ADT Introduces Video Alarm Verification Service

ADT Security Services, Inc., a unit of Tyco Fire & Security, today introduced new Interactive Video Services for its commercial customers that can help increase on-site security and employee safety while reducing false police dispatches.

ADT's Video Alarm Verification Service utilizes a customer's digital video recorder and cameras, coupled with broadband transmission, to send live video associated with an incoming burglar alarm to ADT's customer monitoring center. There, the company's specially trained operators can remotely monitor facilities for alarm verification and can notify law enforcement, if necessary, helping decrease the potential for false alarms.

Mike Snyder, president of ADT Security Services, Inc., said video alarm verification extends ADT's monitoring capabilities to be a virtual set of eyes and ears for customers.

"Video verification can provide our monitoring center with a more accurate picture of what is taking place at a customer's location when an alarm signal is received," Snyder said. "The result can increase police response priority in the event of an actual break in."

ADT's Video Alarm Verification service can include e-mailed reports of alarm events and event notification, as well as two-way voice capability for customers with audio equipment installed at their sites. With two-way voice, ADT's customer monitoring center professionals can listen for further investigation or can make pre-scripted announcements if a suspicious person is viewed at a location. The service can also be integrated with a customer's hold-up alarm signal, helping provide additional information that can be relayed to law enforcement.

In addition to video alarm verification, ADT's Interactive Video Services include Video Escort and Suspicious Assistance services, which can provide employees with an added layer of security through virtual escorts of employees as they arrive at and leave the building. It also provides audio and video assistance to employees during uncomfortable situations.

"Interactive Video Services provide customers nationwide with an indispensable tool to help increase the level of security at their sites," Snyder said. "Employees, especially those working late at night or by themselves, may feel safer knowing they are not alone in an emergency."