Sec. 21-196. - False alarms.
(a) No person shall make or cause to be made with intent to deceive, any false alarm by means of the fire alarm system, public alarm systems, telephone or by any other means of communication.
(b) No person shall willfully make or cause to be made any false call for an ambulance by any means of communication.
(c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply to any authorized personnel while installing, testing, or repairing such alarm systems in the normal course of employment.
(d) It is hereby found and determined that four (4) or more false alarms within a calendar year is excessive, constitutes a public nuisance, and shall be unlawful.
(1) For the purposes of this subsection a false alarm shall mean any alarm which is given, sounded or otherwise expressed when there is no apparent causal event requiring immediate police, fire or other emergency response, including but not limited to the activation of or notification by an alarm system through mechanical or electronic defect or failure, malfunctions, defective installation, the negligence of the alarm user or his employees, agents, invites, or licensees, or the conducting of an alarm test or drill without the prior notification to the city police and fire departments.
(2) For the purposes of this subsection an alarm user shall mean any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, or organization of any kind in control of any building, structure, or facility where an alarm system is maintained.
(3) Any alarm user found to have made a false alarm pursuant to subsection (d) above shall be guilty of an infraction and fined as follows: Each alarm user shall be subject to a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00) each for the fourth, fifth and sixth false alarms at such location received by the city during such calendar year. Each alarm user shall be subject to a fine of one hundred ($100.00) dollars each for the seventh and all subsequent false alarms at such location received by the city during such calendar year.
(4) The United States government, the State of South Carolina, counties, municipal corporations, departments thereof and other governmental entities are exempt from all criminal penalties required by this subsection, provided that the government entity must be the owner of the alarm system. In the event the governmental entity contracts with or otherwise arranges with a person, business, or non-government entity for an alarm system, all fees and costs shall be required from the said person, business, or non-governmental entity.
(Code 1975, § 37-70; Ord. No. 2008-75, § 1, 5-6-08)
