By Bill Hobgood
Editor’s note: This excerpt is taken from an article written in the March, 2009 edition of Public Safety Communications published by APCO International. We have included comments from NBFAA members.

Miscommunication between alarm company operators and Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) call-takers occurs every day in almost every PSAP across the country. Fortunately, most mistakes are caught as information is received through the verbal repeat verification method by the call-taker. When mistakes aren’t caught during this verbal information exchange, consequences can include lawsuits, disciplinary actions and a black eye for both the alarm industry and 911.

The world is culturally diverse, consisting of many different languages and speech tones. Employees working for the alarm monitoring industry and the PSAPs are no exception. Some alarm monitoring companies use call centers outside of the U.S., which can make 911 calls from an overseas call center challenging for PSAP call-takers if the call center operator speaks broken English or has a heavy accent. Foreign countries aside, conversations between an alarm company operator with a thick Southern accent who is trying to relay information to a PSAP call-taker with a thick Brooklyn accent can be equally challenging. It’s a fact of life: We don’t all speak the same.

The not-so-obvious problem with these telephone conversations is that they occurred at all. But how would the PSAP receive information about an alarm event if the alarm monitoring company didn’t call? The short answer: via an electronic computer-to-computer data exchange that conforms to the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM). A representative exchange standard, developed by APCO International in conjunction with the IJIS Institute, multiple public safety agencies and Vector Security, an NBFAA and Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) member representing the alarm monitoring industry, was approved in January 2009 by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The new national standard is intended for use by all Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) providers, alarm monitoring company software providers and PSAP CAD systems.

“The PSAP CAD External Alarm Interface Exchange project has been a great example of the public and private sectors working together to utilize technology to create efficiencies, address problems and improve services. The benefits to PSAPs and alarm companies are obvious, but the real winner is the alarm owner who benefits from faster and more accurate response times from responding agencies,” said Pam Petrow, COO, Vector Security, Inc.

Functionality: The purpose of the Alarm Monitoring Company to PSAP CAD External Alarm Interface Exchange, APCO/CSAA 2.101.1-2008, is to provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting information between an alarm monitoring company and a PSAP.

Three primary uses for this standard:
1. Initial notification of an alarm event;
2. Bi-directional status update between an alarm monitoring company and the PSAP; and
3. Bi-directional update of other events between an alarm monitoring company and a PSAP.

The benefits: After the pilot program was in operation for two and a half years, more than 5,500 alarm exchanges were transmitted between Vector Security and Virginia PSAPs. The benefits include:
1. 5,500 fewer calls to PSAPs, eliminating the need for the alarm monitoring company operator to converse with the call-taker and the potential for miscommunication; and
2. A decrease in response times to alarm-related calls for service, resulting in an increase in law enforcement apprehensions, fires that were extinguished more quickly and more lives being saved.

The two Virginia PSAPs, City of Richmond and York County, receive 18,000 telephone calls annually from alarm companies that require the dispatch of first responders. This equates to 45,000 telephone calls from alarm companies in a two-and-a-half-year period. The pilot alarm interface exchange reduced the number of calls by 5,500. After additional alarm companies come on board, the call volume to these PSAPs will be reduced even further.

The bottom line: The number of telephone calls from alarm monitoring companies to PSAPs to report a new alarm event reaches into the tens of millions, which does not include follow-up calls from those companies. It has been suggested that the total call volume from the alarm companies to the PSAPs could range between 40-50 million. This new standard has the potential to eliminate most of these calls.

“I am enthusiastic about the advancements being made with the NIEM,” said Blane Comeaux, vice president, Acadian Monitoring Services. “As the article points out, there are many chances for error with human-to-human communication during an alarm event and notification between the monitoring company and the PSAP/911 center. An electronic interface will serve to minimize these errors and simultaneously reduce phone time between center personnel.”

Dave Simon, Brink’s Home Security Senior Manager, Government and Industry Affairs, said, “Electronic dispatching holds strong promise for reducing calls and on-hold time. Rather than an operator being on a call with the 911 dispatcher, the information is instantaneously transmitted. We can also distribute more information to the agency this way, and improve two-way communication. Rather than a phone call leading to a discussion, the exact information can be transmitted. Electronic dispatching will help with the exactness of the message – electronically lining up the required data and making sure it goes to the proper jurisdiction.”

For more information about the Alarm Monitoring Company to PSAP CAD External Alarm Interface Exchange, APCO/CSAA 2.101.1-2008 standard, go to www.apcointl.org/new/commcenter911/APCOstandards.php.