January 2006

Leadership Communications

Important Decisions
by Scott Colby

The recent decision by the Georgia Burglar and Fire Alarm Association to sever ties with the national association – and the timing and manner of the event – compel me to discuss this issue with you.

As a member of this association, it is essential that you hear from your leaders, both at the national and state level. The state leaders are the ones that you have regular contact with and are the people that you trust to guide your state. Just as importantly, you need to look to the national leadership for those issues that can only be handled at the national level. Ideally, the local, state and national leadership work hand-in-hand to promote the best interests of the members. As a federation of state chapters, it is essential that all of the leadership is engaged and focused on common goals.

"You, as the NBFAA member, need to ask your leaders, at all levels, tough questions."

Unfortunately, a few of the state leaders in recent years have failed to understand and promote the NBFAA in a positive manner. You, as the NBFAA member, need to ask your leaders, at all levels, tough questions. Do your state leaders attend our meetings, sit on committees and become involved? If they have not, they have failed you.

NBFAA counts on the state leaders to participate and be involved. Frankly, in most cases, if members cannot find any value in NBFAA, it is because the leaders are not doing their jobs. The proof is that many states and other organizations find a high value in the NBFAA and totally support the way we protect and promote the industry.

There are state leaders - or staff - who have a problem with NBFAA based on old history or operational issues that are easily remedied, and in some cases their actions intentionally mislead the members in the state. They take the serious action of manipulating the members with only half-truths in order to promote the state withdrawal from the association. I, for one, did not vote for my state leaders so that they could bring about an end to our national affiliation. I voted for them to make changes that will improve my industry.

When a leader rushes your state through the withdrawal of a charter agreement with NBFAA, a red flag should go off in your mind. All options should be evaluated before this type of important decision is made. Not only should the state have a say at all these important meetings, but so should NBFAA, after all, this is a partnership. All sides should be heard and all concerns addressed in order for a rational decision to be made. It is also important for all members to be involved in the vote. I would encourage you to know what NBFAA is doing for your business by investigating the activities and programs that take place on your behalf. With a little investigation you would find that your NBFAA dues have been well spent.

"Our joint efforts allow us all to harness the many voices of our industry."

Most importantly, as president of NBFAA, it is my opinion that the withdrawal of chartered chapters has the potential to weaken the industry. All of us know the truth of the phrase, “united we stand divided we fall.” It is through the national scope of NBFAA and our federation of state chapters that we are able to most effectively lobby at the national level. Our joint efforts allow us all to harness the many voices of our industry.

If your state has withdrawn from NBFAA, you should understand why your leaders felt that was a good move. You should investigate the reasons behind their decisions and make sure that the actions that were taken are based on complete and truthful information and that they are justified. If you are in a chartered state association now, I encourage you to get involved, to volunteer and to talk to your leadership. I also encourage you to get involved in the national association.

At the national level, our leaders have an open door and we are happy to provide you with information and our perspective on this issue and any other questions you have. Just ask. And remember, before important decisions are made, get the facts.

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Open Letter to Members From Cecil Hogan It’s not every day that I write a thank you note to a member of the media. It takes an exceptional reporting of events for me to feel obliged to take that action. But I recently sent a thank you note to Geoff Kohl with Security InfoWatch for his reporting on the GBFAA withdrawal from NBFAA. I feel it is just as important that I share my thoughts with you.

Here is my note to Security InfoWatch:

I want to thank you for the fair and informative reporting you did on the story about the GBFAA severing its relationship with the NBFAA.

"A state association that thinks they don’t need an affiliation with national is doing its members a tremendous disservice."

A state association that thinks they don’t need an affiliation with national is doing its members a tremendous disservice. It’s even worse, in my humble opinion, than a local association thinking they don’t need a state-wide group. All of us are affected by local ordinances, state laws and regulations, and nationwide events. A local group, no matter how well organized, would be unlikely to be able to control statewide issues and no single state can hope to influence national issues by themselves.

