O2431City Council Meeting: July 9, 2013
ORDINANCE NUMBER
Santa Monica, California
2 `i'31 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA AMENDING CHAPTER 3.56 OF THE SANTA MONICA
MUNICIPAL CODE RELATED TO FALSE POLICE ALARMS
WHEREAS, the City consists of just eight square miles of coastal land which is
home to 90,000 residents, the job site of 300,000 workers, and a destination for as
many as 500,000 visitors on weekends and holidays; and
WHEREAS, there is a constant and heavy demand on police services; and
WHEREAS, false alarms are significant and unnecessary drains on precious
police resources; and
WHEREAS, diversion of police resources to respond to false alarms hampers
response efforts for actual emergencies and thus endangers public safety; and
WHEREAS, requiring registration of police alarms would quicken police response
time, provide vital information to the responding officers and enhance public safety; and
WHEREAS, Business and Professions Code Section 7592.8 authorizes local
agencies to enact ordinances governing false alarm activations and responses.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
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SECTION 1. Section 3.56.030 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby
added to read as follows:
3.56.030 Alarm Registration
No Subscriber shall operate an Alarm System without having first registered such
Alarm System with the Santa Monica Police Department and paid the required
registration fee. The Police Department may require that registrants provide information
to the City to protect public safety and aid response efforts, including but not limited to,
information about residents that are elderly or disabled, firearms at the property, and
animals that may require special handling.
SECTION 2. Section 3.56.050 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby
amended to read as follows:
3.56.050 Fees.
A Subscriber shall pay a False Alarm response fine to the City upon the
occurrence of two or more False Alarms received from the Subscriber's Alarm System
within a fiscal year. The amount of the fine and any associated late fees may be
established by resolution of the City Council.
The subscriber of an alarm system or property owner or lessor who has caused
an alarm to be installed shall be declared to be maintaining a public nuisance in the
event that more than four false alarms are recorded at the same location during a single
fiscal year, and shall be prosecuted pursuant to the provisions of section 1.08.010 of
this code.
The chief of police shall cause to be issued a monthly bill for the unpaid fines and
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fee accrued during the billing period and any prior periods. Such bill shall be due and
payable within fifteen days after the billing date.
All remedies shall be cumulative, and the use of one or more remedies by the
city shall not bar the use of any other remedy for the purpose of enforcing the
provisions of this chapter. The amount of any fines and fees shall be deemed a debt to
the city. An action may be commenced in the name of the city in any court of
competent jurisdiction for the amount of any delinquent debt thirty days after it
becomes due and payable. Payment of any fines or fees shall not prohibit criminal
prosecution for the violation of any of the provision of this chapter.
SECTION 3. Section 3.56.060 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby
repealed.
SECTION 4. Section 3.56.070 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby
amended to read as follows.
3.56.070 Nonresponse.
(a) The Chief of Police may notify any subscriber of an alarm system or property
owner, lessor or person who has caused such a system to be installed that the Police
Department will not respond to any alarm at the location where the alarm has been
installed when:
(1) Any fines and fees required by Section 3.56.050 have not been paid and
are past due. The notice shall indicate that service response shall not be resumed until
thirty days after payment of the fines and fees required by Section 3.56.050; or
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(2) There are more than four false alarms at the location during any fiscal
year. The notice shall indicate that response shall not be resumed for a period of not
less than sixty days and only after submission to and approval by the Police Department
of an alarm plan to reduce the number of false alarms to less than four in any fiscal
year.
(b) Any person receiving a notice under subsection (a) may request a hearing in
accordance with the procedures set forth in Chapter 6.16 of this Code. The notice shall
inform the subscriber, property owner, lessor, or person of the hearing rights set forth in
Chapter 6.16. No hearing request shall be deemed timely filed and no hearing shall be
held unless within the time period to request a hearing, the person requesting the
hearings deposits with the City Treasurer money in the amount of any unpaid and past
due fines and fees under Municipal Code Section 3.56.050. If as a result of the hearing
it is determined that the City was not entitled to the fines and fees in the amount of the
deposit, the City shall refund to the subscriber, property owner, or lessor the amount of
the excess fines and fees.
(c) Nothing in this Chapter shall create or be construed to create a duty upon
the Police Department or City to respond to any alarm whether or not the alarm is false.
An alarm, like any other request for service from the Police Department, may be
responded to within the resources of the Police Department and other responses
required by the Police Department at the time of the alarm.
SECTION 5. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
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inconsistencies and no further, is hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 6. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
remaining portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would
have passed this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause,
or phrase not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion
of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 7. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage
of this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the
official newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become
effective 30 days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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Approved and adopted this 9th day of July, 2013.
am O'Connor, Mayor
State of California ) 1
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby certify that
the foregoing Ordinance No. 2431 (CCS) had its introduction on June 25, 2013,
and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting held on July 9, 2013,
by the following vote:
Ayes: Councilmembers: Vazquez, Winterer
Mayor Pro Tern O'Day, Mayor O'Connor
Noes: Councilmembers: None
Absent: Councilmembers: Davis, Holbrook, McKeown,
A summary of Ordinance No. 2431 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
ATTEST:
Sarah P. Gorman, City Clerk