NOTICE TO ALARM COMPANIES

The following are highlights of the ordinance. For the full text, click on the link, below:

1. Alarm companies are required to submit the annual renewal fee for their customers. PBSO will send an invoice to your company for each alarm customer who will renew during that month. The first invoice will be mailed on March 27, 2000. Payment will be due by the end of April. If you receive an invoice for a person who is no longer your customer, please return the invoice, indicating that this is no longer your customer.

2. After a 12 month period, ending on March 01, 2001 PBSO will determine your companies false alarm rate. (The number of false alarms divided by the number of accounts on file with PBSO). Renewal fees will be based upon the following scale. The alarm company will be responsible for the collection and payment of renewal fees. The false alarm rate will be updated each March 01.

3. Alarm monitoring companies must dispatch all alarm calls by PBSO user permit number. A fine in the amount of $125.00 per incident will be assessed against any company requesting an alarm dispatch without a PBSO user permit number. Additionally, if the alarm panel is capable of sending data in a 3/2, 4/2 format which identifies the actual zone of violation, this must be provided to PBSO. All monitoring companies are required by ordinance and state statue to 'verify' all burglar alarm calls before dispatching PBSO.

4. Alarm user fines will be paid by the alarm user. They will be invoiced separately. The fine schedule is as follows. Alarm 1: No fine. Alarm 2: $50.00, Alarm 3-6: $250.00 each. NO RESPONSE for one year after the sixth false alarm. PBSO will waive the third alarm fine if the alarm user attends an approved alarm user retraining program (if the problem was user error) or a significant system upgrade. The approved format may be obtained from the web site or may be faxed to you. PBSO will not waive fines for user error, equipment problems, or basic weather problems. PBSO will waive fines for hurricanes, tornadoes, or power failures greater than two hours.

5. A second request to respond to the same premises within a 24 hour period will require the response of a key holder.  It is the duty of the alarm monitoring company to contact the key holder before this second dispatch request is made. If a key holder cannot be contacted, the sheriff's office will not be requested to respond. Alarm monitoring companies shall be assessed a $50.00 fine for making requests for a sheriff response without notifying a key holder in advance.

6. Any false statement made by an alarm company, monitoring company, or any individual representing   the   alarm permit, shall result in a civil penalty of $500.00 to the maker of the false statement and revocation of the alarm response service agreement.

7. Information contained in permit applications is exempt from public disclosure according to Florida Statute, 281.

8. No alarm user shall operate, or cause to be operated, an alarm system without a valid permit issued by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the non-monitored alarm user or alarm company of $250.00 per incident and cancellation of any further police response.

9. Alarm monitoring companies shall provide the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office communications department with all alarm activation data. This data shall include the zone (s) of violation and other available data if the alarm system is designed to report in that format. Failure to provide all available data shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm monitoring company of $125.00 per incident.

10. Alarm monitoring companies shall attempt to verify every alarm signal, except a duress or hold up alarm activation before requesting the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to respond. Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm monitoring company of $125.00 per incident.  After the enactment of the ordinance, alarm companies shall not program alarm systems with One Plus Duress capabilities. Alarm companies may continue to report One Plus Duress alarms received from alarm systems programmed with this feature prior to 2000. Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm company of $125.00 per incident.

11. After the enactment of this ordinance, when performing a takeover or conversion, an alarm company must remove the One Plus Duress capability from the alarm system.  Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm company of $125.00 per incident.

12. After the enactment of this ordinance, alarm companies shall not install a device for activating a hold-up alarm which is a single action, non-recessed, button.  Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm company of $125.00.

13. It is the responsibility of the alarm company and technician to prevent false alarms during installation, system repairs, or system service. Proper notification must be made to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office that the system is in a test mode. Violation of this section shall result in a civil penalty to the alarm company of $125.00 per incident.

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Copyright 2000, 2001 Palm Beach County Sheriff´s Office

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