General Security, a New York-based dealer ranked No. 33 on the SDM 100, has acquired three companies in the past 12 months. With close to 50 acquisitions now under its belt, the family business, which was founded in Long Island in 1959, continues to grow as it acquires 2-3 companies a year.

“We’re always looking for solidly operating companies, especially in geographic territories we want to expand,” said General Security General Manager John Lupino. “We’re continuing to expand our footprint across the eastern seaboard, all the way down through the southeast.”

S&F Technologies, based out of Hudson, N.Y., specializes in security and fire, CCTV, telecom systems and IT resources.

“For us, S&F gave us an opportunity to do two things: expand into some new verticals and markets with the telecom systems and IT offerings, and fill out our footprint in the New York state corridor,” Lupino said. “We have offices from east to west and north to south in New York, but between Albany and Long Island we had a pocket we wanted to fill, and this was perfect.”

TRIAD Security Systems of Union, N.J., also filled a geographic need for the company, giving it a branch in New Jersey, where General Security sees a lot of business. 

“With them being located in Union, N.J. and specializing in commercial clients and services such as access control, CCTV and fire alarms, TRIAD was a good fit for us and complemented what we were doing there already,” Lupino said. “We were also attracted to the talent they had, and just really loved everything they were doing.”

The third acquisition of the year, Authentic Alarms, also in New York, happened when the previous owner retired. It also fills the gap in service previously between Albany and Long Island.

The team at General Security says it is continuing to look for acquisitions that align with what the company is trying to achieve in the future.