Security Industry Alarm Coalition SIAC

Announcer: I had a customer say, "If the police stop coming I've got my permit to carry a gun," but what would happen if your city suddenly decided that they were not going to have response. If tomorrow the police department said they weren't coming to your alarms, I would think you would not have a business.

Stan Martin: The SIAC was formed to work with police departments and alarm dealers to reduce the incidents of false alarms and resulting alarm dispatches.

Michael Miller: We support SIAC, because we feel that the mission of SIAC is so important in support of our alarm dealer members.

John Jennings: I think we're way too reactive in this industry. I think we need to be more proactive, and I think that's what SIAC gives us is a little more proactiveness in the false alarm battle.

Andy Lowitt: We had a situation in Nassau County this year, where the county decided that they wanted to enter the alarm business, and at that point we reached out to SIAC. Stan Martin got involved and pointed out some of the key reasons why the county should not be entering the business.

We went down to the legislature of the county, and positioned this to them, and brought up a lot of good points that SIAC had pointed out to us, and the police department decided that this was not in their best interest.

Stan Martin: I think it's one of the best and greatest rewards that we have is when we see non-response killed right there, before it gets to city council and before there is public opinion.

Larry Halpern: You can't wait for a police department in your community to decide that they're going to go to verified response or non-response.

Stan Martin: You know when a city considers non-response, and actually passes non-response, and unfortunately we've got about 18 or 20 of those in this country, there's immediate loss of business 20-25%, and it takes months if not years to recover some of that business, so it's very costly to a dealer.

Larry Halpern: When you're having a problem with the police department, the police departments feel that we're out there making money on their backs, and SIAC comes in and they work with the police departments, and they're able to open the lines of communication.

John Jennings: When the security industry people that are there say, "No, I'm not going to contribute to SIAC," they say, "No, That's not worthwhile," they don't understand the true solution of what SIAC is to us.

Mel Malher: We have to educate the alarm companies out there, and the authorities both, as to the real benefits of SIAC.

Michael Miller: It's nice for me to know that we've got a group of professionals out there that represent us and work with law enforcement agencies all across the nation so that, in effect the alarm industry benefits from that relationship, that they continue to build for us.

Stan Martin: We need every dealer's help. We've got the staff. We've got the experience. We've got the personnel. We've got the contacts, but we need funding to continue to travel into these cities. To continue to promote the solutions that we know that work, so we're asking you, go to our website, click on the donate button, make a modest contribution, make a big contribution, but be part of the solution.