Guard service firm goes full service

INDIANAPOLIS--When Myers Protection Services, a security guard firm, scooped up two alarm companies last year, its reach shifted to installation and monitoring. In November, with the added services, the company relocated to a larger facility that houses a central station. The company now has 800 accounts, thanks to the acquisitions of Excalibur Protection Services of central Indiana in January 2004 and Florida-based Alert Security Professionals in August this year. Myers Protection Services opened in 1998, and its parent company Myers Investigators, which began three years earlier, will facilitate growth for the next ten years at the new headquarters. As part of that growth, MPS plans to purchase alarm companies with 500 to 1,000 accounts, said David Myers, president and chief executive officer at the company. "My goal is to make an acquisition every 18 to 20 months," Myers said. The new facility has more than 1,000 square-feet than the previous location. The central station was designed with more capacity for phone lines and a dedicated power box with underground lines. "The central station is isolated with secured access, which was not available at the old building," Myers added. The next step for the central station is to meet the listing requirements for Underwriter's Laboratories, which has given the company two years to gain approval. Currently, MPS subs out commercial or residential accounts that require monitoring by a UL-listed central station. Myers plans to have the central station UL approved in the next year and a half. "If we are going to be a credible player, we need to be UL certified," he added. For more on this story, see the December issue of Security Systems News.