O n the home page of its website,
Northeast Security Systems states the following:
— We help safeguard all that you value most: Your home. Your possessions. Your family.
— For peace of mind 24/7/365, choose a state-of-the-art partner based right here in Maine to protect your home or business.
— Whatever the threats you face today, we can help safeguard your growing company’s future.
— We’ll protect you against threats from inside, outside and all around your Maine business.
We wanted to learn more about this business located in Wiscasset, so The Times Record conducted a recent question and-answer session with its officials.
By 1977, the electrical portion of the business was sold and the Spinneys opened in Southport as Northeast Monitoring Services with a central station facility designed to respond to and handle all the alarm signals generated from the burglar and fire systems being installed.
The systems we install and support are capable of providing the customer with automated supervision of properties by authorized users in addition to alarms caused by unauthorized access/break-ins. This type of system will generate reporting notifications to the customer so they can manage and supervise their properties or businesses.
While there are many companies offering inexpensive “packages,” there is still a point at which you are getting what you pay for. Hidden costs could be in the quality of the equipment, the installation technique or hidden long-term contracts. That is not how Northeast Security Systems does busi- ness. Our proposals are completed with all the facts presented, including upfront costs and estimated costs for upcoming years.
A variety of monitoring and security system services and options are also available to our clients, or anyone with an existing system. We offer: simple phone dialers, Internet connections, cellular, smartphones and our own AES IntelliNet radio network, which works independent of any phone or Internet provider and their fees and outages.
Q. What is your coverage area? Is it the whole state?
A. Northeast Security Systems serves the entire state, however, the Wiscasset location was chosen because of its central position in Midcoast Maine. This location puts our service vehicles within a reasonable drive east toward Penobscot Bay, south to the Portland area, as well as inland to Waterville, Lewiston and the mountains. On occasion, an existing customer will request us across state borders, but our focus is Maine.
Since inception, the primary goal was to provide the highest quality of products and services at the most reasonable prices. By having the central location in Wiscasset, we are able to balance the drive time and actual service time in a cost effective manner. Our goal then, as now, was never to be the biggest but rather to provide the best quality of services in our targeted areas.
We now are one of only three UL-certified central stations in the entire state; we are still owned and operated by the same Maine family and our staff has grown to nearly 30 full-time employees, several of whom were with us in Southport. Ron’s first alarm system that was done as a side project is still our customer today, more than 35 years later.
Q. Your facility in Wiscasset is called “The Bunker.” Describe your headquarters.
A. Built in 1986, the new facility was built to UL (Underwriter’s Laboratories) specifications as well as using UL-approved equipment. These policies and procedures have always been standards for Northeast Security Systems, however, the actual inspection and certification took place in 2011 as the need increased.
The central station has been nicknamed “The Bunker” because it is essentially a concrete box — walls, floors and ceiling — without windows and only entry/exit doors. The doors are fire rated and attack resistant with access controls and cameras. The entire building is fire rated and protected in many ways, but the central station office has its own backup power and utilities, making it fully self-contained … a virtual bunker.
Northeast Security Systems takes pride in the fact that we own and house our central monitoring station locally, in our Wiscasset facility. We give our customers the personal attention they deserve. By offering daily test signals as a minimum standard, we can stay up-to-date of any system troubles and quickly restore the system to function properly — thus eliminating costly repercussions and keeping our clients satisfied. It took many years to build the business, and we take pride in the fact that our customers are not numbers, but neighbors.
Northeast Security Systems does welcome other selected dealers to utilize our central station, making sure the dealers share our values of quality installations and service for their customers as we provide their monitoring. Striving to maintain a quality reputation, as defined by low, nonrepeating false alarm rates, our partnerships with the local police and fire departments speak volumes.
Q. How has security technology changed over the years? It is tough keeping up with all the new equipment?
A. Technology has definitely changed over the years. When we started, everything was hard-wired within buildings; the transmission path was a phone line hard-wired to a police department or central office and reported one condition only. Then, a new form of transmitter known as a tape dialer offered a lower cost alternative to the leased line, but it too had drawbacks. The old dialers would dial a number and spit out a voice message to whomever or whatever it reached, including busy signals or a wrong number, then would hang up.
Digital communicators, the next evolution, offered acknowledgment by receivers before transmitting data digitally. The operator would then manually look up the account number and the alarm code (from a printed card) and make the appropriate dispatch calls. The control panels and the dialers had a maximum of nine channels or alarm conditions that could be reported.
Technology has evolved even more by replacing keys with digital keypads and key fobs. Even smartphones can allow system control with the option to view areas in real time and record activity.
Today’s control panels and transmitters can define and transmit hundreds of specific points — not just that an alarm was detected, but specifically in which area the detector is located. This is important in an alarm situation telling the operator, homeowner and first responder exactly what and where the issue is.
Wireless devices still use batteries that must be periodically changed, however, they have a much longer life span and the units are supervised so that when a battery dies, the panel will at least alert you that it is dead.
Q. Why do I, as a business owner or holder of personal property, need to invest in security? Does having proper security arrangements help with insurance rates?
A. The simple answer: for peace of mind protection for your family and possessions. Life safety is a major concern for all families — smoke, fire, carbon monoxide are proven killers and often strike during sleep.
In addition, today’s systems can provide a wide variety of property protections, including low temperature, furnace failure, freezer/ refrigeration failure, power outages, generator starts and stops.
Parents of schoolchildren use the open/close/video IP features to verify the child has arrived home from school on time. Homeowners can also set some systems with access codes and schedules. This allows entry for cleaning crews and other maintenance personnel, with proper numbers, to occur when they aren’t home.
Business owners may have some of the same concerns and more. Is the store opening/closing on time? Are any employees using their codes to access the business after hours? Do they have a need to video/audio record transactions at the cash register or gas pump? How much will it cost if a meat or ice cream freezer fails and the problem is not detected until the ice cream is found melting?
Insurance companies are now requiring many homeowners and businesses to get alarms because it has been proven they limit, if not totally prevent, losses. Many offer discounts for any protection and most offer the maximum for monitored systems.
Q. What’s the strangest request you have encountered for providing security?
A. Nothing is really strange, but we have had requests for cameras to watch nesting birds or to provide harbor views as a means of enticing visitors to websites. One homeowner wanted the siren to sound like a barking dog.
Our cameras have apprehended an occasional but longtime theft of lobster traps — a rising tide that was silently floating them away.
Q. Any future plans?
A. The future of Northeast Security is to continue with the same values and mission as when we started: treat our clients and their needs as our number one goal.
Northeast Security Systems continually trains technicians and updates equipment to keep up with technology as it develops. DSX access controls, IP cameras and smartphones are becoming part of basic security needs and are among some of the items we already offer.
We pride ourselves in having the latest technology and gadgets that the large national companies advertise, but the difference is that we sell, install, service and monitor from Wiscasset, Maine, complete with oldfashioned Yankee hard work and integrity.
— Mailing address: P.O. Box 1566, Wiscasset, ME 04578
— Physical address: 110 Bradford Road, Wiscasset
— Contact person: Jeniffer Cooley, Inside sales & marketing manager
Email: jcooley@northeastsecurity.com
Telephone: 1-866- 551-6377, ext. 250
— Website: www.northeastsecurity.com
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