Ontario Municipal Code § 4-9 140. Appeals of determinations regarding alarm registrations, fees and fines

(a) If the Alarm Administrator assesses a fee or fine, suspends an alarm registration or denies the issuance, renewal or reinstatement of an alarm registration, the Alarm Administrator shall send notice of the action and a statement of the right to appeal to the affected applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company.

(b) The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company may appeal any action described in subsection (a) above to the Police Chief (or his or her designee) by setting forth in writing the reasons for the appeal and delivering the appeal to the Chief of Police (or designee) within twenty (20) days after receipt of notice of the action. Failure to deliver the appeal within that time period is a waiver of the right to appeal.

(c) The procedure for an appeal to the Chief of Police (or designee) is as follows:

(1) The applicant, alarm user, alarm installation company or monitoring company may file a written request for appeal by paying an appeal fee and setting forth the reasons for the appeal. The appeal must be entitled "Appeal from Alarm Administrator's Action." The appeal fee shall be in an amount established by resolution of the City Council and will be returned to the appealing party if the appeal is successful.

(2) The Chief of Police (or designee) shall conduct a hearing on the appeal within thirty (30) days after the Police Department's receipt of the request for appeal and appeal fee and shall consider the evidence submitted by the appealing party and the Alarm Administrator. The Chief of Police (or designee) must base the decision on the preponderance of evidence presented at the hearing and must render a decision within fifteen (15) days after the date of the hearing. The decision shall affirm or reverse the decision or action taken by the Alarm Administrator.

(3) Filing of an appeal stays any action by the Alarm Administrator to suspend an alarm registration or require the payment of a fee or fine until the appeal process has been exhausted. This provision applies only to the action of the Alarm Administrator that is the subject of the appeal. This provision does not operate as a bar to enforcement action on violations of this section that occur thereafter.

(d) The Alarm Administrator or the Chief of Police, or their respective designees, may adjust the count of false alarms or assessed fees based on:

(1) Evidence that a false alarm was caused by action of a communications services provider (i.e., telephone, cellular, cable company);

(2) Evidence that a false alarm was caused by a power outage of more than four (4) hours or severe weather such as a tornado, earthquake, or excessive winds (35 m.p.h. or above as measured by the Ontario International Airport weather monitoring station);

(3) Evidence that an alarm dispatch request was not a false alarm; or

(4) The occurrence of multiple alarms within a twenty-four (24) hour period, which may be considered as one false alarm if the alarm user has taken corrective action, unless the false alarms are directly caused by the alarm user.

(e) The Alarm Administrator may waive all or part of a false alarm fine due to extenuating circumstances or to encourage corrective action with supervisor approval.

(§ 1, Ord. 3151, eff. February 20, 2020)

(a) On the suspension of an alarm registration, a person whose alarm registration has been suspended may obtain reinstatement of the registration by the Alarm Administrator if the person:

(1) Pays a reinstatement fee as established by resolution of the City Council;

(2) Pays, or otherwise resolves, all outstanding fees, fines, and other charges;

(3) Submits a written notice from an alarm installation company stating that the alarm system has been inspected and repaired (if necessary) by the alarm installation company;

(4) The alarm user successfully completes an alarm user awareness class and test.

(b) The Police Department shall reinstate its response to an alarm site as soon as is practicable after receiving notice of reinstatement from the Alarm Administrator. The alarm user and monitoring company shall take notice that the alarm site has been officially reinstated only after receiving notice from the Alarm Administrator of that fact. It shall be the responsibility of the alarm user to verify that his, her, or its registration status and future police response has been properly restored.

(§ 1, Ord. 3151, eff. February 20, 2020)

Sec. 4- 9.160. Suspension of police response to dispatch requests from certain alarm installation companies and monitoring companies.

(a) The Chief of Police or command staff designee may suspend police response to an alarm dispatch request from an alarm installation company or monitoring company if it is determined that:

(1) There is a violation of this chapter by the alarm installation company or monitoring company and the condition causing the violation has not been corrected and/or;

(2) The alarm installation company or monitoring company has failed to pay any fee, fine, or other charge assessed under this section, more than sixty (60) days after the fee, fine, or other charge is due.

(b) The Police Department may not respond to any alarm dispatch request where the alarm installation company or monitoring company who

installed or monitors that alarm has failed to comply with California licensing requirements or failed to maintain a valid copy of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs alarm company operators license.

(c) A suspension of police response made pursuant to this section is subject to the appeal process provided for within this chapter. In addition, the Alarm Administrator has the ability to accept a workable solution from the affected party prior to an appeal. The affected party has sixty (60) days after the written notice of suspension before Police response is suspended to its alarm customers.

(d) The Alarm Administrator shall notify all known alarm users subscribing to an alarm installation company or an alarm monitoring company that the Police Department has suspended response to the company's alarm dispatch requests.

(e) The City shall assess the alarm installation company or monitoring company a reinstatement fee in an amount established by resolution of the City Council. In addition, if the Alarm Administrator has incurred costs in notifying alarm users by mail of the suspension of their alarm installation company or monitoring company, reimbursement to the City of those costs shall be a condition of reinstatement.

(§ 1, Ord. 3151, eff. February 20, 2020)

(a) Subject to the suspension provisions in § 4-9.130 above and the discretion discussed in § 4-9.190 below, the Police Department at its discretion will respond to all "in progress" robbery, panic or burglar alarms as promptly as possible, taking into account pending calls for service and any policy establishing priority of dispatched calls following notification of the receipt of the alarm from the monitoring company. Police supervisors may, in their discretion, cancel a police response to any or all alarms based on weather or other factors affecting police service needs.

(b) The Chief of Police or his or her designee may re-prioritize assignment of burglar alarms and response time at any time during a 24-hour period as may be necessary due to the service needs of the community.

(§ 1, Ord. 3151, eff. February 20, 2020)

All information contained in documents gathered through alarm registrations, the submission of customer lists, the alarm appeal process and records relating to alarm dispatch requests must be held in confidence by all employees of the Alarm Administrator, the City of Ontario and any third-party alarm administrator. Such information is proprietary and is hereby declared confidential and not a public record. Absent special circumstances, such information must not be released to the public or any person other than a law enforcement agency, third party administrator or the applicable alarm user, alarm installation company or alarm monitoring company except pursuant to court order. Per California Government Code 6254(f).

(§ 1, Ord. 3151, eff. February 20, 2020)