At the 2009 Town Meeting, the Town of Swampscott adopted a by-law requiring all alarm systems to be registered with the police department. The by-law is intended to give the police department the ability to better manage the increasing number of alarm activations. The by-law will provide the police department with a database of current alarm systems in town including alarm company name and person to notify (PTN) in case of an emergency or system malfunction. There is also a more stringent policy for dealing
with repeated false alarms, which will hopefully reduce the number of false alarm calls reported to the police department.
The by-law requires all alarms to be registered with the police department annually. There is an annual registration fee payable to the Town of Swampscott at the time of the registration: $10 for residential alarms and $25 for commercial alarms. It is the responsibility of the property owner to ensure the registration fee is paid annually when the registration is filed. Any subsequent changes to the registration information shall be reported to the police department promptly. We intend to begin the program in January 2011.
Therefore, we are asking all alarm owners to complete a registration form and return it to the police department with the appropriate fee before December 31, 2010. A separate form is required for each alarmed property residential or commercial.
The police department will be sending letters and registration forms to all addresses that had an alarm call in FY2010. All others can pick up a registration form at the police station or on our website www.swampscottpolice.com. The full alarm system by-law can also be found on our web site.
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