CSAA Signals
Vol. 10, No. 5 —April 7, 2004
440 Maple Avenue East, Suite 201, Vienna, VA 22180
703-242-4670; Fax 703-242-4675


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Table of Contents

CSAA/SIA CSO Level I Training Reciprocity Agreement

The Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) and the Security Industry Association (SIA) have established a procedure under which both associations will recognize the operator certificate issued by each other's organization – CSAA’s online course and SIA’s certificate as issued to the operator by the SIA Certified Central Station Operator/Instructor.

  • SIA Certified Operators who have completed the SIA/APCO "Train-the-Trainer" instructor program and operators trained by Certified SIA/APCO central station instructors may receive a CSAA Central Station Operator Level I online training certificate from CSAA and
  • Graduates of the online CSAA Central Station Operator Level I course may receive a SIA Operator certificate if at least one operator in the central station is a SIA /APCO “Train-the-Trainer “Central Station certified Operator/Instructor.

The trainer must submit proper documentation on provided forms and a $10.00 processing fee will apply. The SIA Certified Operator/Instructor acts as SIA’s agent to verify that the operator is knowledgeable and competent according to industry standards and therefore qualifies to be “certified.”

The SIA/APCO certificate may be of interest to those that need to satisfy State Licensing requirements and use the SIA Train-the-Trainer (CSOp) program.

For more information, visit www.csaaul.org/Reciprocal_CSAA_SIA_Certificates.htm

First Five Diamond Canadian Company

The central monitoring station of Protelec Alarms, a security company in Western Canada, recently became the first Canadian company to receive the Five Diamond Central Station designation from CSAA. There are only other 17 central stations that have received the designation.

"The Five Diamond Rating means that all of our Central Station personnel have received training from the central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) and meet the high standard of knowledge necessary to respond to alarms and customers professionally and efficiently, " said Brent Pokrant, Central Station Manager for Protelec Alarms.

Rial Black, General Manager for Protelec Alarms believes that "the Five Diamond Rating means that our customers have the peace of mind of knowing that every person in our Central Monitoring Station has the knowledge to ensure that when an alarm occurs, they will react properly and professionally to assist the customer."

500th CSO Level I Graduate

CSAA would like to congratulate Stephanie Oliver for being the 500th graduate of the Central Station Operator Level I on-line training. She graduated on December 22, 2003. Ms. Oliver works for Vector Security’s Wilke Barre, Pa. central station, a Five Diamond Central Station. This is her first job in the security field.

“I thought the course was very informative,” said Oliver “I especially liked the use of sound clips and animation to make the information easy to understand.”

Her supervisors, Kelly Kuwaye (Central Station Manager) and Michael McMahon (Assist. Central Station Manager) had nothing but rave reviews about the training.

“We found the course to be a strong asset during the first week of training to provide our new operators with a general overview of the Security Industry,” said Kuwaye.

McMahon agreed, “Best investment our company has ever made in our operator’s training program.”

CSAA is expecting to graduate the 1,000th central station operator very soon!