Tag: Kevin Lehan
EMERgency24 celebrates 50 years in business
September 17, 2018Spencer Ives
DES PLAINES, Ill.—EMERgency24, a wholesale monitoring company headquartered here, is now marking its 50th anniversary. Over those years the company has added on several locations, seen sweeping technological changes and grown steadily.Dante Monteverde Sr. started Alarmtronics Inc. in 1967, a company that installed alarm systems and monitored for itself and other companies, in Chicago. In April 1971, it changed its name to Emergency Data Computer Center Inc., coinciding with a new exclusive...
EMERgency24 offers 'filtered monitoring'
January 6, 2016Spencer Ives
DES PLAINES, Ill.—Offering “filtered monitoring” has helped third party central EMERgency24 expand its video options for dealers, according to Kevin Lehan, company PR manager.“Filtered monitoring places part of the responsibility of the decision to dispatch on the end user,” Lehan told Security Systems News. End users review video surveillance activity through their smartphone before sending it to central station operators,. This allows the building owner to weed out...
Monitoring stations with an edge: Earning dealer loyalty
August 26, 2015Kenneth Z. Chutchian
YARMOUTH, Maine—It's supposed to be a win-win when wholesale central monitoring stations want to manage, service or purchase accounts from alarm dealers. The dealer can acquire some capital. The central station builds its portfolio. This business relationship can be sweet, as when central stations offer perks to purchase accounts. Or it can go sour when the central station and the dealer, after an account transfer, wind up competing with each other for customers.
The only chance that...
Fire services trump alarm industry at NFPA vote
July 16, 2015Spencer Ives
CHICAGO—A recent NFPA vote that may result in restriction for central stations on matters of fire alarm monitoring should serve as a wake-up call to the security industry to be more involved with the National Fire Protection Association, according to Kevin Lehan, executive director of the Illinois Electronic Security Association.
At its annual meeting here in Chicago, the NFPA approved motion 72-9, “that reinforced an AHJ's authority to determine who can and who cannot monitor...
Fire services trump alarm industry on NFPA vote
July 1, 2015Spencer Ives
On June 25, in Chicago, the NFPA held its annual meeting, but the alarm industry was concerned about two motions on NFPA 72, which would effectively give local municipalities the authority to disallow the use of listed central stations for fire alarm monitoring.
Ultimately, motion 72-8 passed with a vote of 142-80, giving municipalities that discretion. Motion 72-9, which would have removed the line referring to central stations completely, was withdrawn after 72-8 passed.
Kevin Lehan, executive...
Monitoring companies called to action at NFPA meeting
June 15, 2015Spencer Ives
CHICAGO—Alarm monitoring organizations, including CSAA and IESA, are rallying the industry to vote on two motions at the NFPA's annual meeting, scheduled to take place June 25.
“What's happening in Chicago is that some of these communities are operating their own monitoring centers. � This [motion would change the NFPA code and] enable that community to have an effective monopoly on alarm monitoring,” Kevin Lehan, executive director for the Illinois Electronic Security...
Monitoring companies called to action on NFPA vote
June 3, 2015Spencer Ives
The alarm monitoring industry is taking notice of the NFPA. There are two motions proposed for vote at NFPA's meeting this year that could have a serious impact on the industry. This pair of motions directly refers to the NFPA 72 Nation Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, which, in the current draft of the 2016 edition states that listed central stations can be used for fire alarm monitoring. A group based in northern Illinois opposes this language, and seeks to alter it, giving local municipalities...
EMERgency24 partners with first 'RERS' provider
May 13, 2015Spencer Ives
DES PLAINES, Ill.—EMERgency24, a monitoring center based here, partnered with BluePoint Alert Solutions, to offer a rapid emergency response systems (RERS): a new system capable of two-way communication between first responders and people inside a building under threat.EMERgency24 announced and showcased the products at ISC West. “[People] saw the value in it … how it is needed now, and how it could be applied immediately,” Pat Devereaux, EMERgency24 SVP, told Security Systems...
ADS, village settle lawsuit
May 7, 2014Tess Nacelewicz
DES PLAINES, Ill.—The village of Algonquin recently agreed to settle a lawsuit in which Alarm Detection Systems accused the village of establishing an “illegal monopoly” on fire alarm monitoring.
“This is very good news,” Kevin Lehan, executive director of the Illinois Electronic Security Association, based here, told Security Systems News, regarding the April 17 court settlement. “It opens up the market for any alarm contractor to come and bid” the job...
New front in Illinois fire monitoring battle
February 26, 2014Tess Nacelewicz
DES PLAINES, Ill.—Just as Illinois fire protection districts are shutting down their fire monitoring programs because of a federal court ruling saying such public entities aren't authorized to be that business, proposed new state legislation would grant the districts that authority.
The industry is fighting back, organizing private alarm companies to help defeat House Bill 5683. They say the bill would shut out them out of the commercial fire monitoring market. The industry contends...