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A ------ 32 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, April 4, 1989 Monitoring serious work & J by Rob Streich orley Pitt is expanding his business interests beyon the chiropractic, .to challenge the way security businesses have traditionally operated. Following the demand for after hours phone monitoring through Dr. Pitt's Small Busi- ness Control Centre, he will be expanding into the security business with the formation of Alarm Monitoring Stations of Canada. This local Chiropractor is fed up with the way the security companies operate today. They provide the installation of se- curity systems and then expect to sit back and collect fees for monitoring the line over the life of the business. Pitt said, "the security companies turn a profit on the installation, then continue to take in hundreds a year for monitoring, which only costs them afew dollars a month." His latest brainstorm is the creation of a more efficient alarm monitoring station right in Port Perry, which could bet- ter serve the customers, at a better price. Dr. Pitt is not worried about the pending fight with lo- cal installers. He has a battle plan and a commitment to AM- SOC. He feels that honesty is the best policy. What is going on today is not honest! Dr. Pitt invited all the lo- cal security alarm installers and suppliers in Durham Re- gion to a meeting on March 28. Along with guest speakers "from the local police force and fire departments Pitt laid out what he saw as the inadequacy of the present system, and his proposed solution. Problems with the system The difficulties Dr. Pitt ex- plained are three pronged. There is a problem of police safety. An economic problem with monitoring the growing number of security systems. And a problem with the public outrage over confused priori- ties. Constable Mike Bevan with the Durham Regional Po- lice explained at the meeting . that there are about 11,000 alarms going off yearly in the region. Of those, only 145 last year turned out to be valid calls. Dr. Pitt explained that with only 1.3 per cent of calls actually requiring a response, the police donot expect trouble . - With police not guarding them- selves, some have been unnec- essarily injured by criminals. The second area of difficul- ty is with the time and ener which canbe allocated to check- ing these false alarms. In Whit- by Dr. Pitt explained, there are the same number of police on duty 28 four Joarg ago, despise a significant growth in popula- tion. The number of man hours required to answer those 11,000 alarms ran close to $500,000 (approximately 11 per cent of the budget, of which 10 per cent is wasted). Region- al taxpayers are picking that tab up for the businesses using' security systems. This leads to the third problem, greater inefficiency of the general policing system and a problem of deciding which call to answer first; the motorist broken down on the side of the road, or the alarm which is 98.56 per cent likely to be false. Peo- ple will be annoyed to hear that they had to sit in the cold for two hours because the police were driving around looking for an alarm that was triggered by acat. In Durham today, the only action police have taken is to give warnings to people with an unusually high level of alarms. That could change soon to match other regions in Ontario where some police forces are giving only three responses to each business per year. After three, they are cut off the sys- tem until a year has passed. How it works right now roday, most security. sys- tem installers have an arrange- ment with monitoring opera- tions - often a private individual with an alarm board in his basement and a small bell by his bed to call him down when something happens. He then must determine where the alarm is from and call the ap- propriate agency, police or fire department. Many problems are creat- ed by this system as these peo- ple may not be quite wide DON FORDER INSURANCE BROKERS LTD. SELWIN FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. ADVANTAGES OF INVESTING THROUGH SELWIN / FORDER FINANCIAL SERVICES INC. Guaranteed Investment Certificates SHOPPERS Mortgage and Loan Corporation 3 YEAR - ANNUAL 113%/4% Partie 3 y " vy municipal Savings & loan corporation 1 YEAR - ANNUAL 121/4% Wellington Trust pany SHORT-TERM 30 DAYS to 89 DAYS 11* -- RATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE -- PHONE 985-8411 awake, knowledgeable about the community and able to give good directions, or able to tell lice whether there is anyone ome this weekend, or if there is a neighbour with a key so they don't have to break down the door. For offering just minimum services, the alarm monitorin station will recieve a nomina fee of $4.50 to $10.00 a month, while the installer, the middle- man, will charge the client as much as $30.00 per month and pocket a healthy profit. New i AMSOC has just invested in a state of the art digital mon- itoring system which bypasses- many human error problems through automation. With AMSOC staff at the monitor 24 hours a day, there is no concern that the signal will not be answered almost in- antly, This system will provide instant identification of the sig- nal, determining whether it is fire or police priority. Then a pre-arranged response pattern will be displayed on the screen, describing step by step which agencies to call and where things like spare keys and own- ers' phone numbers are. This system is expected to cut through most of the confu- sion and reduce the number of false alarms dramatically. AMSOC staff spent a week training in New York to fully be prepared to start operations this week Dr. Pitt promotes his re- gional knowledge as insurance that the job gets done right, the first time. Someone in King- ston would not likely be able to rovide directions to local po- Y/, "For the next three wee 8 you can see Marilyn Wallaces beautiful and Intricate handpainted silk scarves at the Scu- gog Memorial Public Library. This Is her first exhibit of ex- quisite flowers, cats, unicorns and the images of lands of mystery and magic. Marilyn has developed her own tech- nique over the last three years using French dyes and Chl nese brushes. From her Scugog Island studio/home she de- signs scarves, neckties, some paintings and has even collaborated with Mirlam Price on women's lounging suits. 3 SPY. ia ice as to how to reach a certain Rural Route address. He expects to have 3,000 clients using the AMSOC mon- itoring system by the end of the year. Interest is being ex- pressed by growing numbers of Landscaping course in Brooklin population sectors to incorpo- rate efficient monitoring into their operations. If this venture is success- Ashburn and Area News by Florence Ashton ful, Dr. Pitt may expand his se- curity operations to other parts of the province, emphasizing the need for local expertise to insure efficiency. COUNTRY UPHOLSTERY Free Pickup DONNA ANDERSON & Delivery 705-328-1156 Free Estimates PAUL VAN CAMP Chartered Accountant 52 Water St. 988-9788 Port Perry * INCOME TAX * FINANCIAL SMALL. BUSINESS UXBRIDGE MEMORIAL Resulfs of the euchre game on Thursday, March 23 are as follows: 12 tables were. played. Ladies high prize to Olive Or- {MEMORIALS OF DISTINCTION (GRANITE MARBLE BRONZE CEMETERY LETTERING & RENOVATIONS CUSTOM DESIGNING & LETTERING Quality & Satisfaction assured by our own 45 YEARS OF Written Guarantee i 852-3472 UXBRIDOR APPOINTMENTS AND don 108 BROCK ST. WEST ntsionianion ov "'miston. Low to Margaret Watson. Mens high to Mary Poots and low to Jim Lynde. Lone hands to Fran Gibson. John Medland was the lucky door prize winner. 50/50 draw won by Leo Richard. Next euchre at the Community Centre this week at 8:00 p.m. Brooklin Horticultural Society - are featuring another landscap- ing course this spring. In fact, it begins this Tuesday, April 4, then Mondays April 10, 17 and 24. This will take place at St. Thomas' Anglican Church at Winchester. Rd. E. at Anderson St. N. Brooklin from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. each evening. Ken Brown will cover basic residential landscap- ing ideas. Course level will de- pend on the experience of those attending. They are aiming to help the new property owner or. those wishing to renovate an ex- isting landscape. Course fee - $35 single and $60 per couple. Brooklin Society are hosting the District 17 Ontario Horticultural Association annual meeting and flower show on Saturday, April 15 Church at the n Uni . oan | 8:30-9:30 a.m. A full day has been planned, which will conclude around 3:15 p.m. Guest speaker for the after- noon session will be Ken Brown who will cover tion tips under the title: You Care Enough To Give Your Very Best" - tips for ating plants for sales tables, fundraisers und (Turn to page 33)