I won’t try to remind everyone of the times NBFAA has been responsible for defusing negative news, influencing positive news reports, guiding legislative efforts, and bringing us the information and training we need to be successful. I would, however, like to point out something that I don’t think many dealers understand. Our industry associations, whether local, state, or national, are made up of, and run by, individual electronic security dealers/integrators. The larger, more successful associations have paid staff to help, but the dealers are supposed to call the shots. Merlin Guilbeau, the Executive Director of NBFAA, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the association, but he works for, and is answerable to, the membership of NBFAA. He is in near-constant communication with the president of the association (a dealer/integrator elected to the position), and in turn, the Executive Committee (seven other elected dealers/integrators). The president and the rest of the Executive Committee are, in turn, responsible to the Board of Directors (more elected dealers/integrators from each affiliated state), all working together for the betterment of the membership and the industry as a whole. The NBFAA is not a smoke-filled back room full of good ol’ boys; it’s a dedicated group of volunteers donating their time for the betterment of ALL alarm dealers/integrators, large and small. For the most part, these volunteers have long been involved on the state level, and continue to donate their time at the national level.

The security industry is rapidly changing, and the NBFAA is changing with it. We have a meeting scheduled this month to revamp our membership structure to better accommodate all members, and we have a name change in the works to better represent what our members do. To have a state’s leadership decide arbitrarily to leave three weeks prior to these discussions and decisions strikes me as irresponsible, and is, most probably, the result of a misinformation campaign waged by either the hired help or a few malcontents who don’t understand the real picture. Of course, that’s just my own humble opinion, based on 26 years of active involvement on both the state and national levels.

By the way, while you mentioned our work on H.R. 4460 and the International Code Council appointment (of Merlin Guilbeau), you missed many of our other efforts. Dealers/integrators particularly need to be aware of our efforts on the upcoming AMPS problem and the ongoing success of our errors and omission insurance company, Security America RRG. These two programs could both dramatically impact everybody’s bottom line, and they need to be involved in both.

"As an association we are reaching a real crossroads of action. Now is the time to standup and be counted."

What I didn’t say in my thank you note to Geoff are some of my direct responses to the issues raised by the GBFAA in their press release. Here are those thoughts:

1. The GBFAA executive director stated that the state association was dissatisfied with NBFAA. If that were true, we didn’t know about it. How do we fix something we don’t know is broken?
   
2. The GBFAA leadership said in their press announcements that they didn’t have enough revenue from NTS. Sorry, but we simply provide the product. If I have a salesman who’s not producing on a product that my competition is doing well with, do I blame the product or the salesman? Their lack of training income hurt NBFAA as much as it did them, but we didn’t discuss not renewing their charter! There’s more to our CSA partnership than NTS or making money.
   
3. We applaud their “new level of commitment” to their members, but what does that have to do with their relationship with NBFAA? Their members have enjoyed many benefits just recently from their affiliation with NBFAA. For example, the Georgia executive director spent several hours picking the brain of our lobbyist to help with local legislation! Our NBFAA lobbyist then spent several days researching and preparing recommendations to help, ALL AT NO CHARGE to GBFAA! Ron Walters and SIAC spent tens of thousands of dollars helping fight a non-response threat, ALL AT NO CHARGE to GBFAA.
   
4. During their announcement to the members that they had dropped their charter, they requested speakers knowledgeable on the VoIP issue for upcoming meetings. This I found odd, because NBFAA is at the center of the fight, working to represent our members and the industry with national legislation and regulations in Congress and with the Federal Communications Commission.
   
5. In their press release they said, “We’re definitely not closing the door…If they come up with one that works, and we like it…” Yet, they held the meeting and voted on withdrawal knowing that NBFAA had scheduled a strategic summit to discuss the chapter program and board structure just three weeks away. If they wanted a new CSA Agreement, why refuse to attend the meeting that creates it?!? Why drop from the group, then put your members and your association at the mercy of everyone else? NBFAA will make changes, but now they will have no say in those changes.

