ASAP to the PSAP: Reducing 9-1-1 Processing Time
by Minutes for Alarm Notifications Between Alarm
Monitoring Companies & 9-1-1 PSAPs
Bill Hobgood, Project Manager,
City of Richmond, DIT Public Safety Team
Ed Bonifas, Vice-President
Alarm Detection Systems, Inc.
Presentation to the Alarm Industry Communications Committee
March 6, 2014
Agenda

The ASAP Standard

How it Works

PSAP Experiences

Central Station Implementations

Current Status

Questions & Answers
Acronyms and Definitions
►APCO - Association of Public Safety Communications Officials
►ASAP – Automated Secure Alarm Protocol
►CSAA – Central Station Alarm Association
►NIEM – National Information Exchange Model
►NLETS – The International Justice & Public Safety Sharing Network
►PSAP – Public Safety Answering Point
Case Study – The Automated Secure Alarm Protocol
(ASAP)
The Birth of an American National Standard
Official ANS Name:
APCO/CSAA 2.101.1-2008 ANS Alarm Monitoring
Company to PSAP CAD External Alarm Interface
Exchange
Adoption Date: January 15, 2009
► Standards-Based
– XML
– Converted from Custom Template to GJXDM then to NIEM
► No Longer a Pilot; in full production
► Rebranded [April 2011]: The Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP)
By The Numbers

