Press Release

IQ IMPROVES PROGRAM

FOR RELEASE January, 1999

Contact: Jennifer Burnstein, IQ Program Coordinator

Bethesda, MD -- The Installation Quality (IQ) Board of Directors began the new year by making a significant improvement to the IQ program that had been requested by numerous contract monitoring central stations.

During a January 14 meeting, the IQ Board of Directors approved an amendment to the IQ Guidelines that will make certification through the program immediately available to every conscientious central station in the country. The amendment changes the requirement for attempted verification of alarm signals for contract monitoring centers. Those centers with dealer customers who insist on non-verified response can still become certified, but only if that central station becomes proactive in educating the non-verifying dealer about the high cost of non-verification to dealers, users and the community.

According the IQ Board Chairman Ron Cain, "This change says that if you are a contract monitoring center and you have dealer customers who are ignorant enough to insist on non-verification for their customers, then you can have that dealer inform you in writing that he or she does not want verification and we’ll go ahead and certify your central station. But in return, you as a central station must make efforts to educate that dealer about the value of verification, and try to make them change their mind."

Until this change, contract monitoring centers could only achieve IQ Certification if they agreed to attempt to verify all signals, whether the dealer wanted the accounts verified or not. Several contract monitoring centers complained to the IQ Board that since the dealers are their customers, they were not in a position to dictate this monitoring procedure to all of their dealer customers, some of whom insisted on non-verified dispatch.

"I have always said that the IQ Board is willing to listen to ways to improve the program. And while the decision to make this change was tough to achieve, in the end the Board was nearly unanimous in its support for opening up the program this way. I want to thank Maureen Gold of Emergency24 for helping to crystallize the issue for the Board," stated Cain.

Said IQ Program Coordinator Jennifer Gehring, "The Board agreed that they could have a more significant impact on the false alarm problem by using this new procedure. This change not only open the doors for more IQ Certified central stations, but it also allows the Board to reach out to those installing dealers who do not allow attempted verification of their accounts. Frankly, the Board was shocked to learn that dealers were actually demanding non-verification from central stations. Non-verification as a company policy really makes no sense. So the Board wanted to make sure that those dealers who insist on non-verification and use an IQ Certified central station get an education about how their demand is hurting their bottom line and is threatening the health of the entire industry. This policy change accomplishes this education. As one Board member put it, ‘we want to stop preaching to the choir and reach out to and educate the real sinners.’"

The full text of the amended monitoring guideline for IQ Certified companies with regard to attempted verification now reads:

b) It shall be standard operating procedure for all IQ Certified Companies to attempt to verify all burglar alarm signals, as well as all other signals that can be prudently verified, before requesting police dispatch.

i) For accounts in jurisdictions where law or regulation requires attempted verification, all signals covered by such law or regulation shall undergo attempted verification with the only exceptions being those allowed by law or regulation.

ii) For IQ Certified installing dealers, an exception to this guideline may be made if the IQ Certified installing company has strong reason to believe that this guideline will create a life/safety situation for the particular customer. In this event, the IQ Compliance officer shall place a written waiver of certification signed by the customer, which states the compelling reason for non-verification in the company’s IQ Compliance file. If the monitoring of such an account is performed by a contract monitoring center, a copy of this waiver must be forwarded to the IQ Certified Contract monitoring center along with the request for non-attempted verification dispatch, which must keep the copy of the waiver in its IQ Compliance file.

iii) For contract monitoring centers that monitor accounts of non-IQ Certified installing dealers, an exception to this guideline may be made on accounts of non-IQ Certified dealers upon written request of the non-IQ Certified dealer. In such cases, the IQ Certified contract monitoring center shall make regular efforts to educate the non-IQ Certified dealer about the value of verification to the user, the community and the industry. Evidence of these attempts must accompany each application for certification and recertification.

For more information about the IQ Certification Program, or to obtain an IQ Certification Application, contact the IQ Certification Board at 8300 Colesville Rd, Suite 750, Silver Spring, MD 20910, fax: (301) 585-1866, e-mail info@iqcertification.org.