As an association we are reaching a real crossroads of action. Now is the time to standup and be counted. Now is the time to get involved and help your local, state and national associations work together to support our industry. What we do in securing homes, businesses and individuals from harm is a noble cause and one that is the foundation of real homeland security. Let’s not be shortsighted in our actions. I urge all members to learn what NBFAA does for you and to take advantage of all the benefits of your membership.

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Industry Views

Editor's Note: The following letter from Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) Director Ron Walters was sent to Georgia NBFAA members in December.

Dear Friends
From Ron Walters

	Dear Friends: It has been brought to my attention that the GBFAA is considering withdrawing from the NBFAA. My relationship with GBFAA goes back to 1990 when I was President of the AAF and we worked closely together with your Counte Cooley (then president) and your Board. More recently, as many of you know, I have been engaged full time on the false alarm front. In that capacity, I attended a summer GBFAA meeting on the Georgia Coast. I forecasted at that meeting that bad times were coming and that Georgia would not be immune. Bonnie Bradley listened to what I said and volunteered to chair your False Alarm Committee, something that did not exist prior to that meeting. Little did we know how prophetic my statements would be until just a few months later when Savannah announced that a non-response policy would soon be enacted. As it turned out, one of the first successful campaigns against non-response anywhere was in Savannah where I traveled many times to help reach a successful conclusion. In fact, the timing of this letter is fairly appropriate as the last time I appeared in Savannah I appeared in front of the City Council on the eve of Christmas Eve, where no one from the GBFAA was present. It was at this meeting that the tide was turned toward a successful conclusion. Had I not been there, the police in Savannah would very likely not be responding to alarms today, and what would that cost? In very rough terms throughout that campaign my direct travel costs to Savannah were in the range of $10,000.00, and this does not include costs for meeting rooms, cash donations or the costs for my salary and benefits. You could easily attribute at least $30,000.00 to this effort and put that on the ledger for NBFAA. At last count, I have traveled to Georgia at least 10 additional times to do presentations at your Board Meetings, annual conventions and other occasions. None of this cost the GBFAA or its members a dime and all of it was done in the name of the GBFAA without giving proper credit to the NBFAA. This could easily be another $20,000.00 put on the ledger for NBFAA. Chief Glen Mowrey has attended numerous meetings over the last two years to establish a line of communications between the GBFAA and law enforcement. In fact, the Georgia Chiefs Association is currently partnering with GBFAA to enact legislation at the state level that will preserve police response to your customers and more important, pave the way with every jurisdiction in Georgia for local legislation that will reduce false dispatches and maintain the all important deterrent value of alarms that only police response can provide. What is the value of this? You tell me! First through the CARE program and now via SIAC it would not be unreasonable to place a value of over $100,000.00 to the dollars that have been spent on your behalf in Georgia. Not once has anyone asked for you to contribute to SIAC or CARE because it comes from our partnership with NBFAA. Some would debate as to whether that money would be spent regardless of your membership status in NBFAA, but I will tell you this: The hardest hurdle to overcome any time that we enter into a campaign against non-response is the divisiveness within our own industry. The oldest tactic in battle is to divide and conquer. Our detractors don’t even have to divide us; we are doing it to ourselves. The industry can only become so fractured until we have no voice. For those that take the time to know, the NBFAA is a vital part of daily activities throughout the country as a few very dedicated people work long hours to create an industry where you can participate, earn a living and enjoy life. All too often these people do this at great sacrifice to their personal lives and families but do so out of love and respect for the industry and everyone employed. We are guilty of one thing and one thing only. We should remind you daily what is being done on your behalf so you don’t forget, but quite honestly at the end of a very long day these people are not going to sit down and pat themselves on the back. Instead they are going to get up tomorrow and fight for your right to conduct business in a fair and impartial environment. Finally, in a completely unselfish act, the leadership of NBFAA proposed to the industry that SIAC be formed. I say unselfish because at a time when NBFAA needed cash they saw a need for a unified voice in the industry on false alarm issues. By forming SIAC these individuals knew that some of the money they needed would be channeled to SIAC, yet they did the right thing. If you’re not happy, don’t leave; stay on board and change things. Warmest regards, Ron Walters, Director

