An Inside Look at Alarm Detection’s Award-Winning False Alarm Reduction Strategies
Thanks to a high standard of installation and monitoring excellence and a low tolerance for nuisance alarms, Alarm Detection Systems earned the 2018 Police Dispatch Quality Award.
ADS False Alarm Reduction Coordinator Mellissa Hodgetts and False Alarm Team Leader Ed Lubic proudly show off their PDQ trophy.
ASAP to PSAP: Better Communication Means Fewer False Dispatches
Alarm monitoring dates back to the mid-to-late 1800s, and since the introduction of the telephone have been reported to public safety primarily via calls carried by POTs lines. In today’s world where computers are communicating around the globe with ease, it is well past time to automate this important process.
Reducing communication errors also translates to fewer false dispatches. Alarm Detection Systems (ADS) has played a leading role promoting just such an advancement in the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP) to Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) initiative.
ADS EVP Ed Bonifas and Vector Security CEO Pam Petrow co-chair The Monitoring Association’s (TMA) ASAP Program Committee. The group coordinates all the operating committees within ASAP and oversees the contractors responsible for producing and maintaining the system.
“The goals of the ASAP program are well aligned with ADS’ goals,” says ADS False Alarm Coordinator Mellissa Hodgetts. Those goals are to 1) speed the processing of alarm signals, thus delivering the required public safety services faster; 2) reduce the potential for error by delivering an error-checked data packet to public safety without the human transaction that can produce errors; 3) reduce security monitoring providers’ footprint on public safety.
“By allowing faster processing of alarm signals, we will consume less time in the PSAPs to free up valuable resources for other life-safety functions,” adds Hodgetts.
To date, 30+ monitoring providers are ASAP active or in the process of becoming such, and some 40 PSAPs are online with ASAP or in the process of doing so.
Among the other companies that have implemented ASAP is the nation’s largest provider and 2018 PDQ runner-up, ADT.
“Right now, ADT is able to use ASAP with about 30% of police departments, mostly the larger ones, but growing the reach every week,” says Public Relations Director Bob Tucker. For more on ADT, see its profile within this feature.
PHOTO GALLERY: Get an inside look at Alarm Detection Services
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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