Mace CSSS acquires The Command Center

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Mace CSSS on April 1 announced it had acquired UL-listed wholesale central station, The Command Center, Inc. by purchasing all of the company's stock. TCCI is a UL listed wholesale central station located in Corona, Calif.  Financial terms of the stock acquisition were not disclosed.

According to Mace CSSS VP and GM Morgan Hertel, the acquisition brings 20,000 accounts from 70 dealers to the Mace fold, and adds an undisclosed amount of RMR to Mace's coffers.

Hertel, who used to be vice president of TCCI, had been pushing for the acquisition and feels the two companies make a good fit.

“Originally, when I was in the dealer business we moved our account to TCCI back in mid '90s. One thing led to another and I ended up managing the place for six years. When I left TCCI two years ago we had some initial conversations but nothing came from it then. I knew most of the owners for 20-plus years so there has always been dialog back and forth,” Hertel told Security Systems News. “Recently we came to a place where they wanted to focus on their core businesses and not running a central station at the same time … However, it was more than just my idea. Mace is committed to growing, the funding is in place, Dennis Raefield likes the business, and for the old TCCI owners it made sense because of the long history with me.”

Mace acquired its central station piece, CSSS, in 2009. The acquisition of TCCI represents the company's first expansion since then. Hertel said corporate management at TCCI would not continue on with Mace CSSS, but would, instead, focus on their individual alarm companies. Site managers would stay on, however, and along with dealers would benefit from Mace's portfolio of services.

“It's a good fit because most of the team at TCCI were staff members hired by me when I was there and I know most of the dealers. It's a little like getting re-married to your ex: You know all the good and the bad and now you have an opportunity to both work on the shortcomings to make a much better relationship moving forward,” Hertel said. “Over time the dealers will be migrated to our stages monitoring platform, which, compared to what they had, will blow them away … All the local site mangers are staying and will have a whole other level of opportunities—like remote video monitoring, two-way audio, and GPS—at Mace.”