Effective June 1, 2005 the Warwick Police will continue fingerprinting persons required by Law to undergo criminal background checks as a condition of employment for select occupations. However, due to recent Federal and Sate mandates the fingerprint process must now be performed on an automated system. This change has resulted in revisions to Warwick Police Department procedures and prompted the implementation of an appointment scheduling system outlined below, effective June 1, 2005. Furthermore, the department has recently hired and is in the process of training a new employee on the automated fingerprint system. We are confident that these changes and initiatives will result in a more efficient process. We hope you find the new process more accommodating and ask for your patience and cooperation during this transition period.
1. Applicants shall contact 468-4200 to schedule a fingerprinting appointment. Appointments will be scheduled between the hours 10:00am – 2:00 pm on Monday, Wednesday, or Fridays, beginning June 1, 2005.
2. Children, weapons, and personal property are prohibited in the processing area.
3. Positive Identification is required.
4. Effective July 1, 2007 the cost per card will increase from $30.00 to $36.00. This is due to increased costs of daily operations at the RI Department of Attorney General.
5. The fingerprint application form is provided below.
Click here for Fingerprint Form
Victim Services
The Warwick Police Department's Crime Victim Service Directory is now available online. You can retrieve the directory in Adobe PDF Format by clicking on the following link: Crime Victim Service Directory
The 2005 Victim/Witness survey is now available, please click on the following link to access the Adobe PDF Document: Victim/Witness Survey
Records Division
Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm
(401)468-4200
Cost - .15 per page
We will mail a report to you if you send a WRITTEN REQUEST and enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope and a check or money order for $5.00.
Please Note: In a motor vehicle accident, if a person is injured or damage to any one vehicle is over $1,000 you must fill out a State Accident Form. IT'S THE LAW.
VIN Inspection
Tuesday 10:30am to 2:30pm
Saturday 9:00am to 1:00pm
$10.00 fee
Licensing Division
Monday - Friday 9:00am to 3:00pm
Dog Licenses are available at the Animal Shelter:
Monday, Wednesday & Friday 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Tuesday 2:00pm - 6:00pm
Thursday, Saturday & Sunday 11:00am - 3:00pm
Alarm Ordinance
Editor's note--Section I of Ord. No. O-99-14, adopted March 15, 1999, amended art. III in its entirety, in effect repealing §§ 40-61--40-68 and enacting similar new provisions in lieu thereof as §§ 40-61--40-71. Formerly, such provisions derived from § I of Ord. No. O-97-1, adopted Jan. 21, 1997.
Sec. 40-61. Definitions.
Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the words and phrases used in this chapter shall have the following meanings:
Act of nature means an unusual, extraordinary, sudden and unexpected manifestation of the force of nature, the adverse effects of which cannot be prevented by reasonable human care, skill, or foresight. Such events include tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other similarly violent conditions.
Alarm business means the business of any individual, partnership, corporation or other entity engaged in the sale, lease, maintenance, service, repair, alter, replacement, moving or installation of any alarm system or in causing any alarm system to be sold, leased, maintained, serviced, repaired, altered, replaced, moved, or installed in or on any building, structure or facility, as defined in G.L. 1956, title 5, ch. 57.
Alarm permit means a permit issued by the city allowing the operation of an alarm system within the city.
Alarm system means any assembly of equipment, whether mechanical, electrical or otherwise arranged or designed to signal the occurrence of any illegal entry or other non-consensual activity requiring urgent attention and to which the police department is expected to respond, but does not include alarms installed in conveyances or fire alarms.
Alarm user means the person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company or organization of any kind in control of any building, structure or facility or portion thereof wherein an alarm system is maintained.
Appeal officer means the chief of police or an individual designated by the chief of police to act in the capacity as an impartial arbitrator to review appeals related to the enforcement of this article.
Automatic telephone dialing alarm system means the automatic dialing or any automatic telephone dialing alarm system and shall include any system which, upon being activated, automatically transmits by telephone or telephone line to the Warwick Police Department, a recorded message or code signal indicating a need for emergency response; or a system which, upon activation, connects to an answering service and/or monitoring facility whose function it is to transmit to the Warwick Police Department a need for emergency response.
False alarm means any activation of an "alarm system" as defined herein requiring police response with no evidence of an actual crime having been committed or other activity which warrants a call for immediate police assistance; but this definition does not include an alarm signal caused by an act of nature nor other extraordinary circumstances not reasonably subject to control by the alarm user or his/her agent.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-62. Required alarm system features.
(a) Backup power supply. All alarm systems shall have a backup power supply that will become effective for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power failure or outage in the source of electricity from the utility company.
(b) Automatic shutoff device. All alarm systems which utilize an audible bell, horn, siren or other sound emitting device shall be equipped with an automatic shut-off device which will deactivate the alarm system within 15 minutes after activation. All alarm users with audible bells, horns, sirens or other sound emitting devices shall install and maintain such automatic shut-off device within 90 days of the effective date of this article [March 15, 1999].
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-63. Confidentiality clause.
The information provided part of the alarm permit application pursuant to this article shall be confidential and shall not be subject to public inspection.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-64. Police response to alarm; determination of validity; report of false alarm.
