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News
(August 2007)
Due to
the extraordinary amount of spam we are receiving, we have
decided to remove our email links from our website.
Unscrupulous operators use programs that
scan the internet's websites and harvest email addresses to
send spam to. It is unfortunate that this has forced
us to remove our email addresses from our site, as the
amount of spam has grown to unmanageable proportions.
(April, 2006)
We Moved!
On April 20th, 2006, we set up shop in Oswego, Illinois.
We will miss Lemont - we had 6 great years there, with its
great people and fine places to eat, but we are also very
excited to be in our brand new building. Our new
facility doubles our office and warehouse space, and should
serve us well for many years to come.
(July, 2005)
User manuals on line.
Visit the
Manuals
page for
your user manual needs. We're constantly updating our
website, and will be adding more manuals whenever they
become available. If you need a manual, let us
know, and we'll try to find it for you!
(June, 2005)
Verified alarm response - what it means
to you
I read the following article online today
and it reminded me of an incident a few years ago.
During a holdup, one of our clients secretly pressed the
silent holdup alarm to summons the police. The alarm
was received at our central station, and the operator
dispatched the police to the site. Or should I say,
attempted to dispatch the police. When the police
received the call, they told the central station operator
that they must verify the alarm before a dispatch could be
made.
Verifying an alarm means the central
station operator must call the location where the alarm
originated from, and verify the activation wasn't just a
false alarm. It is an awful side effect of the false
alarm problem that plagues our industry.
It has been said that as much as 97% of
all alarm activations are false alarms! How is that
possible?
Most of the false alarms are from operator
error. Locking the business up while an employee is
still inside, or walking in a door that is not a designated
entry door. It's an enormous problem that's eliciting
police departments everywhere to take tough measures against
alarm operators in an effort to curb expenses related to
dispatching false alarms.
If you have a false alarm problem, whether
it be from a door that doesn't close tight, a device that
has gone bad, or are in need of a business plan to make sure
that everybody is out of the building before the alarm is
armed for the night, give us a call and we can help.
The following article demonstrates what the alternatives are
when a "verified response" ordinance is passed. Please
- do your part!
Alarm rule slowed response in Atlanta court slayings
By Associated Press |
June 25, 2005
ATLANTA -- When a
gunman opened fire at the county courthouse in
March, a deputy followed a new policy and tried four
times to verify a distress call before sending help,
The Atlanta Journal- Constitution reported
yesterday.
The policy, aimed at reducing time wasted on false
alarms, was issued in January by one of the people
killed in the rampage, the newspaper said.
On March 11, Brian
Nichols, a defendant in a rape trial, allegedly
overpowered a lone deputy and stole her gun.
Authorities say he then killed Judge Rowland Barnes,
court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, and sheriff's
Sergeant Hoyt Teasley. Federal agent David Wilhelm
was killed later that day. Prosecutors are seeking
the death penalty against Nichols, who was arrested
the following morning.
In a Jan. 21 memo
obtained by the newspaper, deputy Paul Tamer
protested to his superiors about the new rule, which
had been issued by Teasley. ''It is far more prudent
to continue dispatching deputies to office and
[judges'] chamber alarms rather than risking injury
or death to a judge or staff member," Tamer wrote to
Major Orlando Whitehead, who directed courthouse
security.
It was Tamer, in
the control room the morning of the shootings, who
made repeated attempts to confirm the distress call
from Barnes's courtroom. According to Tamer's memo,
he tried to persuade Teasley to reverse the rule but
Teasley said he would ''accept any blame" if things
went wrong.
Other Scams... We've heard this one a few
times: It's 3:00 AM and you receive a phone call. The voice
on the other end tells you "We received an alarm from you. What
is your passcode?" I don't know about you, but at 3:00 AM, I
don't make the best decisions in the world, and that's what the scammer
is counting on. Never give out your passcode to anyone.
If you feel your passcode may have been
compromised, please notify us immediately to have it changed.
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