Monitoring Industry Faces New Threat in Illinois

The monitoring industry is facing another threat in Illinois. Schaumburg, a community with 1200 commercial fire alarm systems, has passed an ordinance where the municipality prescribes that all commercial fire alarm systems must be monitored by a single local monitoring center of their choosing.

In the minutes from a recent public safety meeting obtained by Illinois ESA, a trustee asks about fixing various identified issues, and the fire chief responds: “The fault lies with their monitoring company that is failing to do the job the business is paying them for.” In another meeting record, the chief is cited as saying, “Remote companies hire minimum wage staff and aren’t diligent on how they do their job.” This leads to the mandate that the local municipality dictates who may monitor commercial fire alarms.

The IESA is working to engage the business community on this issue and will attend the next Schaumburg Board Meeting on October 11. CSAA leadership is closely involved. If you monitor in Illinois, please contact IESA Executive Director Kevin Lehan at k.Lehan@emergency24.com for more information. Please direct any other comments or questions to Executive Director Jay Hauhn at jhauhn@csaaintl.org.