Monitored alarm users in Onondaga County, N.Y. will experience faster, more accurate emergency dispatches now that the county has launched Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP) to automate communication between alarm monitoring central stations and Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs)/ 911 centers.

The benefits of ASAP for monitored alarm users and first responders include fewer phone calls to emergency response centers, quicker processing times and greater accuracy of information transmitted. 

Because ASAP delivers alarm notification information directly from the alarm monitoring centers to PSAPs via computer rather than by phone, all pertinent data goes directly to first responders in a process that takes only about five seconds. Many agencies using ASAP can expect alarm response times to potentially drop to as little as 90 seconds or less.

ASAP was developed in partnership between The Monitoring Association (TMA) and The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), with Vector Security President and CEO Pam Petrow co-chairing the committee. Vector Security was the first alarm company to debut ASAP in Richmond, Va. in 2012.

Vector Security assisted with implementation in Onondaga County by helping to conduct extensive testing prior to the system going live.

“We are pleased to help bring Onondaga County online with ASAP,” said Anita Ostrowski, VP, central station services, Vector Security. “Even more so, we are excited to see more and more PSAPs recognizing the value of this technology and implementing it in order to better protect the citizens of their communities.”

Nationwide, more than 80 agencies have implemented, or are in the process of implementing ASAP. For more information about ASAP-to-PSAP, read this.