Local Law 20-2002: Cattaraugus County Alarm Law

The Local Law 20-2002, Alarm System Regulations for Cattaraugus County, can be downloaded.

The local law regulating alarms in Cattaraugus County was based on a model ordinance that was developed by the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association. This model ordinance and variations of it has been used in many municipalities across the county in an effort to reduce the instance of false alarms. The model ordinance was reviewed and revised by the Alarm Advisory Committee to meet the needs of Cattaraugus County.

Through the use of this local law, the County hopes to do the following things:

• Reduce the instance of false burglar and fire alarms
• Responsibly cancel response to alarms that are found to be false by an alarm company before the arrival of police or fire equipment
• Acquire and maintain better records about the location of alarms, thus improving response times and reducing the total time expended on alarm responses
• Encourage the proper maintenance and use of alarm equipment to reduce false activations

The Cattaraugus County Local Law on alarms, entitled ALARM SYSTEM REGULATIONS, was passed by the Legislature on May 22, 2002. This local law is now in effect and the county is now accepting registrations of alarm systems in Cattaraugus County. The enforcement of the provision of the local law will begin on January 1, 2003. It should be noted that the City of Olean and Town of Ellicottville were exempted from the local law because they had existing ordinances. Alarms systems in these two municipalities are exempt from the provisions of this local law.

It is the hope of Cattaraugus County that the enactment and enforcement of this local law will reduce the number of false alarm responses, improve the response and service that is provided by emergency services and help relieve the burden that the false alarm problem has put on the emergency response system.

ATTENTION !!!! The local law states the following regarding non-profit and government agencies: "Non-profit organizations and governmental agencies shall be required to register alarms, but shall be exempt from the registration fee"HOWEVER, these agencies are NOT exempt from the fees associated with false alarms.