Tag Archive for: False Alarms

TMA Joins SIAC in Recognizing Ron Walters for Industry Contributions

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Walters’ Leadership on Alarm Issues Spans Decades

2014 CAA San Francisco Convention - Public SafetyRonald “Ron” Walters has retired as director of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) after a stellar career that included work in law enforcement, corporate security, an alarm company owner and director of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition.

“Ron’s leadership role in our industry helped lay the foundation for creating SIAC. He would fly to a city on a moment’s notice and meet with adversarial city council members to convey our factual information,” said Stan Martin, SIAC executive director. “He was very effective and everyone in our industry has benefited from his groundbreaking work with dealer education and standards development related to alarm management.”

Walters gained prominence through his work on a number of industry issues. Among them was his role in the Model States Program in 1997. Walters was selected to coordinate data collection in the state of Florida, working with more than 30 police departments to study the causes and potential solutions of false alarm dispatches. The results were combined with information from three additional states ending with the publication and distribution of the Model States Report in 1998, a document that still influences the industry today. He also contributed to the Coordinated Alarm Reduction Effort (CARE) led by the NBFAA and IACP from 1999-2003.

In 2004, Walters received the prestigious William N. Moody award that acknowledges individuals “who unselfishly give of their time and talents to alarm management issues and who reflect the attributes of Bill Moody which include integrity, fairness and perseverance in the face of adversity.” Very unique qualities in honor of a very special person indeed.

“It has been a real privilege to work with my colleagues at SIAC as well as leaders in law enforcement and elected officials throughout the country,” said Walters. “Our industry would be in a much different place today if we had not come together with law enforcement to develop real solutions to the false alarm issues while maintaining police response to alarms.

“I think we all know that the fight isn’t over and that there are still individuals who unfairly attack our industry and try to undermine its ability to protect citizens and property,” he said. “We must continue to be vigilant and support SIAC’s efforts, or we will continue to face misguided legislation that can have a severe impact in our industry.”

“It has been a real privilege to work with Ron,” said Martin. “I know his family will enjoy spending more time with him, and Ron can enjoy some downtime from a long and successful career.”

“When I walked into the Miami Police Academy in 1968 I never dreamed I would spend the next 50 years working every day to keep people safe,” said Walters. “Here I am at the end of two decades of working for our industry and for alarm users everywhere. In that capacity I have traveled well over a million miles, visited virtually every state, made hundreds of presentations and most important met thousands of some of the best people in the world. Thank you all for the many great memories.”

“On behalf of the members of The Monitoring Association, I thank Ron for his time as a law enforcement enforcement officer that carried over to his SIAC career, where he continued to promote public safety in his tireless efforts to maintain the effectiveness of alarm systems,” said TMA Executive Director Jay Hauhn.

Source: SIAC, April 30, 2018

 

Warning: Alarm Industry Needs to Draw “Line in the Sand” Now

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The Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) is working to draw a line in the sand when it comes to the policy of municipalities fining alarm companies for false alarms. The most recent city to consider adopting the policy is Sandy Springs, Georgia (a suburb of Atlanta), which voted in July to begin fining companies on September 1.

“In most cases SIAC is able to move cities away from this type of policy through positive interaction with public safety and community officials,” said Stan Martin, SIAC Executive Director. “In a few instances we have had to engage legal counsel to make the case that these ordinances are unconstitutional.”

For example, such ordinances violate the due process clause of the Constitution because they make alarm companies responsible for the actions of a customer over whom they have no control. It would be the equivalent of fining Ford for a driver caught speeding in an Explorer. There are numerous other issues SIAC attorneys have raised based on the proposed ordinance and state law.

“These detailed letters from our legal counsel citing numerous relevant precedents in federal and state law are a key factor in getting cities to back away from fining alarm companies,” said Martin.

“The bottom line is that when positive interaction and information sharing doesn’t work, we need the resources to hire legal counsel to address specific ordinances,” said Martin. “This is a real threat to our industry — and unless we have the support from the industry to stop these ordinances now it will become a growing problem.

“Having an attorney to engage a city is always the last resort,” said Martin. “Yet, it is critical to prevent allowing a precedent to be set and preserving our right to conduct business on a fair and level playing field.”

Your contribution is needed now. Please visit SIAC to make a donation in support of the effort to protect alarm companies.

More Sandy Springs information:

Contributed by David Margulies

SIAC Launches “Raise Your Hand” Campaign to Support the Electronic Security Industry

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Support for SIAC Protects Industry and the Public

On October 21, the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) announced a program to raise awareness of the continuing need to foster strong relationships between the electronic security industry and law enforcement.

SIAC Flyer“The ‘Raise Your Hand Campaign’ focuses on SIAC’s role in preventing the type of legislation that can damage the industry and make it more difficult to protect our customers,” said Stan Martin, SIAC’s Executive Director. “The first poster focuses on proposals that crop up at the local level to fine alarm providers rather than alarm owners.”

SIAC has strong support among industry leaders and is seeking to broaden its funding sources to continue its program of working with the approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

Since 2004, SIAC has had the unique and vital role of being the one voice for the electronic security industry with law enforcement and elected officials. SIAC is the only entity focused 100 percent on ordinance activity and alarm management education in North America, promoting a well-vetted model that provides reasonable best practices that ensure our ability to serve our customers and grow our businesses. This structured, efficient approach avoids political controversies and costly litigation to fight or overturn ordinances that are costly and burdensome to the industry.

More significantly, SIAC has worked with the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs’ Association to create model alarm ordinances that significantly reduce alarm dispatches.

“Each year new elections and changes in law enforcement leadership require that SIAC continue its important mission of educating these leaders in the best practices that are essential maintaining sworn officer response while conserving public safety resources,” said Martin. “Failure to do so can result in punitive ordinances or policies that make it more difficult and expensive for us to operate effectively.”

CSAA is a committed supporter of SIAC. More information on how to support SIAC’s efforts can be found at www.SIACinc.org.