Armed Guard Response; The End of An Era?
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Start-Up Armed Guard Response
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It had been my dream, as a young start-up in private patrol in the early 1980s to get in on action with armed guard response. For decades response to residential and commercial burglary signals had long been a staple service provided by local private patrols. In many cases patrol firms ,which did not offer burglar alarm systems on their own, partnered in symbiotic relationships with local and even regional alarm companies to handle response services both within and outside of their normal patrol areas.
As a rule, this type of response was not the solution to panic button activations or designed to satisfy Underwriter’s Laboratories’ guard response time requirements to high-risk alarms such as jewelry stores and pawn shops. This was armed guard response with somewhat less stringent time parameters. Acceptable response times to an alarm generally fell within the 20 to 30 minute range. Most often the culprits were new employees, Realtors, service personnel and invalids who were simply locked in their homes with the alarm set while family members were off at work.
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Alarm Response & Result
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Occasionally, there were “actual” alarms. However, these mostly fell in the category of “Other”. For example, an alarm occured at a furniture showroom west of Downtown Los Angeles during the morning commute. I thought it unlikey that it was anything unusual since only a single, interior motion sensor was tripped. However, my theory was soon dashed when I arrived at the location and saw the back end of a car purtruding from the shattered store front window. A motorist who had miscalculated his speed on a curve and lost control along busy Sunset Bl. (The driver escaped with only minor injuries.)
For a time, I had response contracts with over half a dozen different alarm dealers representing hundreds of individual client accounts throughout greater Los Angeles. However, with the integration of video and alarm systems coming to fruition in the consumer security market I could clearly see the end of patrol response on the horizon.
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The Future of Alarm Armed Guard Response
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]It stands to reason, that if a homeowner with a smartphone can look into his/her home within seconds of an alarm activation, and immediately determine whether the activation is either friend or foe, the only call to make, if necessary, is to the police. In this scenario, the role of the private patrolman is irrelevant.
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Conclusion
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]This is not to say that our response has completely evaporated into thin air. We still service a handful of clients who have not yet made the switch. Just we responded to those alarms back in the early 90s which had to be manually restored. Change takes time to reach all corners.
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