SDM’s guide to monitoring services is a resource
to help you locate and select a service to
monitor your subscribers’ accounts.
Monitoring of customer accounts by third-party
central stations can provide advantages to
security dealers whose account bases may be too
small to establish their own central stations or
who wish to specialize in other areas of the
business.
Using a third-party central station can
delegate employee training for the computerized
services and systems used in modern central
stations to specialists. Their economies of
scale by serving many dealers can reduce
dealers’ monitoring costs to a level lower than
what the dealers could provide with their own
central stations. These savings can be passed on
to the customer and bring more business to
security dealers.
With today’s nationwide communications
networks, accounts no longer have to be
monitored in the area or even the state in which
they are located, as long as the central
stations meet all applicable state regulations
for monitoring accounts and qualifying their
employees.
They can respond instantaneously to alarms
and dispatch authorities within seconds. Audio
and video verification also is becoming
available to prevent false dispatches.
Many third-party central stations can be as
local as the dealers they serve and provide
additional advantages. They can know an area
intimately and provide directions not only from
mapping software but from experience. They also
can offer services customized to particular
dealers regardless of the size of the dealer’s
business and a responsiveness that dealers and
their customers appreciate.
Verified Response: Trend or Blip?
Verified response policies and ordinances
continue to gain attention across the United
States. In March, SDM magazine began a series of
regular updates on this issue. In a
collaboration with the Security Industry Alarm
Coalition (SIAC), which works with law
enforcement, industry and public officials to
reduce alarm dispatches, SDM provides key
phrases, definitions and explanations of
verified response, along with alternatives to
verified response.
In future issues, as a part of the Verified
Response series, SDM and SIAC will provide an
updated table of verified response locations. Of
the roughly 18,000 law enforcement jurisdictions
nationwide, 24 have adopted some form of
verified response to alarm signals.
According to Stan Martin, executive director
of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC),
because the majority of non-response policies
have been implemented in the last few years, it
is too early to tell what the full effect of
such a policy might be. SIAC works with law
enforcement, industry and public officials to
reduce alarm dispatches.
According to Martin, to understand the
process of a policy or ordinance, alarm
companies need to understand the issues driving
it. Alarm companies can ask themselves:
Has the local security industry formed a
working relationship with local police chiefs,
alarm unit managers, and city or county
councils? What are the current ordinances and
are they effective? Is the local alarm industry
organized and does it have a strong local or
state association?
For more information, visit SDM’s Web site.
American Digital Monitoring
Seattle, WA • (800) 309-1009
Monitoring Services: Digital transmission,
long-range radio, cellular, Internet, remote
video, listen-in/two-way voice, off-site access
control administration, GPS
Listings/Certifications: UL, Factory Mutual
Also: Offering wholesale monitoring including remote dealer access and
subscriber access using www.gotomyalarm.com
