Chester County, PA Activates the ASAP Service

On July 30, Chester County became the 39th 9-1-1 PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) in the United States and the 3rd in Pennsylvania to implement the ASAP-to-PSAP service (ASAP®). ASAP, launched in 2011 as a public-private partnership, is designed to increase the accuracy and efficiency of calls for service from alarm companies to PSAPs. The ASAP service utilizes ANSI standard protocols developed cooperatively by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and The Monitoring Association (TMA).

Director of Chester County Department of Emergency Services Robert J. Kagel said that “Deploying ASAP-to-PSAP is another tool for Chester County to provide our citizens with the most efficient 9-1-1 service possible.  By having the information from alarm companies being entered into the Computer-aided-dispatch system we will save as much as 2-3 minutes. This will help save lives and protect property.”

Vector Security was the first alarm monitoring company to go live with Chester County. They were followed by Tyco, Rapid Response, Brinks, Vivint, and Protection 1. Guardian, Affiliated and ADT will be live in a few days.