PSAPs – 6,500 primary & secondary

Police/Fire/Med Agencies – 20,000+

Central Station Dispatches 22,800,000 annually1


15,000 to Richmond’s 9-1-1 PSAP

150,000 to the Houston Emergency Center
PSAPs Call Volume 250,000,000 annually
1 Source:
Security Industry Alarm Coalition
Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Purpose
To provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting
information between an Alarm Monitoring Company and a Public
Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
Generic Explanation: The exchange replaces the telephone calls
between the Alarm Monitoring Company operator and the 911
PSAP call-taker.
How ASAP Works
Three Primary Uses
Initial Notification of
New Alarm Event
• Central Station initiates notification of new alarm event
•Central Station Incident Number Sent to PSAP
How ASAP Works
Three Primary Uses
PSAP’s Response &
Acknowledgement
• Acknowledgement by PSAP that notification has been
Accepted or Rejected
• PSAP Incident Number Returned to Alarm Company
How ASAP Works
Three Primary Uses
Bi-Directional Status
& Response Updates
• Updates from Alarm Company
• Key-holder information
• Request to cancel dispatch
• Response to PSAP questions
• Updates from the PSAP
• Resources dispatched
• Resources arrived on scene
• Call closure with disposition
• Request for information
Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals
Goal #1
Alarm Monitoring Company
Eliminate the telephone calls between
the Alarm Monitoring Company and
the 9-1-1 PSAP
Public Safety PSAP
Telephone Call Volume
From Alarm Companies
Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals
Goal #2
I can’t understand you.
How do you spell that street?
I can’t hear you, call back.
Eliminate miscommunication between
the Alarm Monitoring Company
operators and the
9-1-1 PSAP call-takers
Mistakes
&
Miscommunication
Automated Secure Alarm Protocol - Goals
Goal #3
Decrease processing & response
times to alarm-related calls-forservice with an increase in law
enforcement apprehensions made,
fires more quickly extinguished,
and lives saved.
Processing &
Response Times
ASAP to the PSAP – Comparative Analysis
Traditional Delivery Versus Use of ASAP
Without ASAP: Delivery via Telephone
Alarm Co
Processes
Telephone
Call
Ringing
Gather
Information
Dispatch
Units
1 ½ - 3 minutes or more
With ASAP………..
Alarm Co
Processes
NoGathering
Phone
Process
No
Information
Call
Data
Dispatch
Units
15 seconds or less
ASAP – Outcomes in Virginia
Richmond’s and York County’s Experiences
► 22,000+ total alarm exchanges transmitted:
– No telephone call; No call-taker involvement
– Spelling mistakes & accidental transposition of street address numbers
eliminated
– No low volume headset issues
– No need to try to interpret accents
– Works efficiently regardless of how inundated 9-1-1 call takers may be
► Was…
– 1½ min - average process time w/o repetition
– up to 3 min (sometimes more) – process time for some alarm calls
– Alarm operators sometimes placed on hold for 8 – 10 minutes
– The worst call in the PSAP
► Now…
– 15 sec or less - average turnaround time via the interface
– The most accurate and concise call in the PSAP
ASAP – Outcomes in Houston, Texas
Houston’s Experience Since April 28, 2011
► Demographics
• 634 square miles (10 times larger than Richmond, Va)
• 2.3 million people (4th most populous city in the U.S.)
• 4th largest 9-1-1 PSAP in the United States
► Consistent 13% Drop in the Number of Police Alarms Handled by a
Call-taker :
• Houston receives more than 2,600 police alarms weekly
• 43,000 alarm systems monitored by 3 participating alarm
companies
► Non-Emergency Telephone Call Volume Reduced by 15%
► Potential Savings of $1 - $2 million annually
Houston’s Emergency Center
PSAP Challenges That ASAP Can Help
►
PSAP telephone call taking process
 Call-takers must place priority in answering 9-1-1 calls
 Alarm companies call on 7-digit numbers; frequent answer delays
 PSAP resources often limited; staffing shortages; overtime
 NG9-1-1 to allow citizens to send texts, pictures, and video: PSAP resources to
be stretched even further
►
Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) providers
– Dozens of CAD providers versus 5 - 6 alarm automation providers
– Six CAD tier one providers have or developing a solution
– Many others have expressed interest but waiting on PSAPs to come
forward
– Outreach efforts must continue
►
ASAP is an ANSI-standard based on open standards
– One size fits all no matter how small or large the agency
– CAD providers can develop interface once and market many times
– Non-vendor specific
Alarm Industry Challenges/Responsibilities
► Addresses must sync to PSAP’s address file (MSAG/Geo-file)
– Bulk address validations
▪ From new participating alarm company to PSAPs already participating with the ASAP
program
▪ To new participating PSAP from alarm companies already participating with the ASAP
program
▪ Address validations confirm that address is correct within the participating jurisdiction only
▪ Does not account for addresses assigned to the wrong PSAP in the alarm company’s DB
▪ Alarm companies will be responsible for using a 3rd party service for ESN resolution
– New account address validations
▪ Performed automatically by alarm company’s automation software when new account
added
► Alarm monitoring companies must use event types from standardized list
– PSAP decides up front which alarm types it will receive (e.g. law, fire, and/or EMS)
– PSAP decides how to translate each alarm event type
Current Status - ASAP Operational PSAPs
City of Richmond (VA)
City of Houston (TX)
Washington DC
Tempe (AZ) PD
James City County (VA)
And many more in development……………
CAD Providers with an ASAP Interface Solution
Intergraph
Northrop Grumman
Versaterm
SunGard Public Sector
And many more in development……………
Current Status – ASAP Operational Alarm
Central Stations
Vector Security (Ranked #9)*
United Central Control
National Monitoring Center
Rapid Response Monitoring
Monitronics (Ranked #5)*
SafeGuard (Ranked #34)*
Affiliated
Alarm Detection Systems (#24)*
American Alarm (#39)*
RFI
* Source: SDM Magazine 2013
Current Status – Central Stations That Have
Signed Contract to Participate in ASAP
Acadian
Ackerman
ADS Security(Nashville) (#26)*
ADT (Ranked #1)*
Alarm Center, Inc.
Alarm Central Station
ASG (Ranked #11)*
CentraLarm
Checkpoint
CMS
COPS
Devcon (Ranked #20)*
DGA
* Source: SDM Magazine 2013
Diebold (Ranked #8)*
DMC Security
Guardian Security (Ranked #10)*
iWatch
MACE
Monitoring America
Peak Alarm (Ranked #68)*
Protection One (Ranked #6)*
Stanley (Ranked #3)*
Tyco (Ranked #2)*
Vivint (Ranked #4)*
Washington Alarm (Ranked #80)*
Wayne Alarm
This Project is an Award Winning Project
Awards
► 2009 Governor’s Technology Award for Innovation in Local Government
► Inaugural IJIS Institute’s Innovation Award (2009)
► American City & County Magazine’s 2009 Crown Community Award for Excellence
in Local Government
► Center for Digital Government’s 2009 Digital Government Achievement Award
► Accepted into the 2009 City Showcase Sponsored by the National League of Cities
► Alliance for Innovation 2010 Award for Innovation in Local Government
► 2013 Computerworld Honors Laureate Award – Safety & Security
► 2013 Governor’s Technology Award for IT as an Efficiency Driver, Government to
Business
► 2013 Government Computer News (GCN) Award for Outstanding Information
Technology Achievement in Government
► 2013 – Best of NIEM award and induction into the NIEM Hall of Fame
Current Project Status
• CSAA approved as a Nlets Strategic Partner Organization (May, 2011)
– CSAA implementing a CSAA managed message broker server at Nlets
• Testing has been completed
• Updated IEPD & schema 3.3 released to Automation and CAD Providers
– Alarm companies, both CSAA & Non-CSAA members can participate
• 75+ charter alarm companies to come on board first (including ADT)
• Likely to swell to 300 alarm companies over next 2 - 3 years
• Potential participation by up to 600 alarm companies over next 5 -10 years
• Nlets has assigned two new Message Keys for alarm traffic
– ALQ = Alarm Data Sent by the Alarm Company to the PSAP
– ALR = Responses from the PSAP to the Alarm Company
– ORIs & Unique CSAA IDs used for routing messages
Nlets & ASAP to the PSAP
Nlets- Is The Preferred Transport for ASAP Traffic
Infrastructure is in place.
Safe and secure Communications
Intelligent Routing Scheme
In operation to Thousands of PSAPs
Trusted by PSAPs
Preferred by the Central Station Alarm Association
Nlets – CSAA High Level Design
 Nlets–CSAA High Level Design
XML Firewall housed within Nlets’ facility.
Secure Certificate Authenticated hardware based VPN’s to
Central Stations
CSAA Message Broker Server to consolidate Central
Station traffic housed within Nlets site
CSAA/Nlets routing wrappers
Expanding the ASAP – ASAP Phase II
(Schema 3.3)
• ASAP ANS up for review in CY2013
• Additional fields have been added to the schema
– Video confirmation link for PSAPs and field responders
– Alarm service organization
– X/Y coordinates in decimal degrees
– Uniform list of information messages
– Reject messages from the Message Broker or the PSAP
– Accept message from the PSAP
– Fields can be used before next release of ANS
– Only Schema 3.3 will work with the Message Broker
Questions & Thank You for Attending!!!
For More Information:
• APCO: www.apco911.org email: asap@apcointl.org
• External Alarm Interface Exchange ANSI, Fact Sheet, FAQs, IEPD
• http://www.apco911.org/resources/asap.html
• IEPD available at www.niem.gov (Tools > Work with IEPDs > Search for IEPD
(Keyword “Alarm”)
• Central Station Alarm Association: www.csaaual.org
• Nlets: www.nlets.org
• CSAA: psap@csaa-asap.org
Bill Hobgood, Project Manager, Public Safety Team
City of Richmond, Dept. of Information Technology
900 E. Broad St., Room G-2
Richmond, Va. 23219
(804) 646-5140
Cell (804) 240-0744
Bill.Hobgood@Richmondgov.com