Guard response services available as another approach to verification

Technology may be paving the way for new methods of alarm verification, but Jim Osborne, president of American Response Center, Euclid, Ohio, said some customers are choosing to use initial alarm response companies as the means for reducing false alarms. Although response companies, which respond to an alarm in person before seeking aid from police, have been around for a long time, Osborne said there is renewed interest in their use. Economically, he said, it’s often better after the first false alarm to employ an alarm response company. Some are armed guards who can deal with an intrusion, while others merely serve for verification purposes, he said, before the signal is passed on to the central station and the police. Osborne said he is bringing in two or three response companies to meet with dealers to discuss the service. Commercial accounts in particular, he said, are interested in this alarm verification option. Dee Kopcyznski, head of staff for McMinnville, Ore.-based A&E Security and Electronic Solutions, agreed that more commercial clients are turning to guard services or response companies as a means of reducing false alarm calls. “We’ve seen several of our clients do that,” she said. “They’ll call in a guard company to take it out of the policeman’s hands.” Corporate clients go with this option, she said, “because they’re just saying they don’t want to deal with it (the false alarm issue).” However, in the areas in the Southeast served by CMS Computerized Monitoring Services, based in Longwood, Fla., the use of response companies hasn’t caught on, said President Tony Wilson.