4EverReady Home Care is a privately owned home care agency based in Dayton, Ohio. The organization is committed to providing clients with the highest quality care possible, while allowing them to maintain both freedom and independence in the comfort of their homes.

Recently, the agency completed successful implementation of upgraded security capabilities for its Cincinnati, Ohio, office, which was installed and monitored by Sonitrol of SW Ohio. 

“We installed the TotalGuard system back in April and our system’s two cameras give us all the visibility we need,” said Lisa Roberts-Rosser, executive consultant for 4EverReady. “Our office is essentially one big room and the cameras give views throughout the office and through the windows into the immediate neighborhood.”

In addition to video surveillance with video and audio alarm verification, 4EverReady’s upgraded system includes glass-breakage detection and motion detection capabilities. The organization also installed Sonitrol Cloud Access, powered by 3xLOGIC, which provides key fob entry through the office’s main entrance. Roberts-Rosser and any other staff with privileges can remotely arm and disarm the system with a smartphone through the available mobile app. “We have complete alarm verification capability, and the mobile app definitely works well for us,” she explained. “If there is a time that someone has forgotten to arm the system upon leaving at the end of the day, I can arm the system from home or wherever I am.”

Soon after the upgrade was completed, the organization’s Sonitrol TotalGuard alarm verification technology detected an incident outside the premises, which led to a quick, successful resolution of a potential false alarm situation. 

The Cincinnati facility is located in a beautiful, historic building in the Avondale neighborhood, a part of town that has been struggling economically for the last 10 to 15 years. Late one evening, surveillance video from inside the Cincinnati location showed a person standing outside the office when suddenly a car drove through the nearby intersection. The person in the video made a hasty retreat from the building, dashing across the street away from the departing sedan. 

“We recognized the gentleman in the video; he’s often in the neighborhood and because our offices are all glass looking out to the street, we often observe him and others walking up and down the sidewalks around our office,” Roberts-Rosser recounted. “Because this incident triggered an alarm from our system, Sonitrol of SW Ohio brought the video to my attention. I knew the man in the video, and I’d never seen him move that fast. Clearly something major had happened.”

The Sonitrol monitoring operator was able to play back the video, with the related audio, to determine that the passing car had actually fired a paintball gun at the man in front of 4EverReady’s offices, causing him to flee away from the car. By just reviewing the video, the Sonitrol operator was able to quickly determine that the offices were not in danger of a break-in. This incident occurred outside the area under protection; therefore, this was not an active alarm, so no further action was necessary. To see the video of this incident visit https://youtu.be/DD8_d0JqUzg.

In addition to picking up this incident, Roberts-Rosser said there has been a process to calibrate the system to be as effective as possible. “The sensitivity of our system is impressive; when it was first installed it was alarming because of loud music outside, cars backfiring, and other loud noises. Once, a neighborhood child pulled on the door while playing around and that definitely caused an alarm. Working with Sonitrol and their 24/7 monitoring, we’re able to verify all of these incidents to make sure we are only contacting the police when it’s a legitimate alarm situation.”

As is becoming abundantly clear in recent years, police forces are not unlimited resources and the problem of false alarms and wasted police time continues to get worse. 4EverReady’s security system has proven to be highly effective in cutting costly — even dangerous — false alarms. In many communities, police will charge for false alarms or, worse, won’t respond to an unverified alarm. 4EverReady can rest assured their verified alarms will bring the police response that is needed.

“It is a genuine game changer,” said Alison Shiver, marketing manager, Sonitrol of SW Ohio. “What’s more, this incident proves the technology goes above and beyond in protecting customers’ property, even if the action is well outside the area under surveillance.”