The Monitoring Association Onboards Its 50th, 51st, and 52nd PSAP

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The Monitoring Association (TMA) is pleased to announce the addition of three new PSAPs (Public Safety Answering Points) to its ASAP-to-PSAP service, bringing the total number of participating jurisdictions up to 52. Bradley County, TN; Virginia Beach, VA; and, Burleson, TX are the three latest municipalities to go live. Launched in 2011 as a public-private partnership, TMA’s ASAP-to-PSAP service is designed to increase the accuracy and efficiency of calls for service from alarm companies to PSAPs.

Bradley County, TN was the 50th PSAP in the United States and the fourth PSAP in Tennessee to implement the ASAP program. On Wednesday, April 10, 2019, this program went live with ADS Security Nashville initially, followed by Vector Security, Rapid Response Monitoring, Protection One, Brinks, National Monitoring Center, Vivint, Tyco (Johnson Controls), ADT, Alert 360, Security Central, Guardian Protection Services, and Affiliated Monitoring.

“The Bradley County 911 Center is very excited to implement the ASAP program at our facility”, said Randy Sharp, Network Administrator.  “We have only been “live” with the product for 5 days and out of 95 alarm calls, 15% came in through ASAP freeing up approximately 45 minutes of our dispatchers/call takers time.  Time is of the greatest importance in a 911 center and ASAP is giving us back lifesaving minutes.”

The City of Virginia Beach VA is the 51st PSAP in the United States and the ninth PSAP in the Commonwealth of Virginia to implement the ASAP program. Virginia Beach went live on beginning Monday, May 20 through May 22, 2019 initially with Vector Security, followed by Rapid Response Monitoring, Guardian Protection Services, Tyco (Johnson Controls), AT&T Digital Life, National Monitoring Center, Affiliated Monitoring, Brinks Home Security, Vivint, Security Central, Richmond Alarm, Protection One, and ADT.

“Every second counts during an emergency,” said Stephen Williams, Director, City of Virginia Beach Emergency Communications and Citizen Services. “With ASAP, we are pleased to be able to reduce call processing times to provide quicker and more accurate emergency response to our citizens in Virginia Beach.”

The City of Burleson TX is the 52nd PSAP in the United States and the seventh PSAP in the state of Texas to implement the ASAP program. The  City of Burleson went live on Tuesday, May 28, 2019 and Wednesday, May 29, 2019 initially with Brinks Home Security, followed by Vector Security, Rapid Response Monitoring, National Monitoring Center, Security Central, Vivint, Protection One, AT&T Digital Life, Guardian Protection Services, Affiliated Monitoring, and Tyco (Johnson Controls).

Learn more about TMA’s ASAP-to-PSAP service.

Dauphin County PA Operational with ASAP

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Dauphin County PA is the 47th PSAP in the United States and the fourth PSAP in the state of Pennsylvania to implement the ASAP program. This is the second Hexagon ASAP deployment in Pennsylvania following the Hexagon ASAP deployment at Chester County PA.

“The integration between the Computer Aided Dispatch System and the Alarm Monitoring Association not only reduced length of time to dispatch first responders to monitored alarm incidents, it also permits our call takers to remain available to process 911 calls.”, said Stephen Libhart, Director Dauphin County Department of Public Safety.

Dauphin County went live on Tuesday, February 26, 2019 with  Vector Security initially, followed by Rapid Response Monitoring, Protection One, Security Central, Vivint, Affiliated Monitoring, Brinks Home Security, Tyco (Johnson Controls), AT&T Digital Life, and Guardian Protection Services. ADT is anticipated to go live in April with Dauphin County.

Learn more about ASAP-PSAP.

Chesapeake, VA Goes Live with ASAP for Faster, More Accurate Emergency Response

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Technology Automates Emergency Response for More Speed and Accuracy

The City of Chesapeake, VA is the latest municipality to implement Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP), a technology designed to automate communication between alarm monitoring central stations and public safety dispatch/911 centers.

Chesapeake is the 42nd PSAP in the United States and 7th PSAP in Virginia to go live with the ASAP program as of October 12, 2018.

Electronic data transmission results in the following benefits for residents and first responders:

  • Fewer phone calls to emergency response centers. Alarm center data is passed to public safety dispatch/911 operators electronically within seconds and then provided to first responders upon dispatch.
  • Quicker processing times. Data doesn’t have to be input manually or communicated verbally, resulting in reduced hold times, less chance of human error, and faster responses.
  • Greater accuracy of information transmitted. Electronic transmission of data reduces chances for errors.

More than 900 Vector Security customers in Chesapeake will benefit from improved emergency response times via ASAP. Vector Security assisted the city by helping to perform extensive testing prior to the system going live.

“Virginia is where we debuted ASAP for the first time in 2012,” said Anita Ostrowski, Vice President of Central Station Services, Vector Security. “We’ve come a long way since being the first alarm company to introduce ASAP in Richmond, and we are glad to see the technology make its way into more municipalities across the nation, for the greater safety of our communities.”

ASAP was formed in partnership between The Monitoring Association and The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials, with Vector Security President and CEO Pamela J. Petrow co-chairing the committee.

The city of Chesapeake joins Richmond and Newport News, VA, as well as the counties of York, James City, Henrico and Loudon, VA as the latest emergency response center in the state to go live with ASAP technology.

Nationwide, nearly 50 agencies have implemented, or are in the process of implementing ASAP. For a current list:  https://tma.us/asap/