FARA Achievement Award:
Winner
Maryland Burglar and Fire Alarm Association
Nominated by: Sue Clark, Diane Pennington, Marilynne Shifflett, and Norma Beaubien, Staff, MCPD FARS
Rationale: The FARA Achievement Award is presented for significant or meaningful contributions towards the FARA mission, which states, in part, “…to foster an environment of cooperation among law enforcement, the alarm industry and the alarm user.” The Maryland Burglar and Fire Alarm Association embodies that spirit of cooperation from top to bottom and has for several years.
Most recently, alarm coordinators in the State of Maryland, with the full support and assistance of the MDBFAA, introduced legislation for the second year running in the Maryland General Assembly to require Enhanced Call Verification on a statewide basis. Leadership of the MDBFAA were instrumental in getting delegates to sponsor the ECV bill and to have it assigned to committee for discussion and vote. They also scheduled meetings with House leaders to discuss the bill and its benefits and to try to learn where the bill failed last year and how we could overcome that this year. Leadership attended those meetings with public safety alarm coordinators, which showed legislators a united front on this issue. MDBFAA testified alongside law enforcement at the hearings. It is rewarding to be able to sit at the same table and support an initiative that is a win-win for everyone involved. Absent the wonderful working relationship developed between MDBFAA and local law enforcement, this initiative may well never had made it to the General Assembly floor.
Additionally, MDBFAA has been working to enact minimum training standards for alarm technicians in the State of Maryland. They introduced a bill in last year’s General Assembly requiring the State Police to define training standards and to ensure that technicians working in the State of Maryland were qualified to install, repair and maintain alarm equipment. The bill was introduced with the full support of local alarm coordinators, their public safety departments and local FOP’s. The local alarm coordinators feel that requiring minimum training standards will assist in the reduction of false dispatches and feel that those standards are best defined on a state level, where there will be a level playing field.
Finally, the MDBFAA was also influential in getting FARA’s Regional Training Program off the ground. They sponsored FARA’s beta class, held for Maryland alarm coordinators to see the training and critique it before we made it available for general distribution. MDBFAA had some of their members participate in the training and offer suggestions. They also secured the training facility free of charge to FARA and provided lunches for the two-day training class. Without their assistance in this endeavor, FARA would have been hard-pressed to offer the beta class free of charge.
For the above reasons, we respectfully submit that the Maryland Burglar and Fire Alarm Association has provided both significant and meaningful contributions to the FARA mission and are richly deserving of the FARA Achievement Award.
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