FRESNO, Calif.
—Kimberlite (dba Sonitrol Security) president Tom Patterson isn’t shy about touting his company—with roughly 6,800 systems in service and RMR of around $950,000. “It’s
my belief that we have the best central station in the world, measured in terms of criminal apprehensions as a percentage of systems monitored,” Patterson said. “The Sonitrol network across the country probably helps local police arrest
considerably more criminals than the non-verified competition. Kimberlite routinely—with roughly six percent of the Sonitrol systems in service—apprehends between 20 and 25 percent of the criminals arrested by the Sonitrol network in a
given year. And this year it’s certainly going to be north of 25 percent because of the year we’re going to have. So, we’re apprehending criminals at about four times the rate which one would expect.”
Patterson’s referring to Kimberlite/Sonitrol Security’s “record-breaking” July, which saw the company help police apprehend 151 criminals. In discussing the previous
month’s activities, Patterson touched on a familiar topic to readers of Security Systems News: Police will give priority response to a verified alarm. “This kind of news strengthens everyone’s faith in verified alarms, which without
fail—we’ve been doing this for 35 years and we know it to be the case—when you verify an alarm ahead of time police know it’s not just another false alarm and they respond quickly and in force, expecting to encounter a criminal,” Patterson
said. “I think, at the end of the day, customers want apprehensions from their alarm systems, and police have confidence in verified alarms.”
SSN has been covering
the genesis of the proactive verified alarmmovement being spearheaded by the likes of Videofied
and Sonitrol. Police departments are coming forward and declaring their preference
for alarms that are verified through video, audio or eyewitness account.
Sonitrol Security general manager of central station operations Marcos Reyes has been with the company for 16 years. He took a hiatus from Sonitrol Security to become a police
officer, first for the Fresnoand then the Sanger police departments. “I can speak firsthand, having been a police officer for four years, and one of the things that police officers love
is to make apprehensions and catch the bad guys,” Reyes said. “When I was out in the field and we received a Sonitrol alarm, the nice thing about it is that it was verifiable and they could tell us what was happening in real time. We would
respond to those calls as fast as we could and would break other calls—like if we were on a traffic ticket—and the dispatcher would come over the radio and say they could hear movement, so we know a crime is in progress. We respond much
more quickly.”
Does this mean verified alarms are better than their non-verified brethren? Not necessarily, according to Patterson. “At the end of the day, I believe customers want
apprehensions from their alarm systems … and apprehensions are what we do. We celebrate these kinds of things. It’s a part of the Sonitrol culture … I don’t think that a traditional alarm company thinks their job is to apprehend
criminals. I think they feel their job is to sound an alarm bell and scare people away,” Patterson said. “[Audio and video] are expensive and we’re protecting people with a serious risk profile and the money to protect their
assets. I don’t think conventional security companies are the least bit embarrassed about the quality of their product and I’m not suggesting they should be.”
So, the question remains, is Sonitrol Security the best central station in the world? “I admit that I don’t have comprehensive empirical data to back up my belief,” Patterson
said. “And I would be happy to retract my words if any evidence to the contrary were offered up by another central station.”
Local Police Arrest 151 Suspects
Pursuant to Sonitrol Alarms in Single Month
Local police responding to “Sonitrol” burglar alarms arrested 151 suspects in July, a record for Kimberlite Corporation, which operates as “Sonitrol Security” throughout the San Joaquin Valley and Bay Area.
July’s record apprehensions brought the Company’s year-to-date total to 460 arrests, a pace which implies a 2010 total of 789 arrests, another record for the local Sonitrol dealer, whose previous record was 578 apprehensions in 2005.
“136 of July’s apprehensions were at public schools.” said Marcos Reyes, a former Sanger police officer who now runs Sonitrol’s
Fresno central monitoring station, “July was awfully hot in the San Joaquin
Valley. 43 of the 151 arrests were trespassers in school swimming pools. It may seem innocent to climb the fence to take a dip in the school pool, but it exposes the school district to a huge liability.”
“93 of the 151 were burglaries at public schools – not in the pool area. Actual burglaries; break-ins at public schools are at epidemic levels right now,” continued Reyes.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Thomas Patterson, CEO of Kimberlite Corporation, “We can only guess that the heat and the recession are joining forces to increase crime. We’re always proud
of the service we offer our customers. Most people buy alarm systems in the hope of avoiding a loss. At Sonitrol, we catch an awful lot of bad guys, and sometimes kids who are where they’re not supposed to be, doing something they’re not supposed to do!”
Kimberlite Corporation is Sonitrol’s largest franchisee, operating 12 franchises in California, including Sonitrol of Modesto, Sonitrol of Stockton, Sonitrol of Fresno, Sonitrol of Bakersfield,
Sonitrol of Southern Alameda County, Sonitrol of Contra Costa County, Sonitrol of Oakland, Sonitrol of Berkeley/Richmond, Sonitrol of San Francisco, Sonitrol of Marin/Sonoma and Sonitrol of Napa/Solano and Sonitrol of NW Los Angeles/Ventura Co.
