Sonitrol, Orlando, Fla., reached a milestone by assisting in its 170,000th documented apprehension since 1977, when the company began documenting apprehension statistics. According to Sonitrol, the company’s record of success in assisting law enforcement in the apprehension of intruders is attributed to the nearly 50 years of dedication and advancement of the company’s unique, impact-activated, audio intrusion detection technology. Sonitrol provides businesses and homeowners with 100 percent volumetric wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling protection — monitored and verified in real-time — allowing for a quicker response by law enforcement. This results in more apprehensions of potentially criminal trespassers than traditional non-verified alarm systems, Sonitrol said.
The 170,000 documented apprehensions over the last 36 years — or approximately one apprehension every 111 minutes — is a result of a mutually beneficial relationship between local law enforcement agencies around the country and Sonitrol’s professionally trained operators. Sonitrol’s ability to verify an intrusion in real time offers unrivaled credibility with local law enforcement. As a growing number of municipalities pass Verified Response regulations requiring verification that an intrusion is actually taking place before law enforcement dispatch personnel to the site, the reliability of Sonitrol’s audio intrusion system offers a key advantage.
“False alarms are wasting a lot of officer’s time, but with Sonitrol, we feel more confident responding to a call for one of their alarms,” said Robert Stack, assistant chief of police, Lexington, Ky. “The audio verification provides us the ability to respond more quickly and tactically to an in-progress break-in. Any time we have real-time information, it affects how fast an officer responds and how they approach the situation. And, as far as officer safety is concerned, it makes a huge difference.”
Properties protected by Sonitrol’s unique impact-activated audio verification technology are remotely monitored around-the-clock by operators from one of the company’s 26 central monitoring stations throughout the United States and Canada. In the event a possible intrusion is detected, one of Sonitrol’s highly trained operators automatically receives the live audio feed from the protected facility, which is used to indentify, verify and respond to the potential alarm. If the operator identifies the sounds as an actual break-in, only then is local law enforcement enlisted to respond to the alarm. The process of audio verification allows local law enforcement to efficiently strategize their response and maximize their resources, while saving the customer from unnecessary false alarm fines.
“Sonitrol is extremely proud of its track record, and we think the apprehension statistics speak for themselves,” said Bruce Winner, director of the Sonitrol brand. “It’s one thing to have video surveillance and remote monitoring on your phone or tablet, and we do that, but with Sonitrol you have a live, professionally trained operator monitoring your facility 24-7, ready to listen-in when your system is armed.
“If all that’s on the other end is an employee who needs to access a facility after-hours, we’ll know. If it’s a stray dog barking, or some other benign disturbance, we’ll know. But, if there’s someone trying to break into a Sonitrol protected property, we’ll know, and we’ll let local law enforcement know, and together we’ll catch whoever it is. With Sonitrol, there’s always someone listening for you, so you can have that peace of mind. If you have Sonitrol, your walls have ears,” stated Winner.
Sonitrol has been on the frontier of audio verification in security systems since 1964. Started in Anderson, Indiana, when founder Robert Baxter’s local pest extermination business discovered a new application for his invention that pin-pointed the exact location of termites in walls. The acoustic device was so accurate and effective that Baxter realized he could do more than just locate insects — he could also catch criminals.
