Simpson, Clary Recognized for NFPA-72 Efforts

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At the 2018 TMA Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Vector Security’s Rick Simpson, left, and Bay Alarm’s Shane Clary, right, pictured with TMA President Ivan Spector, were honored with TMA President’s Awards for their efforts on the NFPA-72 initiative earlier this year. “Shane and Rick did an incredible job on the Industry’s behalf,” said Spector. “There is no one who knows the codes like Rick, and no one who can give the kind of presentation [to the NFPA Standards Council] that Shane did. I was truly honored and humbled to have shared the moments with them both.”

Read the latest on the NFPA-72 initiative. 

TMA Honors Bud Wulforst with Stanley Lott Award

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Bud and Laurie Wulforst with the Lott Award, October 2018. Photo by Ralph Sevinor.

TMA Past President Bud Wulforst was announced as a new recipient of the association’s highest honor, the Stanley C. Lott Memorial Award for Exemplary Service, at the 2018 Annual Meeting. This award was created to honor the memory of Lott, renowned for his efforts to lead and financially support the Association through difficult times.

Wulforst, with more than half-a-century in the electronic security industry, built and sold five companies, most recently selling Nevada-based A-1 Security to Stanley Convergent Security Solutions. He has been devoted to the industry and its causes, helping many colleagues improve their operations and profitability, and assisted some in selling their businesses. Over the years he has been associated with more than a dozen industry-focused organizations, remaining an active member of the TMA board of directors since his presidency.

Sons Howard Wulforst and Leif Wulforst accepted the award on Wulforst’s behalf. “I finally finished the race,” said Wulforst with a smile. “When my sons told me I had received the award, I was dumbfounded – almost speechless. It’s a wonderful honor.

“I knew Stan Lott well,” he continued. “He was really a mentor to me; he encouraged me to join the association back in the late 80s, and explained how things worked – it was very helpful! It’s truly an honor to join the others who have received this award named for Stan.”

“It was indeed an honor to present Bud with the Lott Award in Palm Beach this year,” said TMA President Ivan Spector. “Bud leads with a quiet and determined leadership style – always very low key and spot on with his advice and comments. He is very insightful, always helpful and never says no to assisting on various projects. He is one of the reasons why TMA is so successful — both in the past and in mentoring new Industry leaders of the future.”

Register Now! TMA Virtual Product Review Series: Umbo Light A.I. Video

Got 15 minutes? Register for TMA’s next Virtual Product Review (VPR) on “Improving Operator Efficiency with A.I.” on December 12, 2018 at 1:00 pm ET.

False alerts from weather, animals, and other triggers have direct effects on how profitable your central station can be. But the tools widely available for minimizing these nuisance false alerts are lacking.

Umbo Light is a powerful security video A.I. service that helps monitoring scale. With 98% accuracy in seeing humans and human behaviors, this solution ignores car headlights, animals, weather and more to send only true, accurate alerts to your operators.

This 15-minute webinar demonstrates using actual video clips and demos, the power of Light’s A.I. technology, already being used by leading stations with direct impact to the bottom line.

Register now.

TMA Virtual Product Reviews are webinars inspired by the popular two-minute “lighting round sessions” we offer at TMA Annual Meetings, where our Sponsors and Associate Members have an opportunity to speak about their products. The Virtual Product Review expands the lightning round concept into a 15-minute virtual live product review from a current TMA advertiser, in which attendees can learn more about a new/improved product or service and ask questions.

Did you miss our previous VPRs? Catch them at TMA Product Reviews.

Save the dates for our next scheduled VPRs:
• December 19 @ 1:00 pm ET – Johnson Controls/Tyco Security Products
• January 15, 2019 @ 2:00 pm ET – Bold Perennial Cash Flow

AvantGuard’s Justin Bailey Joins TMA Board of Directors

JBaileyTMA is pleased to announce that Justin Bailey, President and COO of AvantGuard Monitoring Centers, is newly-appointed to the TMA Board of Directors as a representative of the Contract Monitoring classification.

Bailey began his career building technology solutions for some of the world’s largest companies. Technology consulting introduced him to the monitoring industry, and he has been a full time member of the constantly growing team at AvantGuard for the last eight years. He is passionate about success and innovation as well as leadership and growth.

“I’m excited to join the TMA board, after having served on committees for a number of years,” said Bailey. “I see the pace of change increasing from within the industry as well as from disruptors, and know we need to evolve more quickly as an industry to remain relevant.  I look forward to working with the other TMA board members to that end.”

AvantGuard is one of the nation’s largest wholesale monitoring providers and offers security, fire, PERS, mPERS, and IoT monitoring services. AvantGuard also offers cloud monitoring services including hybrid monitoring solutions. With offices in Utah and Idaho, AvantGuard is committed to providing great service through people and technology. Under his leadership, the company naturally has strength in technology and innovation, and those things are critical underpinnings to AvantGuard’s desire to ensure everyone they serve knows they “[are] In Good Company.”

 

 

TMA Committee Co-Chair Ron Rothman Joins SightLogix Board of Directors

ron-rothman-headshotTMA Marketing/Communications Committee Co-Chair Ron Rothman, formerly Honeywell Security Global President and a TMA board member, has joined SightLogix’s board of directors. Sightlogix, a new TMA associate member, makes smart thermal camera systems that protect some of the world’s most important sites, including assets in the energy, transportation, chemical, utility, communications, government and defense industries – as well as private, independent businesses around the world

Rothman will help guide SightLogix growth initiatives, drawing on his longstanding record of building and transforming security businesses. “Ron is a visionary leader with unparalleled success in the security industry,” said John Romanowich, SightLogix president and CEO. “His deep knowledge and long history of accomplishments make him an ideal advisor, and I am thrilled to welcome Ron to our team.”

