Skip to main content

FARA Symposium 2012 Series-Day 2

The annual FARA symposium day two started out with a great session moderated by alarm industry folks.  This session was designed to educate public safety on what the alarm industry is doing to reduce the number of false alarms.  FARA is very fortunate that some major industry leaders are willing to get involved with its mission. Several of the panelists were board members of industry associations and actively involved in working at the national, state, and local level. There was a lot of great information provided, but one of the best things brought out was the value of Enhanced Call Verification (ECV) in reducing false alarms. If your state or locality doesn't require ECV, this is one change that can dramatically reduce false alarms.

Another issue mentioned was the problem solving that industry is undertaking to combat hurdles that new technology is bringing such as the dilemma caused by alarm users disarming a system with a smart phone before the alarm company has been able to determine if there is a valid reason for the alarm.
Contract clauses such as nuisance alarm, and excessive signal charges were mentioned as well that can be used if there is an alarm site that is a problem. Other things mentioned were programs sponsored by industry such as the Blue Santa program in Texas (police officer nominated assistance to families in need delivered by squad car with flashing lights, etc). The industry reps mentioned that if there is a need to please ask industry for help. It was reiterated several times that overall the industry wants to help.

In the second session, Vintage Security's Robert McDonald presented a workshop on new technology.  He illustrated that the game changer today is the smart phone. Mobile access is the fastest growing trend with more than 75% of access by customers is through a mobile app. This is a complete reversal since 2006 when pc access was tops. Home automation is expected to grow from $2.3 billion in 2010 to $9.5 million in 2015. Cellular connections will dramatically increase as well. The technology available now is truly amazing.

The President opened the Membership Meeting with a report of the activities from the year.  A special thank you was given to all of the Symposium Sponsors.   Without their support, the symposium would not be possible so I think it is worth mentioning them here:

Platinum Level Sponsor ($3000 or more donation)

Gold Level Sponsor ($1000 donation)
Luncheon  and Speaker Sponsors

Elections were held but I am going to let those of you who aren't here worry about what positions to which you might have been elected : )

Stop by later for more.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by my little piece of the web. I look forward to reading what you have to say!

Popular posts from this blog

In Memory of...

I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to Washington DC during National Police Week .  While there, the Hubster ran the Police Week 5K and we visited the Law Enforcement Officers Memoria l.  The memorial is a sobering reminder that so many have given all in the pursuit of public safety.  Unfortunately, it was raining so the pictures aren't great, but the rain seemed fitting--almost as if angels were mourning with those gathered there.  The memorial itself is surrounded by a beautiful park setting with trees and seasonal flowers and is composed of two curved marble walls engraved with the names of the more than 19,000 officers who have died. Each of the memorial walls is flanked by a lion protecting its cubs and keeping silent vigil. Seal embedded in center of the memorial plaza It seems that every day a new name is added to the list that will be inscribed just before Police Week begins.  The park and memorial are beautiful and worth a stop if ...
1 comment
Read more

Ferret Friday #5-Rice box

Ferrets are curious creatures that need a variety of toys and activities.    Our ferret loves to dig, and one of his favorite activities is digging in a plastic tub filled with rice.  We make sure it is not available at all times so that it remains a special treat. As much as he loves the rice, if given a choice, he would choose to dig in the dirt of my ficus or citrus tree.  He also loves to "tunnel" under the covers of our bed.  He is not normally a biter, but for some reason, he will bite any toes under sheets.  My theory is that since ferrets are tunnelers and are carnivorous, then he must have some instinct to eat what he finds while tunneling.  Maybe the toes are "earthworms" to him. When my kids were small, they also loved to play in their rice box.  Their rice was multi-colored though. We have added a few PVC pipes (we smoothed all rough edges with sandpaper).  Occasionally, we add some cardboard mailing tubes as well.
Post a Comment
Read more

Queen of the Dairy

Did you know that the Dairy Queen Blizzard turned 25 last year?  I remember when the Blizzard was introduced which makes me officially...old.  Anyway, there was no Dairy Queen in the town where I grew up but there was one where my great grandfather lived.  Do you remember when a trip longer than 15 minutes lasted fuh evah?  When I was little, the 65 minute drive to my great grandfather's small town felt like an eternity.  Maybe it felt so long  because  I was hoping for that extremely rare occurrence of a stop at the Dairy Queen.  My parents were teachers  and the budget was always tight, but occasionally we would stop at DQ and we could get a small cone.  We never got to choose--it was always just that small vanilla cone, but it was a treat nonetheless. Once I was able to drive and had a job, those stops at DQ were almost mandatory when I ventured on my own to my grandparents house.  I probably tried something different each time-...
2 comments
Read more