New Haven Independent

Basically, Sonitrol does for the New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) what a security monitoring company does for your house, condo, or apartment, with one big difference. “Our system uses audio detection to detect break-ins,” said McGovern. “At our central station, we can hear what is happening. Other systems may be designed to scare people off, but ours are designed really to apprehend people through the audio.”

This audio feature is particularly relevant to school buildings, where break-ins and vandalism are often associated with kids. “You can often hear the kids using their names, calling out to each other,” said McGovern, who began in the 1990s as an installer of the system he now maintains and markets to other school systems. “And when you know the names, you can catch them.”

According to Robin Golden (on the left) who, with McGovern present, advocated approval of Sonitrol’s $132,408 dollar annual contract before the BOE’s Administration and Finance Committee this week, the audio feature has another important aspect. “The audio detection,” she said, “is critical when our security has to enter a building alone. With this service, BOE security can call for help and be heard. Also, if we find that a janitor is “coding out” of a building before time, and on a regular basis, well, the system helps us deal with such problems as well.”

The custodians, Golden said, are usually the first and last people in the building, so they normally are the ones that arm and disarm the facilities. However,” she added, “a principal will sometimes be the first in the morning. They have the codes too. Sonitrol sends us daily arm/disarm reports for each school building.”

Golden also said that in the BOE’s research, no other company provides this audio feature. This, combined with the fact that McGovern’s company installed all the equipment and wiring, and that interruptions, say, to bring in a different company, would be interruptive of service and security, has led to the unusual situation of the Sonitrol contract not being sent out for competitive bidding.

According to the provisions of section 74(d)(1) of the City Charter, which Golden provided a reporter, “contracts that can only be performed or provided by one party in the judgment of the city purchasing agent and the head of the department seeking the supplies, services or work are an exception to the requirement that all contracts be competitively procured.” The city purchasing agent determined that Sonitrol should be designated, therefore, a “sole source” supplier.

And how does it work if there’s a problem or break-in? Typically, said McGovern, “what happens is that if we detect a break-in, we hear it at the central station, and we then get in touch with the schools security person.”

Before the police are called, Golden said, there’s an important second step. “The BOE security person on call makes a judgement about whether to call the police immediately. We do this second step in order to avoid sending police on false alarms. If the BOE security and/or police are dispatched, they report back to Sonitrol,” Golden said, “and then they close out the incident.”

It’s apparently a sensitive system but it’s refined enough by now so that distinctions can be made between an alarm going off caused by the wind shaking a door and a connection lost, setting off the alarm. Breaking glass is one thing, and the sound of human voices within the building definitely another. That always sets off a call to the police.

Nationally, Sonitrol, which also alarms and protects many other local school systems, such as those of Hamden and West Haven, has contributed, said McGovern, to 155,000 apprehensions.

Golden said that overall the schools have been very well protected by Sonitrol. Did the contract get approved by committee and sent on to the full Board for approval? Yes, with no sense of alarm whatsoever.