Rothman brings over thirty years of security leadership to SightLogix, rising from inside sales to president of the Honeywell Security Group & ADI Distribution (2010 to 2015), a global $3 Billion strategic business unit within Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions.

“SightLogix has a reputation for offering one of the most reliable and innovative solutions for outdoor security,” said Rothman. “I look forward to working with the Board and SightLogix management to help them align strategy, technology, and operations to accelerate our growth.”

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Sightlogix CEO John Romanowich addresses the TMA members at the Annual Meeting as part of the  associate members’ Lightning Round presentation.

 

UL Update: Close Before You Doze

by Steve Schmit, Program Manager, UL LLC

UL is honored to count TMA as a partner in our mission to create safe living and working environments for people. We work together most directly through our Certificate Service Program, which delivers the benefits of standards compliant alarm service to communities and businesses. At the same time in communities where UL Fire Alarm Certificates are required, your UL Certification gives you access to a unique and valuable market.

Educating the community and those responsible for ensuring public safety is key to creating these kinds of markets. We see many opportunities to work together on community education in order to advance both of our mutual public safety and business objectives.

In that spirit, this month we highlight UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute’s “Close Before You Doze” campaign, our most recent public safety outreach program. The campaign package includes:

  • A critical safety message about contemporary home fires
  • A video that dramatically illustrates the effects of closed vs open bedroom doors in home fires
  • A toolbox of community & first responder resources

While UL’s outreach has touched a wide audience (8.5 million video views to date), there is still much work to do. We invite you, as partners in our mission, to consider bringing it to public safety officials in your markets. Alternatively, we would be delighted to talk about how you might use these materials in your own organization’s public service messaging. Either way, there is an opportunity to leverage the UL public safety message and brand to create a positive environment for discussion of UL Certificated alarm service.

Why “Close Before You Doze”?

  • 25 years ago, occupants typically had 17 minutes to evacuate a home after a smoke detector annunciation.
  • Today, typical safe egress time is about 3 minutes, due to the much higher use of synthetics in furnishings, floors, and fixtures.
  • Research tests show that simply closing a bedroom door can significantly extend the survivability time for people in the room.

Test results are clear and the message is simple. However, communicating with the public, in ways that inspire behavior changes, can be a challenge. To help, UL established a dedicated website to serve as a resource clearinghouse. Visit closeyourdoor.org to explore. Be sure to check the First Responders section as well. You could be the one that brings a turnkey public safety campaign to your market’s public safety partners.

About UL FSRIUL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) advances fire research knowledge and develops cutting edge, practical fire service education aimed at helping firefighters stay safe while more effectively protecting people and property. Working in partnership with the fire service, research departments, and agencies, UL FSRI executes firefighter research and makes the results widely available to the global fire community.

Leading Law Enforcement Associations Back Model Alarm Ordinance

Best Practices Developed by Industry and Law Enforcement

Two of the nation’s leading public safety associations have passed resolutions in support of members utilizing the Model Ordinance for Alarm Management and False Alarm Reduction developed in partnership between law enforcement and the electronic security industry through the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC).

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) approved a resolution at its 2018 Annual Conference “encouraging the use of this 2018 Model Ordinance…and all of the best practices.”

The National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) also passed a resolution “recognizes the need for and value of strong enforcement recommended in this Model Ordinance to achieve the desired reduction in alarm dispatches experienced by police agencies…”

The recently updated model ordinance has been the result of close collaboration between SIAC and law enforcement for the past 20 years. While the ordinance has been endorsed at the committee level, this is the first time that both IACP and NSA have endorsed the ordinance on a national level.

“By working together we have been able to significantly reduce unnecessary police dispatches while at the same time maintaining the police response to alarms,” said Stan Martin, Executive Director of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition. “Alarm systems reduce crime and protect homes, businesses, places of worship and schools. We want to make sure criminals know police are responding. It is an important component to protecting people and property and reducing crime.

“Every best practice in the model ordinance has been tried and tested for effectiveness in reducing false alarms and the resulting dispatches,” said Martin. “In addition to IACP and NSA fifteen State Chiefs of Police organizations across the U.S. use some form of this model and recommend its use to chiefs within their respective states. When all recommendations within the model are followed and strictly enforced dispatch reductions of 40-50% can be expected with 85% of the permitted systems in any given year not requiring even one law enforcement dispatch.”

Every year dozens of the nation’s 18,000 law enforcement agencies consider creating or amending an alarm ordinance. SIAC is funded by the alarm industry and has a team of experts, including retired chiefs, to assist local communities in developing and implementing the model ordinance to meet their needs. “SIAC needs support from the alarm industry to continue this important mission,” said Martin.

Support SIAC with a contribution today.

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SIAC Executive Director Stan Martin with Charles Brobeck, Retired Police Chief, Irvine (CA); SIAC Liaison

 

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Glen Mowrey, SIAC Law Enforcement Liaison (L) and Bill Berger, U.S. Marshall, Central District of Florida; Retired Police Chief, Palm Bay (FL); Past President, IACP.

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Photos from the Alarm Industry Associations’ Reception at the IACP Annual Meeting in October 2018.