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Security InfoWatch: Low Voltage not Burglar and Fire
By Geoff Kohl

Despite valiant efforts from the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) to create a true, national level organization that brings together specific interests of all burglar and fire alarm companies, the whims of state organizations still decide the future of cohesion in our industry. That was nowhere more duly noted than when, on Thursday, Dec. 29, the Georgia Burglar and Fire Alarm Association disassociated itself from the NBFAA and became the Georgia Low Voltage Contractors Association (GLVCA). The move may indicate that in this time of varied installation opportunities, from home automation, to HVAC integration, to commercial audio, video and sound, the "burglar and fire" designation may not always be able to fully encompass the expanding duties of many dealer companies.

Nonetheless, the disassociation of the GBFAA/GLVCA from the NBFAA seems hardly a slight on the NBFAA, which has found its core roots in becoming an advocacy and training tool for our industry. The NBFAA has taken a notable lead in tracking legislation on Capitol Hill that will affect all security companies, and continues to have a mission of promoting that which is beneficial for our industry. What have they done for you lately? The NBFAA has helped create support for H.R. 4460, the so-called College Life Safety and Fire Protection Act, and has secured a seat on the International Code Council's Advisory Committee.

Reprinted with permission from Security InfoWatch.

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Association Benefits

Affiliation Advantages

	Whether you are in a state with a Chartered State Association or not, and regardless of the size of your state, you should be aware of the benefits that states and members gain from affiliation with the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association. You should also recognize the benefits to your company to be represented by a strong federation of state associations. Review this list and then find out if your state association is taking advantage of all of the opportunities offered by NBFAA. If you are in a state without an NBFAA-affiliated chapter, contact me for more information. Jorge Rivas Director of Chapter Relations, Membership & Events (888) 447-1689 ext 207 JorgeR@alarm.org

“One of the greatest benefits of being an NBFAA Chartered State Association is the partnership. Under the banner of NBFAA, CSA’s band together for the common good of the industry. To succeed, we have to work together at the federal, state, and local levels; we all have a contributing factor here.” -Howard Richardson President, Washington BFAA

The National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) is the nation’s oldest and largest association dedicated to representing, promoting and supporting the electronic life safety, security and systems industry. Through a federation of state associations, NBFAA reaches grass roots members, enabling them to band together on national issues, and delivering to them industry information, professional development tools, products, and services.

Some of the benefits of NBFAA CSA status include:

• Guide the direction of the national association and the industry through state representation on the NBFAA Board of Directors
• Revenue-generating opportunities through the National Training School (NTS)
• Revenue-sharing opportunities through select NBFAA member benefit programs
• Government relations lobbying on the national level with a veteran lobbyist to guide and advise states in their efforts
• Monthly NBFAA state legislative reports on industry related affairs
• Our Government Relations Department will alert your state leaders when pertinent legislative activity in your state is identified and will offer expert advice and direction
• The NBFAA staff will conduct membership dues billing and reporting at no charge to your association
• Direct access (through NBFAA cultivated relationships) to public safety leaders
• Through your affiliation with NBFAA, your state has direct representation to the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC), the Alarm Industry Communications Committee, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Code Council (ICC)
• Networking opportunities and shared best practices with fellow CSA colleagues
• Membership recruitment and retention marketing tools and programs
• Dedicated and accessible NBFAA volunteer leaders and staff ready to assist
• CSA leadership training opportunities and resources via the NBFAA/CSA Symposium, teleconferences, and resource guides
• Partnership with the nation’s oldest, largest, most trusted and recognized electronic life safety, security and systems association

The NBFAA federation of chartered state associations employs
‘collective might’ to secure the future of the electronic life safety,
security and systems industry.

