Sonitrol Pacific: FAQS

Our Verification Center only monitors security systems we design and install. Sonitrol Pacific’s security technology is unique, as are our guarantees. To meet our high standards, we install our equipment to our design specifications. You can schedule a free appointment with one of our consultants to audit your existing security system. More than 70 percent of our customers leave their traditional security and hire us when learn about what we offer. We do monitor fire systems installed by other companies. Talk to us about your fire monitoring.

When choosing security, you want to get in writing exactly what services will be included in your agreement. With some companies, you may initially pay less, but end up paying much more over time due to a variety of factors. To ensure you get what you’re paying for:

Ask how much of your building will be covered by the motion and contact sensors. Most systems cover 20-30 percent of a building’s square footage; Sonitrol Pacific delivers wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling coverage with audio sensors.
Ask how many accounts each operator monitors. Most monitoring centers have operators “watching” 10,000 or more accounts; Sonitrol Pacific operators never monitor more than 2,000 accounts.
Ask about their average police response time (not operator response time). Many monitoring centers strive to keep their operator response time under 10 minutes and don’t track police response time. Nationally, police response to Sonitrol is seven minutes.
Ask how operators verify alarms. Most security systems rely on an operator calling you to find out what’s going on at your business; Sonitrol Pacific uses audio or video technology to verify what is happening.
Ask what guarantees are included in your agreement. Sonitrol Pacific systems come with our Commitment to Service that includes a $10,000 performance warranty, a satisfaction guarantee, and a full equipment and labor warranty.
Ask how many suspects have been arrested due to a detection and dispatch by their security system. In 2011, 257 burglars, vandals and trespassers were caught due to Sonitrol Pacific’s early and verified detection; 32 percent of these were apprehended before getting inside.

Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Our operators can only hear what’s going on at your business when the system is turned on and something sets off an audio sensor. We’d love to pay you a visit and show you how it works.

Audio sensors deliver complete security. Most alarm systems cover 20 percent of a building’s square footage compared to Sonitrol Pacific’s 100 percent. Our audio sensor technology gives you earlier detection, faster police response, and fewer false alarms. These combine to deliver the highest apprehension rate of suspects. Hear real audio detections for yourself. Schedule a free consultation for a live demonstration of audio detection technology.

Police consider a call about a burglary (or other criminal act) verified when an eyewitness or audio or video technology can confirm what is happening. Sonitrol Pacific operators have the required technology and skill to verify a break-in is taking place. This gives your business “verified security.” Alarm systems that depend on motion and contact sensors have no way for the operator to know what set off the alarm – a burglar or a spider. Those security systems give “unverified security”. Many jurisdictions are moving toward having all alarms verified before they will respond. “Verified response” comes at a time when police are increasingly challenged to respond to alarms even though 94-98 percent of all burglar alarms are false. Budget-strapped police departments – particularly in Western and Mid-Western states with low police to population ratios – are turning to Verified Response to reduce the amount of time wasted responding to false alarms, so officers can be redeployed to higher priority calls.

A cell back-up is digital wireless technology that lets your system communicate with our monitoring center if your regular phone line/security panel connection fails. Sonitrol Pacific’s monitoring center will receive a signal letting us know your phone line is down, allowing us to take action to keep you secure.

The action our operators take depends on what type of activation. There are three types of audio alarms.

Environmental. This is a train, a dog, traffic, etc. For these alarms, our operator will simply reset the audio.
Suspicious. This would be tapping, banging, knocking noises or other possible sounds someone would make trying to get inside. For these alarms, our operator will listen and determine if the noise is threatening or environmental/non-threatening.
Threatening. This would be sounds of glass breaking, scratching, footsteps, voices … any obvious sounds of someone trying to get inside or already inside. For these alarms, our operators follow experience and training. – If it is an obvious break-in, they immediately dispatch the police, then call you. Our expert operators are the brains behind the technology and make the dispatch decision.

While we do offer a $10,000 performance warranty, we are not an insurance company. Our security technology and services work so well, we back them with guarantees which include compensation in the event we do not do what we say we will do and you suffer a loss. Sonitrol Pacific does not profess to be perfect, but we take our commitment to our clients very seriously and promise to give you the highest possible security.

You benefit from our audio sensors and expert operators. When your Sonitrol Pacific security system activates, our operator listens to what’s happening at your building. If they hear threatening activity, they call police; if they hear environmental noises, they reset the system. If routine activity around your building is giving you false alarms, the Sonitrol Pacific team works with you to find a solution. If users or employees are causing the false alarms, we train everyone who uses the system at no charge to you. These proactive measures combine with our audio advantage to effectively minimize false alarms.

As a Sonitrol Pacific client? Nothing. We will pay any false alarm fine caused by our equipment or our error. Working as a team to eliminate false alarms is vital. False alarms can get costly and you run the risk of the police not responding at all to your location.

Our false alarm fine guarantee is just one thing that makes us different. More than 60 percent of our new customers replace another alarm company with Sonitrol Pacific because the other company “costs” too much. With Sonitrol Pacific you get the earliest possible detection of a break-in and response, the highest documented apprehension rate, the lowest false alarm rate and comprehensive coverage.

Most people learn about Sonitrol Pacific through a referral from a peer, friend, networking partner or police officer. Rather than spend dollars on mass media campaigns, we invest in research & development of service and technology that delivers higher quality security. With offices in Everett, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland and Boise, we are the largest locally operated security company in the Pacific Northwest.

Our record in getting criminals off the streets demonstrates many things, including: The effectiveness of security designed and monitored by Sonitrol Pacific The fast police response to a call from Sonitrol Pacific If you have a break-in, we give you the best chance of catching the burglars
– The effectiveness of security designed and monitored by Sonitrol Pacific.
– The fast police response to a call from Sonitrol Pacific.
If you have a break-in, we give you the best chance of catching the burglars. Our security delivers greater results and better security for you, your employees and your facility.

One service we provide our clients is a phone call when the system isn’t turned on at its usual time. You can either go turn it on or we can have it automatically turn on at the time you tell us.

We operate our own UL Listed Central Monitoring Station in Everett, Washington. We’d love to give you a tour.

Yes, it is another service we provide at no charge. Or, if you prefer we can email you reports daily/weekly/monthly or whenever you need.