Guard Company Increases Business by Replacing Police Response to Alarms

PORTLAND, Ore.

With police departments and agencies continuing to say they are having greater difficulty responding to burglar alarm systems, a guard company that specializes in alarm system response in Oregon and Washington state has seen its business skyrocket. First Response Inc., based in Beaverton, Ore., are among several firms that specialize in alarm response that are seeing increasing business, according to the Oregonian newspaper.

First Response, whose market stretches from Salem, Ore., to Seattle, has seen a 21-percent increase in revenue since 2001 and gone from 15 employees to 195. A great deal of that increased business has come from Salem, where verified response was initiated in 2004 and Eugene, Ore., which has had a verified response policy in place since 2002.

David Foglio, president and CEO of First Response, told the Oregonian that he credits reduced police response and the rising focus on alarm response to his increased business. “It’s a good time to be in the safety and security businesses overall,” Foglio said. “The role of private security is growing as police departments face budget constraints.”

Frank Klejmont, director of security for the Portland School District, told the newspaper he has used First Response for more than a year to patrol the district’s 100 schools on nights and weekends. “What is happening to cities is they are saying police are not able to respond to alarms,” Klejmont said. “Security companies are filling in the void.”

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