For more information on CSA benefits or resources, contact NBFAA at (888) 447-1689,
or e-mail Merlin Guilbeau, NBFAA executive director at MerlinG@alarm.org or
Jorge Rivas, Director of Chapter Relations, Membership & Events at JorgeR@alarm.org.

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Member Rewards

	Are you taking advantage of your benefits as a member of NBFAA? If not, you might be leaving money on the table and missing out on valuable business opportunities. Take a look at the NBFAA membership information in this report and take action today to make the most of your dues. For more information on NBFAA membership and benefits, visit www.alarm .org or call (888) 447-1689. Tonja Jenkins Senior Director of Business Development (888) 447-1689 ext. 206 TonjaJ@alarm.org

The National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) is the nation’s oldest and largest association dedicated to representing, promoting and supporting the electronic life safety, security and systems industry. We deliver value to members through government advocacy, communications services, professional development, networking opportunities and endorsed programs.

As an industry professional, you face the challenge of staying abreast of—and responding to—technological advances, legislative issues, staff training and professional development, and other changes to the environment in which you operate. One strong, collective voice to speak and act on your behalf with regard to industry issues and affairs Training—and the ability to provide your employees with training at a cost-effective rate Leaders, mentors and colleagues to turn to for quick advice and tried-and-true solutions Bottom-line savings and discounts on products and services your business may use every day Information that is fast and reliable National exposure through your member company listing and lead generation from consumer inquiries Lobbying on your behalf at the national, state, and local levels to protect your vested interests

Your membership delivers:

• Consumer exposure on the NBFAA www.alarm.org Web site
• Partnership with the nation’s oldest, largest, and most trusted electronic life safety, security and systems association
• Company credibility and image
• Member-exclusive coupon book offering thousands in savings
• Professional, personal, and business growth opportunities through the NBFAA National Training School (NTS), which can be administered in the classroom or online
• More than 2,500 online business skills courses available at member-discounted rates
• Up to $5M in general liability/errors & omissions (E&O) insurance through Security America Risk Retention Group – exclusive to NBFAA members
• Employee recruitment services through wildbullet.com, the largest industry recruitment site in the U.S.
• Complimentary state licensing guide
• Networking and business-sharing opportunities with fellow NBFAA members
• Business-related resource guides on consumer contracts, E&O insurance and more…
• Information and guidance on industry issues like VoIP and Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS)
• Regular association-to-member communication via regular mail, the Web site, member updates, quarterly newsletters, state legislative reports, and the bi-annual NBFAA/CSA Conferences

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Industry Affairs Updates

Editor's Note: The following are Industry Affairs reports from NBFAA. The Enhanced Call Verification Report contains information on this important topic. Additional sample documents are available at www.alarm.org in the Member's Only section. The AMPS document is being used by John Chwat, NBFAA Director of Government Relations, in lobbying efforts on Capital Hill and contains valuable information on this issue. Industry Affairs reports are one of the many benefits of NBFAA membership.

ECV Implementation Guide

With the implementation of Enhanced Call Verification becoming more prevalent, the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) is providing general guidelines and recommendations for implementing this proven dispatch reduction program.

Full Story (Members Only)

Request to Congress on AMPS Transition Rules

After a two year public comment period, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 8, 2002 established a sunset date of February 2008 for the requirement that cellular carriers provide advanced mobile phone service (AMPS). This sunset date is significant for alarm companies that utilize cellphone-based radios for relaying alarm signals. Once the sunset date has passed, cellular carriers may terminate AMPS service to the public, thereby stranding a significant number of cellular alarm radios that rely on the AMPS technology.

Full Story

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