AICC News – Reminder: DC 202/771 Area Code Overlay

DOWNLOAD LETTER – This letter contains information about the District of Columbia 202/771 area code overlay as it relates to Alarm and Security Service Providers.

As co-chairs of the Industry’s DC 202/771 Area Code Overlay Implementation Committee, Karen Riepenkroger of T-Mobile and I would appreciate your assistance in sending out the attached letter to your membership reminding burglar and fire alarm companies and security providers of the start of mandatory 10-digit dialing in the DC 202 area on 10/9/2021.

It is imperative that alarm companies reprogram alarm panels in customers’ premises if they currently are programmed to dial out seven digits to reach the alarm monitoring bureau.  If they are dialing out seven digits now, they must be reprogrammed to dial out a ten-digit number which includes the 202 area code plus telephone number.

No change is needed if the alarm panels are currently dialing out ten-digits, or if they are dialing out a toll free number (800, 888, 844, etc.) to reach the alarm monitoring bureau.

More details are contained in the letter referenced above.  Please distribute this note and letter to all Alarm and Security Providers in the DC 202 area.

If you have any questions, please contact:

DC 202/771 Industry Committee Co-Chairs

Laura Dalton, Verizon
914-821-9686
laura.r.dalton@verizon.com

Karen Riepenkroger
913-315-8546
karen.s.riepenkroger@t-mobile.com

TMA 2021 Achievement Highlights

The value of TMA Membership is demonstrated with a 94%+ renewal rate for 2021. Many thanks to each of you! With your support and participation, as of early September, TMA has advanced the following initiatives:

  • A new requirement for the Five Diamond Designation was implemented this year. The Five Diamond Committee and the TMA Board moved to include the addition of a recertification component for the Operator courses to assist in keeping operators’ skills and knowledge current; certified operators will be required to recertify every three years. The new operator recertification requirement began with the 2021-2022 Designation renewal cycle. In addition, two new companies have joined the program so far this year.
  • Nearly 34,000 TMA Online Operator Courses have now been sold to over 31,000 alarm professionals. A new module on video monitoring is in production and will feature successful guidelines for operators who monitor video accounts, with a focus on verification practices to avoid false dispatches.
  • In collaboration with the Alarm Industry Communications Committee (AICC), TMA has been advocating for a delay in the AT&T 3G Sunset, as well as educating members on the issue. TMA assisted to provide members to the AICC lobbyist for calls with members of Congress.
  • TMA Learning Center (TLC), org, has been completely updated with dynamic new student resources and a more interactive training manager portal. TMA continues to partner with The CMOOR Group to maintain our learning management system. The new TMA Learning Center (TLC) site launched on September 2nd.
  • In tandem with the redesigned learning management system is the availability of the exciting newly released New Hire Assessment Tool. The tool, designed in a survey format, may be used as part of the hiring process, providing monitoring companies an instrument with which to measure prospective and/or new employees’ level of knowledge in various areas such as communication, critical thinking, customer service, cybersecurity, leadership and operations.
  • Virtual Meetings – COVID-19 prompted us to move our pivot our Fall 2020 meetings as well the 2021 Mid-year Meeting to a virtual platform. Volunteers and staff invested many hours to transition from an in-person event to a successful virtual format.
  • TMA has organized a Quarterly Meeting of Operations Professionals to discuss timely industry topics. The most recent topic focused on GPS and mobile monitoring.
  • The NextGen group initiated its Meet Your Mentor Series, the well-received event hosts live video interviews with accomplished and respected industry leaders.
  • TMA launched an updated Excellence Awards program. A significant change was creating new Monitoring Center of the Year categories based on company size.
  • Long Range Planning. A group of 22 staff and volunteers, led by Pam Petrow, from Vector Security, has been working on developing recommendations to the TMA Board on the future of TMA.
  • The ASAP-to-PSAP service continues its exponential growth this year, with 90 active ECCs and plans to reach 100 by year-end. The ASAP infrastructure is being moved to a virtualized cloud environment. ASAP now covers over 11% of the US population, that’s over 37,000,000 people covered nationwide!
  • TMA has submitted a proposal to UL for a permanent Work-from-Home solution in UL827, which is currently going through the UL approval process.
  • TMA started the development of a new ANSI-standards, the Alarm Validation Standard (TMA-AVS-01), which uses data relative to alarm activations to evaluate what is occurring at the protected premises and to provide that information to public safety.
  • A new dedicated NFPA 730/731 workgroup has been established to coordinate TMA actions related to NFPA 730, Guide for Premises Security and NFPA 731, Standard for the Installation of Electronic Premises Security Systems, which are “in cycle” for the 2023 editions.
  • TMA’s Standards Committee was restructured, creating dedicated workgroups to individually manage TMA efforts for each standard. This model builds on the success of the UL 827 workgroup.
  • TMA continues to issue certificates for the FirstNet National Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN), with 56 companies participating in the program and 41 certificates issued so far this year.
  • TMA’s Installation Quality Certification Program “IQ Certification,” the only quality control program for installations, maintenance and service of electronic security systems is growing with 13 IQ-certified companies. TMA also conducted several webinars promoting the program including webinars with Rapid Response Monitoring, AvantGuard Monitoring, and National Monitoring Center.
  • TMA continued its series of well-attended Virtual Town Halls focused on pandemic-related business operations solutions and other topics of importance to our members.
  • Our dedicated COVID-19 Resources web page was created to provide TMA members with quick and easy access to the latest information from federal and state guidelines and requirements. The page continues to be updated and serve as a valuable resource.

TMA would like to acknowledge and thank our many volunteers; your efforts allow us to succeed in elevating the professional monitoring industry. We look forward to another productive year with your continued support and engagement.