Briefs

CSAA education programs achieve milestones ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The central station at Protelec Alarms here has become the first Canadian company to earn the Five Diamond Central Station designation from the Central Station Alarm Association. The company is also only the 18th overall to earn that designation. In order to be Five Diamond certified, all of a central station’s personnel must complete CSAA’s Central Station Operator Level I online training. The program recently celebrated its 500th graduate, Stephanie Oliver of Vector Security’s Wilkes-Barre, Pa., facility, which is also a Five Diamond central station. L.A. considers higher fines, no ‘free’ false alarms LOS ANGELES - Just over three months into the year, city officials here are proposing some changes to the Los Angeles Police Department’s policy for burglar alarm response. The Los Angeles City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Monday endorsed raising the fee for false alarms from $95 to $115 and imposing that fine on the first false alarm at an address, rather than the third within a year. Each subsequent false alarm would result in a $50 escalation in the fine per incident. The cost of a city alarm permit would remain unchanged at $31 with an annual renewal rate of $30. C.O.P.S. completes receiver upgrade WILLIAMSTOWN, N.J. - C.O.P.S. Monitoring has completed an upgrade of its alarm receivers in an effort to allow its dispatchers to process two-way signals faster. Signals now go through an Osbourne Hoffman 2000E receiver. The company has also added a demo service that will allow dealers to plug in a demo kit at a customer site, set off an alarm and have a C.O.P.S. dispatcher respond from a script.