Security Sales has learned that there may be some unrest brewing among the ranks of the California Alarm Association (CAA). According to CAA Secretary Todd W. Schwenk of Eye-On Alarm in San Leandro, Calif., high-ranking members of the association have formed the California Alarm Company Owner Operator Network (CACOON) to provide CAA members with an alternative choice in candidates for the organization’s executive board election. Schwenk says CACOON consists of former or current local chapter CAA presidents, representing four different companies with thousands of accounts and decades of experience. “This is our crossing the Delaware to fight for alarm industry freedom,” states Schwenk, CACOON’s presidential nominee. “Any one-candidate election is not a democracy, but a dictatorship.”
CAA Executive Director Jerry Lenander would not comment on the development, while CAA President Tony Smith notes that an official response will be forthcoming. Schwenk recently gained notoriety as a fundraiser, flag waver and nationwide speaker in the battle and lawsuit against the city of Livermore, Calif., to stop it from limiting alarm monitoring to a single central station of its choosing. A settlement of that dispute is expected soon. The CAA’s election is set for December at its annual winter conference in San Francisco.