FARA Achievement Award:
Winner
Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (TBFAA) and the North Texas Alarm Association (NTAA)
Nominated by: Norma C. Beaubien, FARA President and Director of Montgomery County Maryland's False Alarm Reduction Section
Rationale: I nominate the Texas Burglar and Fire Alarm Association (TBFAA) and the North Texas Alarm Association (NTAA) for their unwavering support of FARA's new regional training program. When FARA originally developed a plan to conduct regional meetings, in part as an effort to reach more of our members, we researched how much it would cost FARA and looked at how much other similar organizations were charging for two-day courses. Based on our research, FARA set a rate of $229 for members and $229 for non-members plus the cost of membership.
The NTAA contacted FARA and asked if we would be willing to conduct the training in Texas, as they felt there was a great need to help promote effective false alarm reduction programs, as well as foster an environment of cooperation and good working relationships between public safety and the alarm industry in Texas. Understanding how difficult it is for public safety personnel to obtain approval for training, even on a local level, and even more difficult, to obtain the funding to attend, FARA felt that we would have to push out the training date for a couple months in order to allow sufficient time for the entire approval process. The NTAA Board of Directors voted to sponsor one-half of the entire training costs for public safety members, which would help to make the approval process easier. The NTAA Board of Directors also voted to fully cover the cost of lunch for both days of the class. (And might I add that we ate very, very well for those two days!)
The TBFAA Board of Directors agreed with NTAA in the usefulness of the course and in getting public safety and alarm industry professionals working together for the good of the cause, and voted to sponsor the remaining one-half of the entire training costs, which allowed FARA to provide training to any public safety personnel, as well as to any member of the NTAA or TBFAA, who chose to attend. The FARA Communications Committee, which was responsible for the development and implementation of the regional training, felt that we could recover our costs if we had about 15 students per class. The Dallas class had 31 participants! Public safety personnel represented 21 of those students, and the alarm industry comprised the other 10. This was a phenomenal turn-out for the first course, and never would have occurred had the NTAA and TBFAA not been so generous with their support. Not only did they provide the monetary support, they also attended and participated in the two-day course.
I believe both the NTAA and the TBFAA went way "above and beyond" in their efforts to help foster the cooperative environment that FARA's mission statement embodies, and for that reason, believe that they are both incredibly worthy of this award.
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