The Monitoring Association (TMA) announced that the City of Riverside, Calif.’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) has saved an estimated 24,462 minutes — over 33 hours a month — in 2024 alone by using TMA’s ASAP Service to process alarm and sensor notifications. 

The estimate is based on an average savings of two minutes per call for 12,231 alarm notifications processed via ASAP Service in 2024.

“The streamlined call-handling enabled our telecommunicators to focus more on priority 911 emergencies, which was especially beneficial during periods of high call volume,” said Michelle Brandt, the city’s police/fire communications manager. “ASAP Service has been a valuable tool for our center, and I’m surprised that more agencies haven’t adopted it.”

Riverside’s ECC handles emergency calls and dispatches police, fire/rescue, and emergency medical response. In 2024, the center handled more than 756,000 calls for service. Given the large call volume, ECC officials sought a way to mitigate the impact of alarm/sensor notifications, which can require as many as five voice calls between an ECC’s telecommunicator and alarm monitoring center personnel to gather the necessary information for dispatching the appropriate response.

Consequently, the ECC implemented ASAP Service in 2023, for law enforcement-related alarm notifications. In 2024, 12,231 alarm notifications were delivered directly to the center’s CAD system via the ASAP Service.