PRESS RELEASE

HSM Electronic Protection Services
Earns First Line of Defense Award
Persistence of Monitoring Station Employees Leads to Three Arrests

NBFAA President George Gunning (Left) congratulates HSM Protection Services for receiving the 2007First Line of Defense Award. On hand to accept the award was (left to right) Toni Brask, HSM monitoring specialist, Steve Walker, director of HSM’s ProtectionNet Center and Centralized Services, and Steve Welsh, vice president of corporate services and procurement.

Irving, Texas, April 17, 2007 – HSM Electronic Protection Services (HSM) was presented the 2007First Line of Defense Award by the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) and SDM Magazine for their persistence and dedication in helping police apprehend three would-be thieves that had broken into a Houston Sports Authority store after hours.

The award was presented to Steve Walker, director of HSM’s ProtectionNet Customer Service Centers in Plymouth, Minn. and Santa Ana, Calif., by Frank Burke, chair of the NBFAA Public Relations Committee and SDM Senior Editor Russ Gager at the start of the NBFAA Emerging Technology Forum at ISC West.

HSM’s award was based on the action of their employees on Sept. 8, 2006, when three suspects entered the Sports Authority premises through a roof opening and tried to make off with merchandise.

The first burglar alarm, an interior motion alarm, was received at the HSM central station around 10:36 that evening. Within seconds, HSM dispatcher Toni Brask received the signal and immediately contacted the location. Upon receiving no answer, she contacted the Houston police and then proceeded to make the appropriate customer notifications.

When the Houston police arrived at the location, they could see no visible sign of a break in and cleared the call as a false alarm.

“We continued to receive alarm signals in clearly defined patterns that suggested someone was walking around inside the store, so we contacted the police and requested that they return to the location and take another look, ” said Walker.

At this time, the store manager called into the HSM central station and provided an update that he was in route to the store and would meet the police on location.

After the store manager arrived at the site, several police units – with well over a dozen officers – showed up with a helicopter circling overhead. Three suspects were quickly apprehended. Police canine units were used to search and secure the area. All of the stolen merchandise was recovered.

“It was the operator’s attention to detail and dedication to her customer, and the persistence of all of the HSM central station staff that lead to the apprehension and arrests, and ultimately earned HSM the First Line of Defense Award,” said Burke, president of USA Alarm Systems in California.

The First Line of Defense Award is presented annually to the company that goes above and beyond the call of duty to save lives and property. For winning the award, HSM received a free trip to Las Vegas for select staff and their customer, along with a full spread article in SDM Magazine. In addition to HSM, NBFAA will be recognizing the five other finalists in stories throughout the year in NBFAA publications and online at www.alarm.org. The five finalists were:

• Acadian On Watch, Lafayette, La.
• Certified Alarm Company of Alabama Inc, Leighton, Ala.
• Brink’s Home Security, Irving, Texas
• Vector Security, Pittsburgh
• Sentry Watch Inc, Greensboro, N.C.

About NBFAA

NBFAA, a non-profit 501(c) 6 trade association, is the nation's oldest and largest organization dedicated to representing, promoting, and supporting the electronic life safety, security, and systems industry. Member companies specialize in a wide spectrum of services to commercial and residential consumers, including security and fire alarms, video surveillance, access control and monitoring. In cooperation with a federation of state associations, NBFAA provides government advocacy and delivers timely information, professional development tools, products and services that members use to grow and prosper their businesses. The NBFAA may be reached at (888) 447-1689 or on the Web at www.alarm.org.

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