VIENNA, Va. – The Coordinated Alarm Reduction Effort (CARE) program is in the process of reforming itself to become a new entity called the Security Industry Alarm Coalition Inc. (SIAC). CARE, a program that helps educate security dealers and law enforcement on issues and ordinances related to false alarms, was previously directed and managed by the Alarm Industry Research & Educational Foundation (AIREF).
As SIAC, the group will now be able to engage in lobbying, have a board of nine directors – which includes the chairman – and will allow for long-term funding by sources other than the current four contributors (ADT; Ademco/Honeywell; Brink’s; and the Security Industry Association [SIA]). AIREF is a nonprofit foundation that cannot engage in lobbying.
The SIAC board is made up of two directors each elected by the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA), SIA, the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), and the Canadian Alarm and Security Association (CANASA). The eight board members then nominate the chairman of the board. At press time, SIAC members had nominated Lou Guthart as chair. He formerly held that position under AIREF.
“There are times where we would want to be able to be more proactive in helping a state get an ordinance passed. We felt uncomfortable as we approached that line with AIREF [as the parent organization],” says Stan Martin, executive director of SIAC. “As of right now, we don’t have any members other than directors of the four associations. Our plan is to include other interested parties and committees.”
Now that AIREF will no longer oversee SIAC (CARE), it will refocus and return to its original mission of providing research and education to and for the security industry; such as working to obtain grants for various studies, for example.