Sonitrol’s alarm system relies upon highly sensitive audio detectors, rather than motion-detectors. As a result, when a Sonitrol alarm is triggered, Sonitrol’s central station operators hear the
actual sound that triggered the alarm, followed by live audio from the site. They listen, and are usually able to distinguish threatening sounds made by burglars and vandals from non-threatening sounds, like an employee entering the
building without first disarming the alarm system. Sonitrol’s unique ability to verify the alarm enables Sonitrol’s operators make more correct dispatch decisions, thus generating fewer false alarms. Police typically
respond quickly, and in force. And, they catch criminals, keeping losses to a minimum.
“Interestingly, our average police response time is actually up this year, to 10.1 minutes, from last year’s 7.4 minutes. But that’s still fast enough to make the arrest,” said Reyes, “We’re
fortunate,” Reyes went on, “that the police take our alarms seriously, and respond immediately - that’s how we help police catch 350 – 550 criminals, in a usual year, at our school and commercial customer sites. It’s because police
have learned to rely upon us, and know that we have verified that the alarm is real – by actually hearing what’s taking place with our audio detectors – before we call them. That’s the Sonitrol difference: police trust us to tell them
when a crime is really happening. “Police are eager to respond to verified alarms”, said Reyes.
LOCAL SECURITY FIRM HELPS POLICE
ARREST 11 SUSPECTS IN 6 SEPARATE INCIDENTS IN A SINGLE DAY!
Yesterday, police responding to Sonitrol burglar alarms arrested 11 suspects in 6 separate incidents, a Sonitrol record. "This is what we’re in business for, and why we’re successful!
We believe that we have the single best alarm monitoring center in the US, measured in terms of criminal
apprehensions,” said Thomas Patterson, CEO of Kimberlite Corporation. “This brings our year-to-date total to 348 arrests, so we’re pacing toward 645 arrests this year, a record for our company.
The recession may well be increasing crime. Sonitrol's previous high in assisting police apprehensions was 576 in 2005.” Kimberlite Corporation is Sonitrol’s largest franchisee, operating 12
franchises in California, including Sonitrol of Modesto, Sonitrol of Stockton, Sonitrol of Fresno, Sonitrol of Bakersfield, Sonitrol of Southern Alameda County, Sonitrol of Contra Costa County, Sonitrol of Oakland, Sonitrol
of Berkeley/Richmond, Sonitrol of San Francisco, Sonitrol of Marin/Sonoma and Sonitrol of Napa/Solano and Sonitrol of NW Los Angeles/Ventura Co.
“It cuts both ways,” said Marcos Reyes, a former Sanger police officer who now runs Sonitrol’s Fresno central monitoring station, “I’m at once extremely
proud and thankful to all of our local police agencies for the manner in which they respond to our alarms, but it’s sad that this recession is pushing so many more people toward crime. We’ll
likely help police arrest around 645 criminals this year – that’s nearly two every single day.”
Yesterday’s arrests were in Stockton,Modesto, Pittsburg, and Castro Valley:
|
City |
Customer |
Date |
Number of Criminals Arrested |
Police Response (Mins) |
|
MODESTO |
SYLVAN USDMIDDLE SCHOOL |
07/13/10 |
2 |
3.00 |
|
STOCKTON |
DOCTOR’S OFFICE |
07/13/10 |
1 |
6.00 |
|
MODESTO |
MODESTO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL |
07/13/10 |
4 |
7.00 |
|
PITTSBURG |
PUSD SCHOOL |
07/13/10 |
1 |
10.00 |
|
STOCKTON |
TIRE STORE |
07/13/10 |
1 |
10.00 |
|
CASTRO VALLEY |
CVUSD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL |
07/13/10 |
2 |
7.00 |
“It’s not unusual that schools represent two-thirds of the arrest sites,” said
Reyes. “We protect more schools than any other alarm company in California, and 2,876 of the 4,255 arrests we’ve helped police make since 2000 have been at schools.”
Sonitrol’s alarm system relies upon highly sensitive audio detectors, rather than motion-detectors. As a result, when a Sonitrol alarm is triggered, Sonitrol’s central station operators hear
the actual sound that triggered the alarm, followed by live audio from the site. They listen, and are usually able to distinguish threatening sounds made by burglars and vandals from non-threatening sounds, like an employee entering the building without first disarming the alarm
system. Sonitrol’s unique ability to verify the alarm enables Sonitrol’s operators make more correct dispatch decisions, thus generating fewer false alarms. Police typically respond quickly, and in force. And, they catch criminals, keeping losses to a minimum.
“You can pretty much count on catching someone when the police arrive at the scene 6 minutes after we call them” said Reyes. “We’re fortunate,” Reyes went on, “that the police take our alarms
seriously, and respond immediately - that’s how we help police catch 350 – 550 criminals, year-in and year-out, at our school and commercial customer sites. It’s because police have learned to rely upon us, and know that we have verified
that the alarm is real – by actually hearing what’s taking place with our audio detectors – before we call them. That’s the Sonitrol difference: police trust us to tell them when a crime is really happening. “Police are eager to respond to verified alarms”, said Reyes.
For further information, an electronic version of this release and related attachments, or to arrange a central station tour and a demonstration of Sonitrol in action, contact:
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