COPS Monitoring, Williamstown, N.J., recently announced it is building dedicated mPERS monitoring centers inside its N.J. facility and one other site (to be announced), from which it will be offering mPERS to its dealers. Jim McMullen, president and COO of COPS, discussed the move in an exclusive Q&A with SDM.

SDM: What prompted COPS to start offering mPERS monitoring?

McMullen: We’ve been studying the mPERS market for several years now. Instead of jumping right in, we elected to watch and wait. Early mPERS solutions experienced issues with overall GPS accuracy and with pinpointing devices in multi-story buildings, subterranean parking structures, areas with multiple buildings, and so on. Now that the market and GPS technology have matured, coupled with the fact that we’ve identified products that we can stand behind, we’re going all-in on select mPERS solutions for our dealers and their customers.

SDM: What changes will have to be made to accommodate mPERS?

McMullen: First, our internal team of programmers are integrating mapping software through our API to facilitate the monitoring of mobile products and to be able to dynamically identify the correct authorities based on longitude and latitude. Second, we’re also building two dedicated mPERS dispatch centers: one in our New Jersey headquarters and one other site for redundancy (that we will announce later). The new dispatch centers will be specifically designed for mPERS monitoring.

SDM: When will it be available and why is this the right time?

McMullen: We estimate that mPERS solutions will be available to COPS dealers sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. As with any new offering that COPS supports, we’re investing a lot of resources in development and testing to make sure things are done right, rather than rushing to market with a  mediocre solution.

SDM: Describe the training necessary and COPS’ strategy or implementation.

McMullen: There are a lot of similarities between traditional and mPERS monitoring, so we’re able to utilize much of our existing training that we’ve developed over the past 40 years. However, we also

recognize there are important differences, which is why we’ll operate separate mPERS operations and

have specialized mPERS training. mPERS dispatchers wi ll also receive training in CPR, HIPAA compliance, and potentially EMD certification.

SDM: How will this benefit your dealers?

McMullen: mPERS will give COPS dealers the opportunity to earn increased revenue from their existing customers by extending protection outside their homes and businesses. mPERS also gives our dealers access to customers that want protection for themselves or their loved ones without having to purchase a traditional system. COPS dealers will also enjoy special low pricing on leading mPERS products.