8.605 Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) "Agent" means a person, other than a burglar alarm salesman as defined in section 8.505, who is designated by the principal to be responsible for premises protected by an alarm system during the principal's absence or unavailability. The term "agent" does not include any person who receives any salary, fee, bonus or other valuable consideration for performing the duties of an agent unless such person is a bona fide employee of the principal having substantial duties paramount and not directly related to his capacity as agent.
(2) "Alarm system" means a device or system of interconnected devices, including hardware and related appurtenances, designed to give warning of activities indicative of felony and criminal conduct.
(3) "Annunciator" means that part of an alarm system, other than an automatic dialer, which communicates the fact that the system has been triggered.
(4) "Audible annunciator" means an annunciator which gives alarm by means of a bell, siren, buzzer or similar sound producing device mounted at some location other than wholly within a building; or which, when activated, is clearly audible at a distance of fifty feet or more outside of any building in which it is mounted.
(5) "Automatic dialer" means a device which is programmed to select a telephone number and deliver a warning message or signal over standard telephone lines using telephone voice communication equipment.
(6) "Chief" means the Chief of Police of the City of Medford, or a police officer under his jurisdiction designated by him to exercise any power or duty conferred under this chapter.
(7) "Department" means the City of Medford Police Department.
(8) "City of Medford telephone line" means a telephone line which rings or terminates on the premises of the City of Medford.
(9) "False alarm" means any activation of an alarm system upon or following which communication is made to the Department that an alarm has been triggered, except alarms resulting from one of the following causes:
(a) Criminal activity or unauthorized entry;
(b) Natural or unnatural disaster, electrical service interruption, or telephone line malfunction not caused by the principal or an agent of the principal. If the alarm, when communicated to the Department before an officer is dispatched to investigate, is clearly identified to the Department as resulting from authorized entry, authorized system test, or other noncriminal cause, it shall not be considered as a false alarm. If police units, responding to an alarm and checking the protected premises according to standard Department operating procedure, do not discover any evidence of unauthorized entry or criminal activity, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the alarm is false. Entries in the Police Department "Daily Bulletin" shall be prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein with regard to alarms and responses.
(10) "On-premises annunciator" means an annunciator which is designed to give warning only to a person or persons on the protected premises, and which is neither an "audible" or "remote" annunciator as those terms are defined in this section.
(11) "Principal" means the person, firm or corporation whose premises are protected by an alarm system. In the event that a building having more than one tenant is protected by a single alarm system, the term "principal" means the building owner.
(12) "Protected premises" means all of that contiguous area, including buildings, protected by a single alarm system and under common ownership and use.
(13) "Remote annunciator" means an annunciator located at a terminal on the premises of a burglar alarm company, or other location not a part of the protected premises.
(14) "Sensor" means that part of an alarm system which is designed to detect the happenings of some event or existence of some condition indicative of criminal activity or unauthorized entry.
(15) "Visual annunciator" means an annunciator installed entirely on the protected premises and which gives inaudible warning by means of a flashing light or other visible signal.
(16) "This ordinance" shall mean sections 8.605 through 8.695 of this code.
(17) "Fiscal year" means July 1 through June 30.