means an alarm system that produces a temporary disability or sensory deprivation through use of chemical, electrical, sonic or other means, including use of devices that obscure or disable a person’s vision.

JJ. “Responsible party” means a person capable of appearing at the alarm site upon request who has access to the alarm site, the code to the alarm system and the authority to approve repairs to the alarm system.

KK. “Robbery alarm” means an alarm signal generated by the manual or automatic activation of a device, or any system, device or mechanism on or near the premises intended to signal that a robbery is in progress and that a person is in need of immediate police assistance in order to avoid bodily harm, injury or death. The term has the same general meaning as “holdup alarm or duress alarm.”

LL. “Security alarm license” means the license issued by the police department to an alarm installation company or monitoring company to sell, install, monitor, repair or replace alarm systems. The term does not include a business license issued by city of Auburn.

MM. “SIA Control Panel Standard CP-01” means the ANSI (American National Standard Institute) approved Security Industry Association SIA CP-01 control panel standard, as may be updated from time to time, that details recommended design features for security system control panels and their associated arming and disarming devices to reduce the incidence of false alarms. Control panels built and tested to this standard by Underwriters Laboratory (UL), or other nationally recognized testing organizations are marked as follows: “Design evaluated in accordance with SIA CP-01 Control Panel Standard Features for False Alarm Reduction.”

NN. “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.

OO. “Zones” mean a division of devices into which an alarm system is divided to indicate the general location from which an alarm system signal is transmitted. (Ord. 6216 § 1, 2009; Ord. 5716 § 1, 2002; Ord. 5682 § 1, 2002.)