Bayou under Pelican's wing

BATON ROUGE, La.—The Pelican Security Network, one of the largest providers of alarm services in the country, announced it has added Bayou Security Systems, of Shreveport, La., to its nationwide alliance of more than 30 independently branded alarm companies.

Bayou, founded 30 years ago, is “the oldest and largest independent alarm company in the market,” Louis J. Resweber, founder and president of Pelican, which is based here, told Security Systems News. Bayou, which specializes in security, video surveillance, access control and fire detection and serves the “Ark-La-Tex” region, is known for its customer service, Resweber said. It has more than 5,000 accounts, he said.

The company will continue to serve customers under the name they know and trust, he said. But by joining the Pelican alliance, Resweber said, Bayou can offer a much wider range of products and services, on par with what regional and national companies offer.

“Bayou already has a really extensive reach throughout that Arkansas-Louisiana-Texas region, but now its reach has been expanded basically nationwide through our network. It can go just about anywhere,” Resweber said.

“So this is really good news for Bayou, but it's also good news for all the other 30-plus dealers in the Pelican network because they now have a 30-year established franchise in that Ark-La-Tex market,” Resweber said.

Rebecca Norton, whose late husband Richard Norton founded Bayou, said in prepared statement: “I am very pleased that, under 'The Pelican Plan,' Bayou Security will continue to be managed as it always has in the past, as a locally owned and (locally) operated company. Our loyal customers will be pleased to know that our name will remain the same, we will remain in the same office on East 69th Street, we will still answer the same phone number, and our customers will continue to be served by the same licensed and highly skilled technicians who have always served them in the past—many of whom have been with us for nearly our entire three decades in business.”

Resweber said Bayou's 16 employees would remain with the company.

Davis Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Long Grove, Ill., represented Bayou in the transaction. Terms were not disclosed.