Virginia DCJS License Number For Monitoring Center?

Support
1

I am trying to register my alarm panel in fairfax county Virginia (http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/services/falsealarmandsecuritysystems.htm). All alarm panels that call county emergency numbers require a license for the call center that is registered with DCJS (https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/). In addition, all alarm panel monitoring services in Virginia require a license from DCJS. I tried calling the monitoring center today to get that license number and they told me that they did not have one. Fairfax county FARU called the call center number today and was told the company MonitoringAmerica.com was the call center behind SuretyCAM.com and they would not give their license information for Virginia. What is the DCJS license number for the state of Virginia for SuretyCAM? Without it, I will be paying fines and will have an unpermitted system in Virginia.

2

I’ve forwarded this on to our customer service folks (customerservice@suretyDIY.com), they’ll be the ones with the best info. We don’t really have hands on this stuff in the tech support dungeon. You should receive an email reply shortly.

3

Hi:

Any possibility of providing a forum-wide answer? This also concerns me and probably other Virginia customers.

Thanks.
Tom

4

Fairfax county just called me and said monitoringamerica is not returning their calls and is not licensed in Virginia and that I could not use them. I’d like an answer soon please. I emailed customer service yesterday and got no response either.

5
I emailed customer service yesterday and got no response either

Are you referring to suretyDIY or Monitoring America? Please address all customer service requests to customerservice@suretyDIY.com

I looked into this for you and it does not look like an email was received yesterday by our team regarding this, but our team has sent you a follow up and is communicating with our Monitoring Station on this now.

6

Wait. If they are not licensed in Virginia unmmm thats an issue for me.

@Jason ???

Tom

7

“I looked into this for you and it does not look like an email was received yesterday by our team regarding this”

I believe I sent it via the https://suretyhome.com/secure-message/ form on the site. I remember sending it on a form on your site.

8

Our secure message form is another good way of communicating with customer service. Unfortunately we’re told one was not received by customer service, so there may have been a network or other submission issue. Did you get a confirmation message when sending?

If they are not licensed in Virginia unmmm thats an issue for me.

@Jason ???

We’re looking to get an ETA on this thread topic core question currently. I will let customer service know you are also looking for details on this. Our team will get you the quickest possible resolution. For any questions please email customerservice@suretyDIY.com

9

I guess I’m confused. I just searched for you and your monitoring company in the Virginia database - https://www.cms.dcjs.virginia.gov/GLSuiteWeb/Clients/VADCJS/Public/Verification/Business/Search.aspx

You know you are unable to conduct business in Florida (https://suretyhome.com/forums/topic/monitoring-in-florida-2/)

but you don’t know that you are unlicensed in Virginia?

Now I’m starting to get pi.ssed.

10

http://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title9.1/chapter1/article4/

§ 9.1-147. Unlawful conduct generally; penalty.
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to:

  1. Practice any trade or profession licensed, certified or registered under this article without obtaining the necessary license, certification or registration required by statute or regulation;

  2. Materially misrepresent facts in an application for licensure, certification or registration;

  3. Willfully refuse to furnish the Department information or records required or requested pursuant to statute or regulation; and

  4. Violate any statute or regulation governing the practice of the private security services businesses or training schools regulated by this article.

B. Any person who is convicted of willful violation of subsection A shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Any person convicted of a third or subsequent offense under this section during a thirty-six-month period shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.

1992, c. 578, § 9-183.11; 1998, cc. 122, 807; 2001, c. 844.

11

We appreciate the concerns being brought up, and we want to assure you that we take these concerns very seriously. For any clients of suretyDIY affected by local licensing compliance concerns regarding alarm monitoring and our primary monitoring provider, our customer service team will be notifying you via email regarding monitoring center changes which address this issue. As licensing requirements vary between municipalities and service plans, our customer service department handles all local licensing issues, and these changes will not affect all users.

12

Does this mean that you will switch monitoring companies for those users in states where your monitoring company is not licensed or that you will be notifying them that you cannot provide licensed monitoring? Do we have a time expectation on notification?

13
Does this mean that you will switch monitoring companies for those users in states where your monitoring company is not licensed

Any affected users will be transitioned to a second monitoring station. No local system changes will be required, and affected users are being notified via email. This notification will include pertinent monitoring station details.

14

I am lucky that I found this thread. I just set up my system and was about to sign up with suretyDIY with central station monitoring. After reading through all the messages, I don’t think there is a clear answer to OP’s question. I am also in Fairfax VA. So is suretyDIY licensed in VA or not? If so, what company is doing the actual central station monitoring?

15
Any affected users will be transitioned to a second monitoring station. No local system changes will be required, and affected users are being notified via email. This notification will include pertinent monitoring station details.

Since Surety isn’t the monitoring station, you changing to one that is licensed in Virginia is only 1/2 the solution. Surety also needs to be licensed in Virginia (and, I would suspect, most states they provide service in).

I’m a bit frustrated here - given how much experience the owner of Surety “claims” he has in the alarm business, to not know about the business license requirements is a bit baffling. Either he chooses to willfully ignore state licensing requirements or … ? I also understand he is part owner in the Monitoring America COOP. And before we make this all about the fine state (Commonwealth) of Virginia - my quick perusal of ~6 random states, all show various levels of Alarm Company licensing requirements.

FWIW - Trinity, GeoArm, Alarm Relay etc etc are licensed in Virginia.

Tom

16

Hi Thomas,

I’m the owner. When our central station doesn’t meet the licensing requirements for a locality we contract monitoring to a larger central station that does. Licensing varies by state, county and city. Please address your licensing concerns with customer service (customerservice@suretydiy.com). This forum is for technical support.

Best Regards,
Ryan