Warminster, PA, July 1, 2008 – Within the last six months Access Security has helped bring two criminals to justice. Using the latest technology in IP and Mega-Pixel camera systems, two criminals at separate locations were caught red-handed.
The first incident involved Centennial School District’s Longstreth Elementary School. The story began on Thursday, October 11th 2007 when Centennial School District had found threatening notes at the Longstreth Elementary School. On Friday, October 12th, the district came to Access Security with their problem. They needed a camera surveillance system installed the next day. The school initially thought the notes were from a child at the school. Access Security quickly put together a system for them and installed it the following day, Saturday, the 13th. Daniel Cogan, President of Access Security said, “We felt that, as a company, it was extremely important for us to help the school. It wasn’t hard to find two of our technicians who were willing to help on their day off; everyone knew how serious an issue this was.” By utilizing the camera system, which provided exceptional video using mega-pixel cameras, the school was able to determine that it was a teacher, Susan Romanyszyn, who was allegedly behind the terror plots. The video from the camera system, along with witness testimony, showed Romanyszyn in areas of the school where notes appeared a short time later. On Thursday, June 26th, Romanyszyn was found guilty, and although it was not a happy day for the school, the efforts of the district and Access Security helped bring the threats to a close.
The second incident happened on Friday, March 14th when a man stole a $47,000 engagement ring from Carroll’s Jewelers of Doylestown. The man, who spent over 2 hours in the store, was able to palm the engagement ring while the salesperson was not looking. In July of 2007, Access Security had upgraded the jewelry store’s camera system that had been installed 10 years prior. The new system used an Exacq Technologies digital video recorder and a 3.1 Mega-pixel camera to catch the whole crime on video. That Friday night, Access Security was called to help with the retrieval of the video. After positively identifying the man stealing the ring, Access Security exported the video to a CD for police and created a still picture that was given to the newspapers. After the picture appeared in the local papers on Tuesday, March 18th, it only took two days for the police to apprehend the suspect, Larry John Hopkins. Joel Robinson, an owner at Carroll’s Jewelers, stated in a letter to Access Security “Without our upgrade last year there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we would not have been able to catch this guy and/or have our ring back right now.” Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Gambardella was quoted saying that the video was “critical” to “Hopkins” arrest. Hopkins waived his hearing and accepted his jail term.
Warminster, PA — June 18th 2009 — Access Security announced today that it has received approval from the Pennsylvania Department of General Services for the Cooperative Sourcing to Achieve Reduction in Spend (COSTARS) program. The COSTARS program was enacted to help local government bodies, such as municipal authorities and public schools, as well as nonprofit agencies to reduce their costs of purchasing selected equipment.
COSTARS came about with the passage of the Commonwealth Procurement Code, Act 57 of 1998 (“Code”), which permitted local public procurement units (LPPUs) and state-affiliated entities to engage in cooperative purchasing with the Commonwealth. Initially, the Department of General Services (DGS) limited the LPPUs’ cooperative purchasing options to certain statewide contracts. In Spring 2004, DGS developed the COSTARS Program to increase the cooperative purchasing options available to its members.
In 2004, the General Assembly passed an amendment to the Code that expanded DGS’s authority, allowing DGS to enter into contracts exclusively for the benefit of LPPUs and state-affiliated entities. DGS estimates that more than 10,000 entities within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are eligible to become COSTARS members. Several thousand of these have already registered with DGS as COSTARS members, and the list of registered members continue to grow.
Access Security, as an approved supplier, can now provide security and safety products and services to the over 6000 COSTARS members in Pennsylvania. Daniel Cogan, president of Access Security, said “This is a great opportunity for our company to expand our security products and services to local government and nonprofit agencies. Using the COSTARS program also reduces costs and allows for a stronger relationship to be built between the COSTARS member and supplier.”
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