For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning respectively ascribed to them by this section.

    "Alarm agent" means any person who is employed by an alarm business operator, either directly or indirectly, who does not respond to activated alarms, but whose duties include any of the following: altering, installing, replacing, or moving on or in any building, structure or facility any alarm system.

    "Alarm business" means the business of any person consisting of selling, installing, maintaining, servicing, altering, replacing or moving any alarm system or component parts thereof in or on any building, structure or facility, or responding to alarm systems.

    "Alarm business operator" means any person who operates any business engaged in the sale and installation, maintenance, alteration or servicing of the alarm systems, or which responds to such alarm systems. Alarm business operator shall not include a business which merely sells from a fixed location or manufactures alarm systems, unless such business services, installs, monitors, or responds to alarm systems at protected premises.

    "Alarm owner" means any person who has installed in any premise an alarm system. An alarm owner is normally the owner of the premise or the individual who has care and control over the protected premises. The alarm owner shall be responsible for the proper installation, maintenance and use of the alarm system.

    "Alarm system" means any mechanical or electrical device designed to detect or enable a person to notify others of an unauthorized intrusion onto certain premises or the existence of an emergency on such premises, and which emits a sound or transmits a signal or message when activated. The following devices shall not constitute alarm systems within the meaning of this subsection:

    1.    Devices which do not register alarms that are audible, visible or perceptible outside the protected premises;

    2.    Devices which are not installed, operated or used for the purpose of reporting an emergency to the police;

    3.    Alarm devices affixed to motor vehicles; and

    4.    Alarm devices installed on a temporary basis by the police department.

    "Answering service" means a telephone answering service providing among its services the receiving on a continuous basis through trained employees of emergency signals from alarm systems, and the subsequent immediate relaying of the messages by live voice to the communication center.

    "Automatic dialing device" means an alarm system which automatically sends over regular telephone lines, by direct connection or otherwise, a prerecorded voice message indicating the existence of the emergency situation that the alarm system is designed to detect.

    "Central station" means an office to which alarm systems are connected, where operators supervise the circuits.

    "Direct line" means a telephone line leading directly from a central station to the communication center, where said line is used only to report emergency signals on a person-to-person basis.

    "Emergency" means the commission or attempted commission of a robbery or burglary.

    "False alarm" means the activation of an alarm system which results in a response by the police where an emergency does not exist. False alarms which the alarm owner can demonstrate were proximately caused by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or other violent acts of nature or circumstances over which the alarm owner has no control shall not be counted against an alarm owner for the purposes of false alarm charges.

    "Interconnect" means to connect an alarm system to a telephone line, either directly or through a mechanical device that utilizes a standard telephone for the purpose of using the telephone line to transmit an emergency message upon the activation of the alarm system.

    "Modified central system" means an office to which alarm systems are connected where operators supervise the circuits but where guards are not maintained to investigate alarm systems.

    "Person" shall include natural persons without regard to number or gender, any partnership, corporation, and any other type of legal entity.

    "Primary trunkline" means a telephone line leading directly into the communication center for the purpose of handling emergency calls on a person-to-person basis, and which is identified as such by a specific number included among the emergency numbers listed in the telephone directory issued by the telephone company, covering the service area within the police department's jurisdiction.

    "Siren" means any audible noise similar to that sounded by an authorized emergency vehicle under the conditions set forth in Section 21055 of the California Vehicle Code.

    "Special trunkline" means a telephone line  leading into the communication center and having the primary purpose of handling emergency signals or messages originating through a central station, modified central station or answering service. (Ord. 497 § 1 (part), 1993)