(a) Whenever an alarm is activated in the city, thereby requiring an emergency response to the location by the police department, and the police department does respond, a police officer on the scene of the activated alarm system shall inspect the area protected by the system along with the alarm user and they shall determine whether the emergency response was in fact required as indicated by the alarm system or whether in some way the alarm system malfunctioned and thereby activated a false alarm.
(b) Should the police officer at the scene of the activated alarm system determine the alarm to be false, said officer shall make a report of the false alarm, a notification of which shall be mailed or delivered to the alarm user, at the address of the said alarm system installation location, advising the alarm user of the false alarm.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-65. Alarm user to respond to alarm.
An alarm user must respond or make arrangements for another responsible person to respond to the scene of an activated alarm within 30 minutes of the alarm activation. Should the alarm user or his/her designee fail to respond within 30 minutes as required herein, then the failure to respond shall be prima facie evidence that said alarm is a false alarm.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-66. Alarm review panel.
(a) The chief of police shall establish an alarm review panel for the purposes set forth in section 40-67. Said panel shall be comprised of seven members consisting of 1) two persons appointed by the chief of police, 2) one representative of the Alarm Association of Rhode Island, Inc. selected by the chief of police, 3) two residents of the City of Warwick, selected by the city council president, 4) the chair of the public safety committee of the Warwick City Council, and 5) the minority leader of the Warwick City Council. Members of this panel shall be appointed for a one-year term and are eligible for reappointment at the discretion of the appointing agent.
(b) The alarm review panel shall meet no less than bimonthly and shall serve without compensation.
(c) Decisions of the panel shall be determined by a majority vote.
(d) Meetings held by this panel in their official capacity shall comply with all mandates of the Rhode Island Open Meetings Laws.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99; Ord. No. O-99-36, § I, 8-11-99)
Sec. 40-67. False alarm assessment schedule.
(a) After the chief of police or his designee has initially recorded three separate false alarms from a security alarm system of one user within any one calendar year, then the alarm user will be notified by the chief of police, via regular mail, of such facts and require the alarm user to submit within ten working days of receipt of such notice, a report describing the alarm user's efforts to discover and eliminate the cause or causes of the false alarms. This notice shall further contain the dates and time of each alleged false alarm. After three false alarms in a calendar year the alarm system shall be inspected and certified by a licensed alarm business. Said inspections shall not be required more frequently then once per calendar year.
(b) Reports received by the chief of police under the provisions of this section shall be forwarded to the alarm review panel.
(c) In the event that the alarm review panel determines that a report submitted in accordance with the preceding paragraph is unsatisfactory or that the alarm user has failed to show by the report that reasonable steps have been taken to eliminate or reduce false alarms, then the chief of police will inform the alarm user, via regular mail, that subsequent false alarms will cause the alarm user to be assessed monetary charges as follows:
(1) For the fourth and subsequent false alarm in a calendar year, $51.00.
(d) If the alarm review panel is satisfied based on the report submitted by the user, that the action taken will substantially reduce the likelihood of further false alarms, the chief of police will notify the alarm users in writing that no assessment will be made at that time. However, the alarm user will be subject to assessment proceedings on the next false alarm signal transmitted.
(e) All fees assessed hereunder shall be made payable to the City of Warwick for deposit into the general fund.
(f) For purposes of this section, multiple false alarms received within a 24-hour period will be counted as one false alarm.
(g) Should an alarm user or his/her designee notify the police department prior to the arrival of the police at the location of the activated alarm that said alarm is false, thereby resulting in a nonemergency response by police, then the alarm user shall not be charged with a false alarm.
(h) The provisions of this section shall not apply to security alarm systems owned and/or operated by agencies of the City of Warwick, State of Rhode Island, or the United States of America.
(i) The alarm review panel may, at their discretion waive the assessment of an alarm user's first offense for a false alarm if said alarm user agrees to attend the false alarm prevention program described below.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-68. False alarm prevention program.
(a) The police department shall provide an educational program for the prevention of false alarms. The police department shall allow any alarm user to attend any scheduled false alarm prevention program.
(b) An alarm user who attends any false alarm prevention program provided pursuant to this section is not eligible to attend a false alarm prevention program again within 12 months from the day on which that person last attended the program unless such attendance is necessary to satisfy the requirements of section 40-67(f).
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-69. Appeals procedure.
Any alarm user who is aggrieved by a decision of the alarm review panel may, within five working days of the issuance of the chief's decision, appeal to the municipal court. The only grounds for appealing a decision of the chief of police are:
(1) Proof that a false alarm was caused by an act of nature or actions of any utility company.
(2) Written verification from the alarm user and the alarm business that all necessary steps have been taken to upgrade, improve and insure the accuracy of the security alarm system.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-70. Violations; penalty.
The following acts and omissions shall constitute violations of this article, punishable by fine of up to $250.00.
(1) Failure to obey an order of the chief of police to discontinue use of a security alarm system after exhaustion of the right to appeal.
(2) Failure to pay two or more consecutive assessments under the ordinance within 60 days from the date of assessment.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
Sec. 40-71. Regulation by police chief.
The chief of police shall promulgate such regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of this article.
(Ord. No. O-99-14, § I, 3-15-99)
