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COMMENT ON GOVT COMPETITION FROM SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 ARTICLE
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Ken
    What about free trade?  Is the municipality able to service and respond to alarms if the customer wants? What about UL Listed service. DO they provide runners for trouble and supervisory signals to say nothing of responding to alarms.  What are the qualifications of the dispatchers to handle fire alarms. In a triage of auto accident vs dispatch a fire what is the lag time from alarm to dispatch.  Is the CWA or other representative organizations eager to take on the responsibility? and I repeat RESPONSIBILITY.
    As a supervisor of a Police Communications center before my retirement from Law Enforcement I can attest to my dispatchers feelings about the duty.  Not 1 feels that alarms from the public should be coming into a 911 dispatch center exclusively. Our municipality did it for several years as a convenience to those that wanted direct link. They totally cut off from this about 10 years ago when ALL FIRE SUBSCRIBERS were told to go to a private provider.  This is legislative incompetence to the max.  (Almost as bad as the state representative that proposed that alarm installers be trained and licensed in CT.)
(We have been since 1964.)
    From my perch ready to jump.
Joel
FBN
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REMINDER:   CONTRACT UPDATES - WHEN TO USE 3 PARTY CONTRACT
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    The Central station 3 party contract has been updated.  This form agreement is a Central Station form [to be purchased by the central station and provided to its dealer].  This central station monitoring agreement is to be signed by the Dealer and the Subscriber.  It's also signed by the central station who is providing the agreement to the dealer.
    When should the 3 party agreement be used?  This agreement is essential when the dealer is not using approved or proper contracts.  The 3 party is designed to protect the central station but does extend some protection [from liability] to the dealer.  Of course every dealer should be using a proper Stand Form Agreement, residential or commercial, and specific to the type of alarm and alarm services.  However, not all dealers use the Standard Form Agreements.  When they select a central station to provide the monitoring the central station will not be protected because the dealer who has agreed to provide monitoring to the subscriber has not properly contracted for the service. 
    If a dealer uses a Standard Form Agreement the 3 Party Agreement is not necessary because the dealer will have proper contractual protection and that protection will extend to the central station.  In fact, central stations who are not using the Standard Form Dealer Agreement [formerly, before being updated with extensive changes, the Installer Contract] are better off when the dealer is using an updated Standard Form Agreement because the protective provisions are likely more effective and the likelihood of success when defending a claim increased.  
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CALL LIST UPDATED
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    The Call List identifies the persons the subscriber wants called in the event of emergency, order of priority and whether First Responders are the first called.  
    We have added a new feature to the Call List.  That form now has Signal and Zone Confirmation.  This is an important item that is too often overlooked or undocumented by the central station and the dealer.  It's essential for proper monitoring that the central station know what types are signals can be communicated and that zones are properly identified.  Test signals should be by zone, not just a single test that confirms the communication hookup.
    The Central Station 3 party contract should be purchased by Central stations, not dealers.  Dealers should get the subscriber agreements at www.alarmcontracts.com, the All in One forms are your best choice.
    For more information or assistance contact our Contract Administrator Eileen Wagda at (516) 747- 6700 x 312
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